The Rebellion Festival The Rebellion festival is a 4 day jamboree of punk I had travelled up for Saturday only when the headliners
were Cock Sparrer, but additionally over 40 bands were also playing
around the complex on that day only (e.g. Stiff Little Fingers, The
Dickies, Sub Humans, ANL, 999, Rezillos, Vice Squad, Subhumans, The
Vibrators etc etc). One of the festival's strengths is also its major
weakness, that is to say the sheer number of bands playing means that
you have to plan your day carefully, but inevitably will still be unable
to see some 'big-hitters' as their stage times clash. However given
the number of people who attend from all over the UK and Europe (especially
Germany, I started off in the Empress Ballroom, the biggest capacity venue (4,000), and frequented back in the day by The Clash and more recently Phil Taylor in the darts. I caught most of LOS FASTIDIOSLOS who I am reliably informed come from Italy and are vocally anti-fascist. I didn't previously know any of their material which is punk/ska based, and they appear to share at least one band member with Blaggers ITA, however I did feel that they over did the preaching a bit. Having said that, the sheer number of Italians going bonkers in the audience meant they went down very well. Next up was GOLDBLADE who seem to make a habit
of playing of any punk festival going, but John Robb is such a top man
that you can't dislike them and they always ensure the crowd have a
smile on their face. They ran through the usual set list mixing old
favourites with tracks from the new CD 'Jukebox Generation', and as
normal Mr Robb invited several glamorous female audience members onto
the stage to act as backing dancers in several numbers. The finale saw
him sharing vocals with a 10 year old boy, plucked from the crowd, on
the intro to 'Do You Believe In The Power Of Rock'N'Roll' and climaxed
with the mic being thrust into the front row of the crowd for a good
old punk shoutalong. You just can't dislike this
They say that the best pleasures are the most unexpected
and for me it turned out that way. CHELSEA have been around since
the beginning of punk and seem always to be somewhere down the bill
on any flyer you see for gigs at the Roxy/Vortex/100 Club from that
era. Sadly the crowd thinned for their set and I can only think that
the proto punks (who all want to be It was now time for me to traverse the labyrinth of corridors
to locate the Acoustic Stage (300
Right it was time for a change of venue, so I returned to the Empress Ballroom but via The Arena (1000 capacity) to check out JET BRONX & THE NEW FORBIDDEN. I had heard a rumour that their line up included a famous, if unexpected, television celebrity and lo and behold on lead guitar was one Mr Loyd Grossman of 'Through the Keyhole' fame. They have a sound rather reminiscent of Graham Parker and the Rumour, and in fairness, Mr Grossman turned out to be a more than competent axeman. Only time for two songs before I moved on, but they were not bad and their sound was rather refreshing from the plethora of Street Punk/Oi bands that were blasting out from every orifice of the Winter Gardens. Anti
Nowhere League (Pic MXV www.punkvinyl.com) It may have been that as an old codger I was getting tired and grouchy, or that the cider and vodka was starting to take its toll, but I was hugely disappointed with the next band THE ANTI NOWHERE LEAGUE. Animal comes across as some type of pantomime villain and he seem happy to just shout comedy obscenities at the crowd in-between the usual set list. Having first seen them in 1981 they seem not to have progressed an iota and keep churning out the same old stuff eternally. So we have 'Streets of London' 'So What' 'I Hate People' 'We are the League' 'Fucked Up and Wasted' 'Woman' 'My Gods Bigger Than Yours' etc and for me the set lacked any light or shade. Still I have enjoyed them previously, and the large crowd seemed happy enough, so perhaps I just needed my afternoon nap! Off again at the end to The Olympia to catch THE REZILLOS.
Originally they were to be playing
At the end it was a toss up to stay and see Stiff Little
Fingers or head back to take in THE DICKIES. As I have seen the
former countless times so decided to go and see Mr Leonard Graves Phillips
and Mr Stan Lee from Los Angeles, California. What can I say? When a
band walks on stage and the bass player is wearing a full romper suit
(complete with pig years) you know you are in for a good time. OK, so
they are a comedy band but who cares when they sound this good and deliver
Ramones style slabs of blitzkrieg punk rock. Cover versions like 'Paranoid',
'Nights in White Satin' and obviously 'Banana Splits' were delivered
at 100 mph, along with tracks like 'You Drive Me Ape', 'Give It Back',
'Waterslide' and 'Doggy Doo' from their 1979 debut 'The Incredible Shrinking
Dickies'. They even had time to slip in a poignant dedication to original
member Chuck Wagon (who committed suicide over 25 yeas ago) before blasting
out their one and only Country and Western number. Quite what the The Dickies - pic Eldon Baldwin Finally the shop stoppers COCK SPARRER arrived
to the obvious delight to the masses squeezed into the main venue like
sardines in a can. You couldn't move for the mohawks, studs, Dr Martins,
combat trousers, Listening to the final chords and viewing the pleasure they give to so many people, there is no where else I'd rather be than in a punk gig at one a.m. in Blackpool in August. Bones
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