My Corona: Rebellion 2024 Day 4
The Good Lady Punk Connoisseur and I were both starting to flag, though for her, it was nothing to do with the festival. Thankfully, with a negative Covid test to her name and a highly sought-after fried breakfast inside us, we powered on through.
1MU and GLPC at the Rebellion Festivals - ©dickslaughter.com
The Satellites at the Rebellion Festivals - ©1MU
Full disclosure: the main reason we saw The Satellites was because The Good Lady is friends with bassist Roger Millington. But I was happy to start the last day off with some classic, old-school punk. And this felt very old school – three chord songs, no messing about. Well, a bit of messing about – lead singer and self-described “exotic dancer” Derek Gibbs treated the hungover audience to some classic dad-dancing throughout the set.
Sten Gun of Convict Class at the Rebellion Festivals - ©dickslaughter.com
Things picked up significantly in the Arena with Australia’s Convict Class. Though channelling the anger of the original British punks, the initial aggression of vocalist Sten Gun turned throughout the set into a sardonic Antipodean wit that got funnier as the show went on. Taking in references to Prince Andrew and the tin foil hat brigade (the one which, thankfully, did not make a reappearance in Blackpool that day or, at time of writing, since), as well as the second cover of ‘Echo Beach’ I heard at Rebellion, the set ended with a song that every man on the planet can relate to – ‘Wank Sock’. It was the best demonstration of Aussie cock-rock I’d seen since Angry Anderson played the 1991 AFL halftime show. High praise indeed.
Rumkicks with a fan outside the Winter Gardens - ©dickslaughter.com
Rumkicks - ©1MU
We ignore Korean culture at our peril. The next (current?) cultural superpower has dominated pop music for years, but a new wave of Korean punk bands is beginning to reach our shores. Vanguard of this wave is Seoul’s Rumkicks, and though their garage-rock sound was not quite as aggressive as their look, they were still a lot of fun on Ballroom stage. A stage which is, according to lead singer Yeawon Jeong, bigger than her house. Even with a replacement bassist, they sound great together, and though some of their topics weren’t, shall we say, entirely relatable to a British crowd (‘Fuck Korea’ details the lack of disabled access on Korean public transport) they held the audience in the palms of their hands. A highlight of their repertoire was ‘Proud of Madness’, a challenge to South Korea’s historically somewhat backward attitude to mental ill-health.
Blyth Power at the Rebellion Festivals - © Phil Thorns
Despite their anarcho origins, Blyth Power seemed an odd fit for a punk festival, and their Opera House set didn’t quite come together for me in the way their acoustic set did. With their folk repertoire focusing on British history, particularly that of our national railways, they were a much better fit over at Almost Acoustic. Elsewhere, I had hoped to review Fräulein in the Pavillion, but during their first song, singer Joni Samuels somehow managed to chip her tooth, forcing a painful and very premature end to the set. For what it’s worth, the 60 seconds I heard sounded heavy as fuck. I would very much like to see them in full one day.
The Dollheads at the Rebellion Festivals - © Phil Thorns
I’m not sure what it is about children playing rock and roll, but there’s an outsider appeal to the idea that I find irresistible. Case in point, though they’ve long since grown up and stopped performing, I still listen to ShiSho. (There are, of course, exceptions to the rule.) So, hearing of Las Vegas’ The Dollheads, three siblings with a combined age lower than the average Rebellion attendee, this was something I had to hear. But despite none of them being old enough to drive a car, their sound belied their ages, and their female-fronted pop-punk stylings sounded far more polished than bands I’ve heard twice their age. Expect to hear a lot more about this group in the future.
Johnny Echols of Love at the Rebellion Festivals - ©dickslaughter.com
I have written before about the arguments people have about how many original members a band must have to still be that band. I shan’t do that in the case of Love, because a) the only version of Love that exists still features lead guitarist and surviving co-founder Johnny Echols, b) with the exception of the late Arthur Lee, this is the same band that have played together since the mid-90’s, and most importantly, c) they sound fantastic live. As well they ought, given 30 years of experience.
Rusty Squeezebox of Love at the Rebellion Festivals - ©dickslaughter.com
Fronted by charismatic lead vocalist Rusty Squeezebox (who, mercifully, doesn’t try to impersonate Lee), and backed up by members of Rusty’s other band, Baby Lemonade, there is nonetheless a magnet-like pull to Echols’ presence onstage, who may not be front and centre, but is undoubtedly the heart and soul of the group. The bulk of their Rebellion setlist came from their seminal 3rd album ‘Forever Changes’, which is perfectly okay with me, and while they couldn’t capture the haunted sound of the original recordings, they seemed to bring a new life and energy to the songs that is perfect for a festival crowd. Like Blyth Power, their presence at a punk festival seemed odd, but honestly, I couldn’t care less. Top stuff.
Meryl Streek at the Rebellion Festivals - ©1MU
Knowing nothing in advance but the name, I expected an act with a name like Meryl Streek to be a comedy drag act. I could not have been more wrong. Part of a new wave of Irish rap, along with the likes of Kneecap, and sharing a label with Bob Vylan, this is not even remotely comedic. This is deeply intense, highly personal, small P-political, punk-infused trap, delivered by a man pacing across the stage alone, apparently seething with rage like no other act I had seen all weekend. I’d remark that one could see the whites of his eyes, though his contact lenses made that unavoidable. The show became even more intense when he left the stage to form his own, one-man pit in the audience – pacing, always pacing, looking like he’s about ready to knock the teeth off anyone daring to make eye contact with him. Maybe he’s playing a character, but he didn’t slip for a second. If there was an overall sense from this weekend that punk had become safe, Meryl Streek sought to make it dangerous again. Fair play.
By this point, the Good Lady was done for. With a 6-hour journey ahead of us, we made the decision to leave early. Within 12 hours, she would test positive for Covid, and I would follow suit within a week. Was Rebellion worth the illness? For me, I think so. This was my first punk festival, and across the weekend, within a single subculture, I saw such a variety of sounds and styles, as well as solidarity with the wider community against a backdrop of national race riots, that despite all the bad stuff in the country right now, I couldn’t help but feel proud of this community. Diverse, inclusive, all soundtracked by good honest-to-god rock and roll. But I might wear a mask next year.
Andy Scott of The Sweet - ©dickslaughter.com
Before leaving though, we had one last band to see - The Sweet. I thought I’d seen them a year earlier in Venice Beach, CA. The truth, as it turns out, is far more complicated…
to learn more, read
A Tale of Two Sweets: Rebellion 2024 and Beyond
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