Review:
'Rebellion Festival 2023 Day One'
'At The Winter Gardens Blackpool'
- Album: 'ft Big Country, The members, Penetration, Eater,'
- Label: 'UK Subs, Blyth Power, Menace, Viki Vortex & Cum'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
- Release Date: '3.8.23.'- Catalogue No: 'Lambrini Girls, Svetlanas, Healthy Junkies'
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Our Rating:
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I would like to thank everyone involved in putting on the best festival imaginable, from all the bands, the onstage and backstage crew, all the staff at the Winter Gardens and obviously to Jennie and Darren Russell-Smith for the immense job of promoting and putting together this magical festival. I would also like to apologize to any musicians I spoke to over the weekend whose bands I didn't get to see, as usual far too much happening and a few mega band clashes. As always on this big a Festival bill sorry for any guess work at the song titles.
Day One we saw PollyPikPoketz, David Delinquent And The I.O.U.'s, Healthy Junkies, Svetlanas, The Lambrini Girls, Viki Vortex & The Cum Shots, Menace, Blyth Power, UK Subs, Eater, Penetration, The Members In Dub, Big Country.
Our journey up on Thursday was relatively good, apart from realizing at Preston that the next two trains to Blackpool North were cancelled, so we made a quick decision and went to Blackpool South instead, that turned out to be closer to our B & B so a result. Getting in this year was as smooth as it gets, even if we still arrived too late to see Syteria featuring Jaki from Girlschool.
The first band of the weekend for us was PollyPikPoketz who thankfully had none of the sound problems they had earlier in the year, they are a 4 piece Day-glo punk band who played a good bouncy set while telling us all they are your Motherfucker as they did battle with the Keyboard Warrior, when the singer also played the extra drum on New World Order they had an added fury, before they closed by screaming Fuck You at us in fine style.
We then nipped down into the Arena for the Rebellion Introducing Stage to see the end of David Delinquent And The I.O.U.S. the Scottish pop punk band who sounded good and bouncy as David sang about rocksteady and they closed with a great fun version of Do You Wanna Dance that was obviously more Ramones than Cliff Richard.
It was then time for the Healthy Junkies traditional Rebellion set, this year in the dark cavern of The Casbah as Nina Courson got all Self Conscious for us as she danced all over the stage, This Is not A Suicide is a potent a message as ever, Favorite Place had a tasty guitar solo from Phil Honeyjones. They closed with Lion In A Circus that was totally untamed.
Next up on our whirlwind start to the festival, were the mighty Russian exiles the Svetlanas, who were setting out to destroy the Empress Ballroom. They came on just as we reached the bar, Olga opened by screaming Die Motherfucker like she had Putin right in front of her, before revealing her and the bands sensitive side on Slave To Love as she rammed home the message they are about love not hate. Even if she was soon telling us all to Spit On The Motherfuckers Face as the guitars ground away and the drums nailed THIS Is The story Of My Life, she still Wants To See You Dead and insists we all put Our Middle Fingers In The Air, no one dares disobey. They also urge us to Burn The Churches before closing with Fuck The Cops at the end of which as the band play out Olga jumped into the audience and hugged loads of people on her way out.
The first total ram raid of the festival was next, as we went back to the Arena for The Lambrini Girls who we missed at Dog Day Afternoon recently, the Arena was mobbed by the time we arrived, the singer and bassist were lost in the audience howling about My Life.
They emerged onto the stage for Missed Alarm Call that had enough dissonance to sound like Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, as we were told about Terf Wars the energy kept brewing as the bile was spewed on Lads Lads Lads, let alone what they think of Boys In the Band before they had the most surreal sing along of We Say Craig, You Say David as the singer dived into the audience and eventually made it to the back of the arena, this was immensely powerful and dangerous set, no doubt they will need a bigger stage next year.
After the bile and anger, we needed some Day Glo fun punk and Viki Vortex & The Cum Shots are guaranteed to bring the fun down in The Casbah, letting off Buzz Bombs shouting about the Plastic Fantastic, even when they Slap You In The Face With A Baseball Bat they do it with a cheeky grin. They sensibly tell us to Stuff Your Politics before singing the classic Fluffer they close by insisting we all Grab Our Lives closing a great fun set that went down a treat.
