Heading into the weekend proper at Rebellion Punk Music Festival, Punktuation's Ruth Rae and Herman de Tollenaere are ready for more top punk action on day three.
Yet more music lovers of every age descend upon the Winter Gardens as the punk spirit continues to reverberate through the air around Blackpool for another thrilling day at Rebellion Punk Music Festival. Unfortunately the town hit the national headlines for all the wrong reasons, due to a small group of right wing thugs, who caused a degree of disruption when the Winter Gardens had to temporarily lock down for safety. However, the music continued to play, the bands and performers spoke out against them, and it was gratifying to see so many people wearing anti-fascist and anti-nazi T-shirts around the venue. The punks and skins stood firm against them and even cleaned up the mess of broken glass the violent idiots had made in the square outside the venue afterwards – Up The Punks!! Inside, one band were too punk even for Rebellion – see below! Join Herman and Ruth as they immerse themselves in the mayhem of day three at Rebellion Festival 2024.
Day three - Ruth Rae's Report
Continuing my mission to see newer and younger bands, first stop today is the Introducing Stage for the excellently named Rat Hole, from Southend in Essex. What do you get when you mix personalities who are equally talented as musicians and comedians? Hung Like Hanratty the next generation! These lads are irreverent, irrepressible and ingenious – they should be everyone’s new favourite band! Songs ‘You Can’t Drive‘, ‘Still Be A Cunt‘ and the hilariously accurate ‘Tour Life‘ were delivered with the ferocity and sharpness of a rat’s bite. Punk is far from dead – I love this band – and many others echoed this sentiment after today’s performance!
Another band from my local punk scene were up next – Missing The Scene (and if you haven’t enjoyed a night out in Reading, you are missing it!) who joyously made their Rebellion debut, brightening up our afternoon with their melodic and catchy sing-along songs. Singer Rachael‘s voice is soulful but powerful, the quality of their music speaks for itself and drew in a big crowd and a lot of compliments. Reading was definitely in the house!
I ran next door to catch a bit of Rust – these rough ‘n’ ready Aussie rockers had a sound as massive as the Casbah hall! It’s genuinely amazing to see the festival draw bands of this calibre from the other side of the world, and the crowd obviously thought so too – I even heard a few Australian accents around the Winter Gardens, as bands like Rust brought international fans along with them.
Sticking with showing local support, I headed across to the Opera House to catch Reading’s The Go Go Cult. They describe their sound as “Hypnotic Fifties Psycho-Delic Garage Goth Surf Punk.” How do you describe the indescribable? Well, in this case you let your ears enjoy the freedom of some genuinely great, fun rock ‘n’ roll, while you sway to their superb sounds. There was a lot of curiosity about these guys as they’re so different, generating infectious rhythms you can’t stand still to!
Sticking with the Acoustic stage, I caught the excellent Johnny Moped actually adhering to the acoustic rules – Slimy Toad and Robot on acoustic guitars, Marty on a solitary snare drum. To sum up, this was the most FUN acoustic show of the weekend! Johnny was wearing his specially made 70th birthday cutoff jacket, the grins on each band member’s faces as they played a rockin’ and rollickin’ set said it all. Including ‘Little Queenie‘, ‘Every Dream Came True‘ and ‘Groovy Ruby‘, the packed out Spanish Hall danced and sang along and yelled for more – so a rare (for the acoustic stage) encore was allowed – brilliant!
Belfast’s The Outcasts are Rebellion stalwarts, and they always give a top notch performance. Today the band were missing their guitarist Martin Cowan, who fell while out running, injuring his hand, so had a ‘youngster’ of 60 to deputise – Buck from The Defects! Greg Cowan’s bass wasn’t working at first, cue plenty of cat calling from the crowd, to which Greg responded “Some of you don’t know you don’t want to mess with The Outcasts!” The Opera House had to open the upstairs area as so many fans came in. The band proceeded to make their usual glorious racket which was loved by the crowd as much as the insults! Greg Cowan may be getting older, but the fire is still evident as he blasted through a punktastic set.
Frequently the busiest performer at Rebellion, TV Smith is ALWAYS worth seeing in any of his bands. Joined by drummer Vom Ritchie, (another performer in numerous bands, including Die Toten Hosen, The Boys and Dr and the Medics!) this afternoon’s acoustic set was a wonderful opportunity to see both these superb musicians weave their magic as a duo. In light of the day’s events, songs such as ‘Common Enemy‘ took on a greater meaning than ever, and TV made reference to uniting against fascism and right wing lunacy. Joining him on fiddle for the final number was Attila the Stockbroker, as a rousing ‘Lion and the Lamb‘ raised the roof of the Spanish Hall.
