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Review: 'REBELLION FESTIVAL 2016 (DAY THREE)'
'Blackpool, Winter Gardens, 6th August 2016'   


-  Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'

Our Rating:
Day Three. Bands included in this review: Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions, Anti-Social, Interrobang, Gimp Fist, B Bang Cider, Culture Shock, Angelic Upstarts, G.B.H., Ruts DC, Steve Ignorant & Paranoid Visions.

Day Three started with another walk along the beach and this time the tide had gone out just enough for there to be some actual beach to walk on.

We got into the Tower Street Arena in good time to see Spunk Volcano & The Eruptions play their normal cartoon punk kind of set. They did a great version of Shit Generation and Spunk took the piss as well as ever in his mask and pants. I liked the song about owning an XR3 and they certainly do the trick as a good hair of the dog band.

We then went into the Arena for Anti-Social who are angry as fuck old school skinhead oi punk band. As ever, they sang about fighting and drinking and maybe sniffing some glue. They looked like they wanted to have a punch up as soon as they could arrange one.

Back to the Pavilion to see Interrobang whose singer walked through the room yelling into a loud hailer on his way on stage, which proved a memorable entrance. They were rather dapper and looked like they were all mods, but they sounded more like a cross between The Fall and The Nightingales, the latter of whom I managed to miss elsewhere at Rebellion. Still they were angular and angry and hectoring all while the guitarist sampled himself to build tracks as they played. It was sort of cool.

We went back outside to the Tower Street Arena for Gimp Fist who told us last year that it was their last show and they were breaking up. Well, I guess that didn't happen then. They sounded just like you'd expect from them - good Oi!punk basically. High spots were Heart Full Of Pride and a new song written about playing at Rebellion On The Beach and no, it sounds nothing like Neil Young. They also got the singer's kid up on stage to sing and play guitar on one song which seemed to be a bit of a theme.

It was then back into The Pavilion for B Bang Cider from Dusseldorf who were one of the bands who played the first festival 20 years ago when it was called Holidays In The Sun. They are pretty full-on glam-punk and remind me a good bit of The Slags crossed with L7 but with a singer who's a bit like Vi Subversa. They did a good cover of the UK Subs' Warhead and were well worth seeing. Indeed, the singer sported one of the best outfits of the weekend. A skin tight black body suit with a sugar skull style skeleton printed on it.

Then it was back to the Tower Street Arena for Culture Shock, the second of Dick Lucas' three bands. This lot play anarcho vegan dub-punk-ska with lots of issues and very few tissues. Pressure sounded great and they blasted away at us and got loads of people dancing. Dick really knows how to get the place going and of course you can go and buy a Culture Shock baby grow for your grand-kids.

We then had to take a dinner break as Pizza was needed to help get us through the second half of day three. We went back to the Tower Street Arena in time for Angelic Upstarts who opened with the sing-along anthem Tories Out and had the whole place going in no time as the band's 4 singers really weren't Too Many Voices. More like just right as they got everyone singing along to their classic Terrace chant street punk.

Solidarity was dedicated to the trade unions and anyone fighting for representation. Naturally, it went down a storm as did Anti-Nazi. Red Flag left no doubts as to where they were coming from unless you are in the US where that could mean you support Trump which is something the Upstarts wouldn't dream of doing.

By the time they played Police Oppression it seemed like everyone there was singing along with them. They closed with the classic The Murder Of Liddle Towers and damn it sounded great as did their whole set. One of the highlights of the day and no mistake.

We stuck around for G.B.H. who sounded pretty much the same as last year and they have their act honed damn well. It certainly isn't an act of Necrophilia to see them blast away at us live they are urgent and still pretty potent. State Execution was scarily good. This Means War felt like they had massed at the border and were about to invade. Well until Colin started kicking the blow up football back into the crowd, at least.

They certainly didn't Self Destruct even if they do still fancy Big Women. Kids Get Down is not as funky as the title suggests but it was an urgent punk anthem. They closed with a great take on Diplomatic Immunity that saw one of the two Colins punching the air like he really cared.

We then went and took a seat in the Opera House for Ruts DC as we could do with a sit down by this point. Surprise was the first surprise of the set but really they sound as great as ever and Mighty Soldier has a great air of menace about it. No Time To Kill had a tasty bass rumble.

They did a very cool version of Police & Thieves with Segs really emphasising the words before it led into Jah War which got the place really going. New song Music Must Destroy sounds much like the old songs and has enough bile in it to keep us all happy. Mr Ruffy really nailed the drums on Staring at The Rude Boys and by the time they finished off with Babylon's Burning and In A Rut the place was on its feet and everyone was skanking. A great set.

We then went and saw Steve Ignorant and Paranoid Visions who are an 8 piece hectoring machine set to the heart of telling it like it is and then moaning and complaining about it as they try to provide the solution. To be honest, after about 4 or 5 songs we'd had enough and decided to call it a night as eating some bad chips on the front was a far better prospect than having Mr Ignorant lecturing us about the worlds ills for one more second.
  author: simonovitch

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