By this point it was time for some supper club punk, so we got some Mash and took our seats in the Opera House so that Menace could entertain us while we ate, listening to Noel singing about the Chaos Machine and the Insane Society we are living in. The rallying call of I'm Still Alive was felt by loads of us as they brought on the bands special guest Leigh Heggarty from Ruts DC for Party Animal the extra guitar added A good bit of grit to the sound so we could all sing along to Fuck You followed by the ever classic but very historical GLC before as usual closing with Last Years Youth that they certainly are.
As we were comfy we stayed in the Opera House for Blyth Power who I've seen with various line-ups since the mid 80's, this one features Joseph Porters son on lead guitar, the 4 piece opened with Morning Come Home that was driven along by Josephs super tight drums and the keyboards, although they sounded Indie Punk, the bands anarcho roots showed through on Cold War Comforts, that didn't mention the legendary sleeping bag. The highlight of the set for me was Going Down With Alice that had a cracking guitar solo and the keyboards really lifted this classic. 12 Apostles had plenty of bile in the lyrics no matter how innocent it may have sounded.
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It was then time to join the huge queue trying to get into the ballroom, to see what was allegedly the UK Subs last Rebellion appearance, before the band "retire" later in the year, although loads of people believe they will be back next year. By the time they came on the Ballroom was totally rammed, from the moment they launched into CID it was a total love in, as everyone went nuts to I Live In A Car that was pin sharp with Charlie loving every second of it. Emotional Blackmail kept the greatest hits feel going.
Endangered Species had Alvin Gibbs really going at it on bass as Stefan Haublein's drumming propelled Rockers forwards to help create a huge pit. Organized Crime was a huge sing along as the bile at the heart of NYC Police shone through set against Steve Straughan's coruscating guitar.
Down Here On The Farm was a huge emotional blast, as by the time they got to Party In Paris it was one huge party in the ballroom as everyone was looking for Tomorrows Girl, that was followed by an immense singalong to Warhead that led into Riot Squad, I think the whole place sung Stranglehold at full volume as the floor bounced with them, before they closed with a frenetic Guilty.
They were one of the only bands to get an Encore that was a blistering version of Keep On Running and the brilliant blast of Teenage that left everyone wanting more UK Subs.
We then went a little bit dazed over to the Opera House for the re-imagined Eater who are basically Andy Blade with Jo-Jo & The Teeth backing him, they were having riot being the first band of the weekend to sing about Wetbacks, they did a great glammy version of Jeepster as well as a rather understated low-slung take on Suffragette City that lacked some sleaze. Thinking Of The USA sounded totally on the money, plenty of balls as the band hammed it up brilliantly, before they closed with venomous take on You.
As it was non-stop we shot straight back to the ballroom to see Penetration, playing instead of the poorly Descendants, who along with the Damned had to pull out of the festival. Pauline was singing Sea Song as we got back into the ballroom, sounding as brilliant as ever, as they played one of the bands newer songs Makes No Sense before taking us all to the Promised Land that was of course Blackpool for Rebellion. They did a cool slow starting version of Free Money that built and built to a great climax, before a brilliant version of Come Into The Open that went almost straight into the classic Don't Dictate, as usual in recent years they did a cool dancefloor version of Beat Goes On before closing with Shout Above The Noise that probably didn't satisfy any Descendants fans in the room but all the Penetration fans were very happy indeed.
The yo-yo continued as we went back to the Opera House for The Members In Dub who were going all Kraut dub on The Model, although thankfully not in a Dunkelziffer stylee, Night Nurse was fit for a TV ad campaign as JC Carroll introduced the bands additional guitarist Richard England. Police Helicopter swirled around the cavernous Opera House before they sang about gentrification a subject in short supply in Blackpool. JC Carroll introduced Solitary Confinement as being something we've all became au fait with during lock down. Working Girl was as sweet as they got, before closing with a tasty dubbed out version of Sound of The Suburbs.
We stayed in the Opera House to give Big Country a chance, as we heard plenty of people who were against the current line-up, but to be honest this line-up was just as boring as the original line-up had been back in the day, from the opening 1000 Stars they were super tight and professional, great overblown jangling guitars with a great vocalist, but lacked charisma or anything special. Look Away was one of the songs I just about recognized as they told us this was the 40th anniversary tour for The Crossing. The Storm was far less tempestuous than the one raging outside the Winter Gardens and by the time they got to Harvest Home we were both yawning and decided to call it quits on day one leaving in search of some chips and some rest.
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author: simonovitch
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