Off to the main stage for an exciting full band pefromance from Millie Manders and the Shutup, riding high upon the success of their latest album, released to massive acclaim yesterday. The Empress was packed to see Millie, Joe, George and Pete playing at their usual energetic pace, and 100% owning the room. It was great to see so many people from other bands watching their set, testamant to how well-regarded this band are in the music world. I’ll let the videos (watch ’em in HD) demonstrate why:
One of the most exceptional live bands I’ve ever seen, Deaf Devils from Spain, were playing the first After Dark slot in the Pavilion, so I headed straight there to make sure I saw their whole set. Lucyfer, Pipe Dead, Kuba and Eric were a feast for the ears and eyes as they gyrated around the stage belting out their full-on action-packed punk rock. Joined by UK Subs legend Charlie Harper for a fantastic cover of the Subs’ ‘Emotional Blackmail‘ (see video) it was fantastic to see the great man endorsing this awesome band! The security guards soon discovered that they needed to protect the audience from the band, not the other way around, as singer Lucyfer and guitarist Pipe Dead took the fast route across the barrier to play amongst the crowd! As always they took the whole band off the stage and into the middle of the room, set fire to the set list, and then the plug was pulled on them with 10 minutes of their set to go.. a disgusted Lucyfer threw herself into the drum kit. I suppose the powers that be decided that this band were too punk for Rebellion, and they were then ejected from the festival, much to everyone’s surprise and outrage.
Ending the evening in grand style in the Opera House, the mighty Ruts DC took the roof off with their full electric set! What can I say about a band who always put in 110%, are still writing GREAT songs after more than 45 years, and have their fingers on the pulse of current issues? Segs, Ruffy and Leigh are heroes to many fans and musicians, deservedly so. I was delighted to hear a favourite ‘Mighty Soldier‘ early in the set, and yes of course I was dancing along! Ruffy was amazed when Segs actually turned his bass amp down – that’s a first for a bass player! Segs was in a particularly buoyant and slightly cheeky mood, dancing, jibing and having the time of his life! Politics were mentioned before the band played ‘You’re Just A..‘ and the freestyle jam in the middle of ‘In A Rut’ was out of thsi world! We were honoured to hear the debut full electric live performance of ‘Bound In Blood‘ Ending with the fast paced ‘Criminal Mind‘ the guys topped last year’s show by miles.
Day three - Herman de Tollenaere's Report
In-ya-face band Lady Rage start the day on the Empress Stage, with Siren Sycho, NIKA, TGP and Dee Chi Manic giving it their all. I remember them well from their great Rebellion 2022 set in a smaller Winter Gardens hall. Siren sometimes sang duets with the bassist, sometimes while laying down. While the guitarist jumped on the drum platform, playing her loud punk melodiously.
The remainder of my afternoon was spent at the Literary Stage, starting with Cassie Fox, singer of I, Doris and LOUD WOMEN organiser. LOUD WOMEN aims to give bands including women and non-binary people more chances to play. Taking about that, the interviewer said: ‘We almost got Siouxsie to play at Rebellion’. ‘Oh, that would be fantastic!’ Cassie replied. I, Doris had already played at this Rebellion 2024 with their new line-up.
Next, at 14:00 at the literary stage, was Matt Worley, professor of modern history at the University of Reading, specializing in youth culture, subcultures, and political activism. ‘No Future‘ by Matthew Worley delves into the intricate and multifaceted history of punk rock culture in Britain during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Theses by Matt Worley;
‘1. Punk music and culture of the 1970s played a significant role in challenging the social and political norms of the time.
2. The punk movement was not just about rebellious fashion and music, but also about addressing serious social issues and injustices.
3. The legacy of punk continues to influence and inspire counter-cultural movements around the world today.’
The Noname from Xian province in China hit the Introducing Stage, playing bangers from their new album ‘Fortress Besieged‘. They are four men, and a woman playing a traditional Chinese string instrument, a guzheng. Their music sounded somewhat like the UK Subs and Stiff Little Fingers, with rawer vocals than Charlie Harper or Jake Burns. They have an anachy symbol on their T-shirts. The guzheng player agreed completely with the No War text in Chinese characters on my badge, which I got from Crass in 1980.
I then briefly saw the Harbour Rebels from Germany, Their dynamic strong blonde singer’s looks reminded me of the late Nora Forster.
1979 punks Rubella Ballet lit up the underground stage of the Arena with their neon emblazoned costumes. So great that this London punk band is on again at Rebellion 2024, especially after all they went through: Sid Truelove forced to change from drummer to guitarist, and Zillah Minx who had broken her ribs by a fall from a staircase.
The stage lighting created a special atmosphere. Zillah’s beautiful hairdo reminded me of my bass/female vocals bandmate, of whom someone said that the lighting in Paradiso in Amsterdam made her look like a sun goddess. Similarly so for Zillah in 2024. In the background, videos of earlier Rubella Ballet gigs.
The first songs were played with no drummer: only vocals, bass and two guitarists. However, for the last two songs, Sid sat down behind the drums for the first time in years, to big applause. He even played a drum solo. The Arena audience loved Rubella Ballet – rightly so!
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Usually found jumping around down the front at gigs, I also relish taking photos and videos, singing, speaking with fellow music fans, and asking musicians the questions nobody else does. Writing about my favourite bands and connecting with people who love music too keeps me more-or-less sane! I’ve worked for over 25 years at a video production company, mainly filming live music events, therefore I have an additional backstage perspective on the scene.
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