Rebellion Festival – Saturday 3rd August 2024

We’ve already killed a pair of converse, memories of last night are hazy after the last band but the sun is out, the corpulent gulls are circling and the huge rescue dogs, Blackpool Working Newfoundlands aka The Pooch Pistols, are back out raising funds and we are of course ready to go for day three of Rebellion Festival. It’s probably become clear that we have become creatures of habit, after yesterday’s excesses we walk down the front on auto pilot and arrive at the Compass Cafe for breakfast / beer sponge before we head in for another full tilt day of Rebellion.

There’s already a lot of anger in Lady Rage‘s intro video. This a heavy set for a band playing an early slot. Uncompromising brutal punk rock with, as you’d expect, a strong undercurrent of anger. Think of early Svetlanas but with slightly dialled down manic energy. A great set slightly marred by the mix in this cavernous venue.

We head down onto the Casbah and get a balcony perch for Pizzatramp, who have announced they are splitting up next year after the release of their final album, which is of course entitled The Last Supper. Pizzatramp don’t change, Jimmy uses the soundcheck as an opportunity to abuse the crowd and all is well for an early afternoon blast of very short songs interspersed with good natured abuse. Pizzatramp deliver their customary set of mindless directionless focusless substance fuelled Welsh rage, well maybe not completely directionless. The loudest cheer is when I Hope You Fucking Die is dedicated to the far right who are holding a demonstration this weekend,… and then Jimmy throws up during the penultimate song and normal service is resumed.

Though she’d be loathe to accept the compliment, Millie Manders is one of the stars of Rebellion and both her acoustic and full band sets are memorable highlights for their energy and pure songcraft. There is an expectant buzz in the almost acoustic stage as Milllie is due. Kicking off with Angry Side from the new album, this is a set that showcases Millie’s strengths. She should be one of the UK’s most celebrated artists. We hope that day comes soon. A beautiful, intimate communion with a true star that also showcases bassist Georgia’s beautiful and joyful backing vocals, an element sometimes lost in the full-on band experience. Millie has a real connection with the audience and is preaching to the converted. The set ends with Your Story, in which there’s audience participation which shows just how loved and admired Millie’s songs are.

The far right have decided to march across Blackpool today which of course means it escalated, and we are advised not to walk up Church Street for the moment. This occurred whilst we were eating pizza and drinking lunchtime cocktails in Dirty Blondes, I’ve had worse restrictions on my movements but it does mean we miss a few bands whilst we’re ensconced in the increasingly busy backstreet bar. We make the most of the most of this time by catching up with old friends and sampling the pizza and cocktail menu. After a few hours of drinking for health and safety reasons we return to the reason we’re here as there are thankfully no racist idiots in sight, but there is an enhanced police presence still in effect. For the record we will just say that The Punk Site opposes these right wing idiots and the damage they are inflicting on local communities, in short they can fuck off, a sentiment echoed by all of the bands appearing today. It was heartwarming to find out that there was the counter demonstration and then Rebellion attendees then helped clean up the mess left by that pack of idiots.

Having finally escaped the pub after the far right related nonsense was going on, we’re back into the Pavilion to catch Bleach Brain who are a three-piece from Liverpool who roar and wail through a blistering and well-received set. Uncompromisingly heavy punk rock full of fire and passion. Given the far right nonsense outside, Bleach Brain‘s impassioned defence of our inclusive punk ideology is well received. Passion is the key to this performance. Maximum energy. Watch out for them.

We then head back to the Arena for the full on psychobilly hit of Clockwork Psycho with their twin guitar and double bass attack that takes me back to the glorious tours of the much missed Horrorpops. The Slovenian quartet have returned to the sweaty arena stage and are taking no prisoners and deliver energetic rock ‘n fucking roll that recalls the roots of the psychobilly scene, but crucially they’ve added their own twist with each member taking their turn on lead vocals. As ever the political message remains clear, fuck hate and fuck the oppressors, and it seems that nothing unifies the punk community quite like a bunch of hateful dicks trying to ruin our weekend. 

It’s a double helping of Millie Manders today, not a bad thing from our perspective. Not daunted at all by the change in gear, Millie Manders & The Shutup have this huge crowd in the palm of their hands from the outset. The band are on one too, clearly enjoying every second of this set. It’s a mix of crowd faves and tracks from the new album. Plenty of rock star shapes are thrown and this is a polished and triumphant set by a band who are taking a huge step towards the genuine mainstream success and recognition they deserve. The hits are rapturously received by an audience clearly already onboard and Millie is a mesmerising focus. Top show and over too soon.

A quick dash over to the Opera House reveals Lene Lovich is delivering a typically eccentric performance. Like Toyah’s joyful set last night this a voyage via a time warp to an era that time almost forgot, including her take on Cerone’s Supernature, although you can’t really refer to this as a cover as she contributed the lyrics to the original. This is no crowd pleasing collection of greatest hits, Lene Lovich is of course delivering the material that suits her, but it does includes a few of her hit singles, including Lucky Number and Angels, from a set by a truly unique figure who emerged in the nascent punk and new wave scenes. 

With the third instalment of the ELECTRacoustic trilogy out in the world, Ruts DC have nothing to prove to an Opera House crowd buzzing with anticipation. Ruts DC in the Opera House is becoming its own tradition. There’s no sign of festival fatigue in the room as the band are greeted enthusiastically onstage. The set opens with a recorded dub version of Joy Division‘s Love Will Tear Us Apart before the band take the stage to kick off with Psychic Attack from the Music Must Destroy album. After a few mix gremlins, it’s a dive into The Ruts / RutsDC continuum and a taster for Sunday’s more stripped back outing in the same venue. Later we stroll back to our tiny hotel room, the events of this afternoon seem to have dispersed aside from one small drunk man shouting EDL at us for no apparent reason, we leave him and his hateful opinions behind.

As I’m typing this almost a week later a newsflash popped up on my computer that a further ten people have been arrested in relation to the disorder in Blackpool. These idiots had no right to disrupt the people and businesses of Blackpool or Rebellion Festival. Did they think punks were going to be a receptive crowd to their racist opinions or did they believe that looting a Greggs would change anyone’s mind? There’s no room for racism and there’s no excuse for stupidity on this scale. If we’re going to take a positive from today then It’s that the punk scene still embraces the spirit of the original Rock Against Racism movement from over forty years ago, it’s just slightly depressing that this is still a problem after all these years.

Photography by Scott Bradley from Phukin Photos & Phinky. Words by Peter Hough & Phinky