Live Review: Rebellion Festival 2024 – Saturday
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Dod Morrison
Saturday and there’s whispers of unrest in towns up and down the country; Italians Los Fastidios wear their political heart on their sleeves and combine Ska rhythms with Oi! aesthetics and show the true meaning of co-existing in harmony. Youngsters Dog of Man aren’t the first band of the weekend to sport an accordion, but make fair use of it nonetheless. Down in the Arena stage Surgery Without Research somehow combine a Public Image Limited post-punk with fat-low end street punk, all at the click of the fingers. Dummy Toys have come to Blackpool all the way from China to embrace their inner Riot Grrrl and deliver some power violence-adjacent caustic riffing.
Hard Skin say that can’t wait to be heading back south, where they have money, televisions and something called the internet(!?). In truth, they play hard and fast abrasive Oi! in a set of fist-pumping pissed-off working class anthems. They even have a little playful jibe at Sparrer selling some of their shirts off for a fiver a pop, and you can hear the tongue planted firmly in the check as they do. I nip into the Pavilion and see what Vanity Rose and The Band are doing, which is delivering some fine guitar work in a more alternative style. Ms Rose mentions that the humidity in the room is playing havoc with her hair; I know what she means as, if there weren’t so many Skinnies in the room it might look like a Crystal Tipps convention.
Always a big draw is Watford’s Knock Off who seem to be attracting bigger and bigger crowds every year. It’s almost to the point where you don’t wear one of their shirts to Rebellion so as not to conform. Andy reports a throat issue, which he puts down to not having any Jack Daniels since arriving in Blackpool, but powers on regardless, through fan favourites, One Life, Are You Offended? and This Ain’t No Love Song. The obvious singalong numbers, We Are Proud and Football, Beer and Punk Rock go down a storm, and the band finish in time to give us all the opportunity to get a drink and head to the Empress Ballroom.
Therein, we find Gimp Fist about to begin, with Jonny Robson speaking the “Nee job, nee hope, nee nowt” the quote from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet that opens The Place I Belong. From then on it’s a romp though some of the finest working class Oi! this side of the originators of the genre. I make no bones about the fact that my love of this band is up there with that of Sparrer, the Rejects and The Last Resort, so when we get The Fight In You, Top Dog and Working Class, it’s pure manna. Jonny introduces Skinhead Not Bonehead by reiterating the lyric “boots and braces don’t make you a racist”, the obligatory cover of Perkele’s Heartful of Pride, ending with the mass singalong of Here I Stand. He admits that he worries every year about how many people will show up but, on the strength of this turn out, there’s very little to be concerned about.
Mexican’s Virus Hardcore have the most Punk thing by having their frontman sitting at the back on the drum stool. They play old school hardcore tunes with a flavour of home and a hint of the Japanese take on the genre. Frenchmen Lion’s Law look suitably peeved as they combine their take in Oi! with a heaty dose of European Heavy Metal. They’re not the first band to do this – see Discharger for more information – but the use of massive tuneage and epic riffs with snotty peeved street attitude certainly make a novel watch. In the Arena, Slovenians Clockwork Psycho are playing their Psychobilly hard and fast as the singer conjures rhythms from her upright bass. Hook-laden stomps and dancey rhythms abound with the strong gallops, yet no language barriers exist as the crowd joins in the chorus that is just a barrage of swearing. F**k yeah, it is.
Up from Liverpool is Bleach Brain who bring dirty danceable tunes to the party. Teeside’s Benefits are raising quizzical eyebrows in the Casbah with their alternate approach to Punk, though it’s not a million miles away from the stylings of Bob Vylan or previous mainstage headliner, Slaves. Air Drawn Dagger are having a few technical difficulties early one, but overcome them to bring some laid-back energy to the Pavilion stage.
The Stupids have been at this for forty years now and their fast and frenzied approach is part Hardcore, part Crossover, but all Punk Rock at its finest. A self-deprecating attitude and blistering musical delivery make this one of the unexpectedly enjoyable sets of the weekend for me; and you can hear how their dynamic attack would go on to influence a myriad of bands following in their wake.
On the Empress stage is Loose Articles with a mixture of transcendental punk and rhythmic repartition. On the Arena stage are Crown Court, the queue for which snakes down the atrium, though it’s time well spent as the London Oi! crew absolutely savage the Winter Gardens with their uncompromising brand of abrasive attitude and snotty delivery. Just a shame they weren’t on a larger stage so that everyone could get in. I pop in for a little gander at The Noname from China, whose old school sound reminds us of the spread of the genre across the world.
I’ve had myself a wee nap and a banana and feel ready for the explosion of energy that is guaranteed from Millie Manders and the Shut Up. I’ve had the very great pleasure of seeing the band growing from a fledgling Ska-based act back in the late twenty-teens, to this wrecking machine of unparalleled power and skill; with Mildred developing into a consummate Master of Ceremonies. The new album Wake Up, Shut Up, Work was only released the day before the Rebellion show, but such is the infectious nature of the new material, even though it’s largely unfamiliar to the capacity Empress crowd, it’s accepted as part of the band’s canon as much as any of Milicent’s older material. Clearly a group of talented creatives, I’m going to suggest Ms M is hiding an even greater vocal ability under a bushel.
Very much the lowest key member of the UK’82 Big Three, (with Discharge and The Exploited) Brummies GBH might have a smaller public profile than their contemporaries, but that’s for nought when the band take to the Casbah stage, emulating the kind of power and aggression wrought by The Casualties a couple of night ago. The band sounded on top form and with the imminent re-release of their City Baby… records a matter of weeks away, what better way to whet the appetite than a full-on stomping show?
The late cancellation of Dead Boys opens the doors for Bad Manners to step in and headline the Casbah. Fresh from the success of last year’s appearance, Buster Bloodvessel leads his Eighties Ska survivors through a set of upbeat dance-along classics you didn’t know you wanted until the band took the stage.
Back for the fifth straight year as headliners (not counting the non-event of 2020), Cock Sparrer have a new album this year, in the form of the excellent Hand on Heart, the final studio record from this British Institution, and whose tunes nestle snuggly among the long-established Take ‘Em All, Riot Squad and Working, and the obligatory England Belongs to Me and We’re Coming Back finale. After all this time you’d expect Sparrer to get a predictable but, like The Stranglers last night, they’re a band who only ever get better and better.
Photo credits: Dod Morrison
