Rebellion Festival 2022 - Thursday 4th August

Rebellion Festival - Thursday 4th August 2022

They have cancelled their upcoming European tour'. This was the message I received in the 'Leeds Bad Religion Fan Club' group on social media, five days before the festival was due to begin. This was hugely disappointing news. The reason for the cancellation was 'a family emergency', and we suspected instantly that it might be something to do with the wife of bassist Jay Bentley, who has expected to give birth around this time. Thankfully, we heard the news two weeks later that mother and baby had come through and survived what was described as a life threatening & traumatic experience for them. Operation Rescue was completed. 

Now usually the cancellation of a heavyweight headliner doesn't have much impact on what is usually a stacked day of middleweight  American punk-rock bands. However, in a post-covid world, there weren't as many of these type of bands booked as usual, so it felt a little deflating. Despite this, there was a solid undercard of quality super-middleweight UK bands booked to fill the void. So for a change, rather than having to take it steady, and pace ourselves in the build up to the main event, we decided just to cut loose, go all in, and move from 0-100 by the time the third band had hit the stage.

I started the day at the introducing stage to catch MONDO WAVE, who were decent, and had a catchy SLAVES meets SLEAFORD MODS-esque song in their set. I thought this was going to be MONDO WAVE on MONSTER ZERO RECORDS, whose releases sounded like AGENT ORANGE surf style punk rock. Maybe it was the same band with a new style, maybe they are a completely different band [answers on a postcard would be nice], whichever the case, they were a good warm up for the days action.  

We then hit the Empress Ballroom to see PIZZATRAMP from Wales. I'd heard good anecdotes about the band, and after seeing their set, I can see why there is good chatter about the band. Essentially it was fast punk-rock, glued together by comedic banter from the singer, who was calling everyone from Bono, Taylor Hawkins, his band members, and merch crew, TOTAL CUNTS. It was highly amusing, and the rest of the crowd were lapping it up too. Middle fingers up all round.

Pizza Tramp

SUZI MOON from the USA had got some pre-festival hype from some of our crew, so we went off to the PAVILLION to see them/her play. They had style, panache, and solid structured songs; pulling off an impressive set to a packed audience. This was a nice surprise, and akin to the Rebellion experience of ending up seeing bands you've never heard of, and enjoying the result. 

Suzi Moon

Then it was back to the Empress ballroom for the safe pair of hands, WONK UNIT, who have grown into some form of modern epitome of what UK punk-rock is in 2022. A lot has to do with the charming personality of the singer, a lot has to do with carving out their uncommon style, and a lot has to do with years of relentless touring. They have become a seven piece band now, complete with keyboards; and they had us dancing down the front, throughout the whole set. It was great to see two UK bands, getting strong reactions, and large audience on the main stage at such an early point of the festival - well deserved. 

Wonk Unit

We had previously seen THE BOUNCING SOULS on the outside stage of the festival, many years ago, and they were all decked in casual clothes, looking like respectable family men going to a PLAY DATE. This time round they came out on stage, looking like the Bouncing Souls of old, with the singer sporting his classic Oi! hat. I must say that they were pretty remarkable this time around, playing lots of old classics to keep the fans happy.  

The Bouncing Souls

The same can't be said for ANTI-FLAG, who hardly played any old songs, and it was 90% of their later material. Which was a shame, because I stopped listening to any of their new material after 2003, however, all those new songs are probably what got them over to a larger crowd, and a large crowd they did attract. It was the usual modern day Anti-Flag, lots of showboating with jumps, spins, crowd clapping, breakdowns in the songs, and even a punk rock homage medley - all the hallmarks of what you'd find at a GREEN DAY concert. There is no doubt about their artistic talent, and I have huge profound respect for their outspoken political messages, which is still going strong 30+ years later, even though there has been waves, where this style was no longer cool anymore; but the Anti-Flag of my youth is no longer making my heart beat like it once did. 

Ant-Flag

By this stage, I had drunk far too many pints of IPA from the newly welcomed, FARMERS BAR pop-up, so I decided to take some down time, by going to get some food. My stomach was very happy about this, but then I started to get insanely bad hiccups. So I went to the local Co-Op, only to find they had sold out of Gaviscon (sign of the times - Buckfast still available, Gaviscon out of stock). Thankfully there was a kind punk on hand, who gave me a check up, and then donated to me some RENNIE to help ease the pain. I then took some solace in the dark Theatre stage watching parts of the JOE STRUMMER & JOY DIVISION movies, managing to finally get rid of the hiccups. It was around this time that NEVILLE STAPLE was due to play, but unfortunately he had cancelled too. I also had well-meaning ideals to tick the box and see HAWKWIND, but the outside stage seemed so far away at that point, so I went up to the Spanish Hall to watch some FEROCIOUS DOG (Acoustic). Simon the Gardener is a massive fan, and he's unsuccessfully tried to get us to like them in the past, even persistently when we wind him up calling them the MUMFORD & SONS of punk rock. I will actually now take that all back, as they were a really enjoyable watch.

Honest Tom & I were excited about rounding off the night by watching THE DEECRACKS who are on MONSTER ZERO RECORDS, which is basically the 'go to' label for any modern bands that play pogo power punk like SCREECHING WEASEL. Unfortunately there weren't many people around in the large venue, and despite our best efforts to get a pit going, it fell flat, and the night petered out unceremoniously.  

The next morning, despite the absence of a heavyweight headlining band, the actual real main event of any trip to Blackpool, is of course the Punk Rock Mini Golf Tournament, held at the challenging links course outside the entrance of the Pleasure Beach. Some training earlier in the week at a new crazy golf course in Leeds paid off, as I was successfully able to hold off two-time champion Honest Tom, and plucky newcomer Nat On A Rope, taking command on the back three holes to take the title, joining Mellortron as a two time winner. 

Even though the day didn't turn out as expected, it was fun to experience the event in a different way this time around; and it definitely gave me the impetus to go for another full weekend in the future, rather than our usual Thursday day trip. Most importantly, in a post Covid world, it was just great to be out reconnecting with the people and the music again. 

Another round of mini-golf?