Live Review: 2019 Rebellion Festival (Thursday)

It has been just under twelve months since last year’s Rebellion Festival and we’re back in a surprisingly sunny Blackpool for the return of the festival that celebrates punk’s past, present and future like no other event on earth. As ever, we’ll be doing out best to cover as much ground and as many bands as we can over the four days of excess all areas, four days that feature almost four hundred bands from the up and coming to the established old school names and pretty much everything in-between. In attendance for the 2019 Rebellion Festival is a gathering of thousands of fans from across the globe, such is the strength of the line up and the draw of one of the world’s greatest punk festivals.

After the inevitable reunions with old friends, and meeting a few new ones from across the globe, we make our way into the Winter Gardens and catch The Murderburgers, a bittersweet start to the day as the this will probably be the last time we catch them but if you’re going to go out, then go out in style, and that’s what The Murderburgers do. Everything I witnessed on Fraser Murderburger’s recent acoustic tour with Ogikubo Station is more driven and amped up to eleven, a perfect start and a fond farewell. A wander past the Pavilion Stage and we’re drawn in to by the sound of The X Ray Eyes hammering out a set of punk ‘n roll that hits the spot perfectly, as with last year it seems that every stage you visit or walk past inevitably leads to the discovery of a new band or another reunion, it’s not even mid afternoon and I already know that I’m at my second home. 

The Introducing Stage is always the goto stage for us and our first visit finds Incisions taking the stage, there is no preamble, bar some heavy low frequency feedback, and their hardcore freight train is suddenly thundering on at full tilt. There’s a three-quarters full room for this, a relatively early slot, the sound is not the best I’ve experienced at this venue but the band’s earnest power is undiminished. Their clean-cut image seems somewhat at odds with their massive hardcore barrage that sees Incisions deliver short and brutal slabs of power, massively passionate and probably better suited to a bigger stage. Here’s hoping. Meanwhile at the punkier end of the Punk/Ska crossover, Bandits bring a huge bag of attitude to the Rebellion Festival. A good sized crowd at the Pavilion Stage appreciate this hi-energy set. At times heavy punk rock, at times dub-heavy grooves, Bandits know how to play a crowd and, crucially, how to entertain. A perfect example of a band doing their own thing and bringing their audience with them. I don’t know exactly what genre they fit into to, but Bandits are fucking ace.

There’s absolutely no holding back from the very first second of out first venture into the packed and very sweaty Casbah Stage. Millie Manders And The Shutup have enormous presence and the band is as tight as a gnat’s chuff. The sound is also perfect, providing a massive canvas for  Millie Mander‘s soaring and powerful vocals. There’s a built-in feelgood factor in this set that Millie’s endearing personality only amplifies. You can really feel the love in the venue. She bosses the stage and the audience love it. There’s some serious skanking up at the front too. The set ends with Lollipops and The One That Got Away. They should prescribe this on the NHS, if Millie Manders And The Shutup don’t raise your spirits, you’re probably already dead. 100% recommended.

The Delinquents are live and loud in the Arena Stage. Having encountered them in the queue for wristbands earlier, it’s a miracle they are still upright let alone this excellent. Good-natured punk rock from north of the border at its best. Weirdly coordinated in yellow t shirts, you wonder how bands this refreshed manages to deliver sets like this. “This a slow one,” announces David Delinquent before launching into a short and sharp hardcore punk song that sits perfectly in their set of raucous punk tunes.

By now the combination of heat, alcohol and excess is taking its toll, a stroll down to the seafront to cool down and to watch children having their food stolen by Blackpool’s population of malevolent, corpulent gulls precedes the appearance of Dead Objectives. The sound has improved 100% in the Introducing Stage and by the first song, a large and enthusiastic crowd are grooving enthusiastically. This is a band with bags of charisma and the material to back it up. If anything, this smaller room does them a disservice because they deserve a bigger stage. Politically charged and vital, this is a band that commands instant attention. And they sound fucking great: hopefully they’ll get the exposure and boost they indubitably deserve from this showcase. Catch them if you can, you won’t be disappointed.

Well, if the true measure of an artist is how well they can manage an unplugged set, Millie Manders is the queen of the Rebellion Festival. Having delivered a storming full band set in the Casbah Stage earlier, this set presents Millie stripped back and intimate. It’s elbows out to get a space in the room and we’re very quickly sucked in to this moment. One girl and her ukekele in total command of the room with a strong message and being utterly mesmerising. The voice is strong but restrained, in keeping with the venue. This feels like a communion. A brilliant version of ‘Creep‘ is a bonus, but it’s all over way too soon.

I gotta admit the ski masks, or whatever the fuck it is that Masked Intruder are wearing, are a bit of a distraction. Luckily the music doesn’t need 100% attention because it is straight ahead punk 101, straight out of some kind of twisted Ramones playbook. It’s fast, loud and kind of jolly. Probably not the effect they were hoping for. The stony-faced ‘cop’ standing cross-armed behind Green Intruder adds a bit of mystery. Apparently Yellow Intruder is in prison and he’s replaced by Purple Intruder. Distractions aside, it’s balls-out melodic punk pop and, frankly, pretty damn fine.

Late into the day we hit a trio of American hardcore legends that would have possibly have played a house party together and then slept on the floor back in the day. The hardcore assault starts with DI, who bring a set of supercharged SoCal hardcore to a packed and overheated Casbah Stage, this proceeds to Flipper in the Empress Ballroom and then a swift return to the Casbah Stage for Poison Idea. Each of these bands delivers a set that stays true to their roots and has an anti-authoritarian streak, they are also vehemently opposed to the current political regime in their homeland. The fact that all three appear in the somewhat grander setting of the faded Victorian splendour of the Winter Gardens does not detract from their original core message, one that remains vital and relevant. 

Such is the draw of Bar Stool Preachers we can’t even get near to the almost acoustic stage let alone inside so we slide out in time for Goldblade’s set that includes Johnny Skullknuckles from The Kopek Millionaires. The legend of ‘Be More Kathy’ that adorns the backdrop tells you that tonight’s set is dedicated to the memory of the much missed Kathy Rocker. A life well lived is celebrated in a style she would have loved. ‘Be More Kathy‘ is a slogan to live by, much missed but never forgotten.

We close the day with Descendents headline set in the Empress Ballroom, something that completes a quartet of American hardcore pioneers that have graced the stages of the opening day of the 2019 Rebellion Festival. The Descendents have always moved with the times, their roots are still showing but they’ve mutated and survived meaning tonight’s set is a masterclass from a band who can truly claim to be pioneers of everything from brutal hardcore to pop punk, and tonight they are everything you expect and more. Then it’s a few final farewells as we exit the Winter Gardens after a hot, sweaty, frantic and pretty much perfect day and we’re off into Blackpool’s garish nightlife in search of food and late night drinking.

Live photography of Masked Intruder, DI and Descendents courtesy of Dod Morrison, his website can be found here. Additional Photography by AJ Phink. You can click on any of the photos to view a slide show of the images. 

The Rebellion Festival‘s website can be found here 

Review co-written by Peter Hough