REBELLION FESTIVAL – Winter Gardens, Blackpool 7-10th August 2025

Are music festivals that take place indoors the future? Oh I don’t know, maybe it’s just the slow transition from being a party loving rock animal to a bit of a boring old fart that makes me think like that! Yes, when the sun is out and you have a cold beer in your hand, a festival can be the best place in the world but if it is pissing it down with rain and you are paying a fortune on beer and added to the fact that you have had less than an hours sleep each night because the people you are camped next to insist on an impromptu karaoke each night…..well, maybe being an old fart is the way forward.

Rebellion takes place in the beautiful Winter Gardens in Blackpool which is situated about 100 metres from the sea and for the last 29 years punk rockers from all over the world descend upon this North Western seaside town each year and have the time of their lives. With music coming from all the different rooms in this grand venue from 12-2am each day, it really is becoming one of my favourite weekends of the year. And it is not just the music, there is a wonderful Arts And Crafts area where you can pick up Punk fashion/Punk literature/Punk Art and even Punk Dolls if that is your thing, but it is the room next to the Arts And Crafts , the Rebellion Literature Stage where I will start this review!!

Literature Stage

OK, I will admit it, maybe I am an old fart but one of the things that I love about Rebellion is hearing people’s stories. Artists as diverse as HR from Bad Brains, Edward Tudor Pole, Steve Ignorant (Crass) to heavy metal vixens Girlschool come to Rebellion each year. They talk about their lives, careers, hopes and dreams as well as the times when things just didn’t go to plan in an honest, entertaining, funny (although in some cases desperately sad if anyone listened to Mike Peters from The Alarm at last year’s event be so candid just months before he passed away.) Interviewed by the likes of Jon Robb (Louder Than War/Membranes/Goldblade and Blackpool lad to boot), Guy Shankland (Vive Le Rock/I, Danny Wildheart) etc. it is amazing to hear the passion with which these musicians or writers  talk about their careers and the greatest loves in their lives….music!

This year, the artist I enjoyed most talking about their career must have been Pauline Black from The Selecter. I had recently seen her wonderful film, Pauline Black – A 2Tone Story which traces her career and battles against racism that have plagued her whole life. Black’s story is quite incredible and she recalled many poignant stories but it was when she talked about her sidekick from The Selecter, Arthur ‘Gaps’ Hendrickson who had sadly passed away just months before the film was finished…well it was emotional to say the least.

On Friday, Chumbawumba appeared on stage together for the first time in decades,  talked about their career, reminisced about John Peel, appearing on Top Of The Pops and how they would use the money that they had gained from their biggest hit, Tubthumping to help causes that were close to their heart. They were brutally honest about how they split but also about how much love and respect was still there for their bandmates. Honesty was again noticeable when heavy rock veterans Girlschool took to the Literature Stage with tales of touring in a mini bus with Motorhead  and recording the classic , Please Don’t Touch , partying with Ozzy Osbourne (who had only passed away a few days earlier) and how they got on like a house on fire with The Damned!

Steve Ignorant, the ex singer of Crass is a Rebellion veteran and speaks at the Literary Stage most years but this year’s performance saw him count down 10 records that had changed his life. It really was fascinating hearing him talking about reggae and even early rap and the effect it had on him. The maddest interview on the Literary Stage must have been HR, singer with the seminal band Bad Brains. The man is a legend in hardcore punk, changing his name to HR (short for Human Rights), HR is known for being one of the true great frontmen in rock history, performing back flips from a standing position to jumping into the crowd and singing whilst riding on a wave of hands without missing a single beat. But HR is now just about to turn 70 years of age and he is very frail but one thing that will always remain is the twinkle in his eye. His memory is as sharp as ever and it was truly special hearing a man so important to what we now know as hardcore punk, talk about his creative life!

Thursday

When the first act that you see at a festival is Evil Blizzard. They are booed as they walk on to the stage which is obviously something that gives these Northern gentlemen a sense of intense pride. It is almost impossible to be able to describe what an Evil Blizzard show actually is, especially with my rather awkward use of English. They immediately get this Blackpool crowd on their side by saying, “Hello Blackburn”, ar first I thought this may have been a mistake but by the it’s third repeat I can see that getting under people’s skins is a prime objective. Throughout this whole weekend bands will try to get the crowd on their side but Evil Blizzard really couldn’t care less and that makes me love them more! The songs are wonderful, almost trance like with Belly Of A Whale and Are You Evil? particular favourites and by the time the Blizzard play final song Knock, Knock,Knock incorporating Black Sabbath’s War Pigs only days after Ozzy Ozbourne had left us….well I can only think that Ozzy would have been an Evil Blizzard fan and would have worn one of their masks with glee.

The Club Casbah Stage sees Essex boys Death Of Guitar Pop grace Rebellion for the second year in a row. Death Of Guitar Pop make me want to dance and for a 53 year old overweight Irish man , this is some achievement. Ska Is The Bollix….not my words but that of Top Kat and Silky who share vocals in band and they have the crowd eating out of their hands from the very start (and they seem like good lads who would wash them hands so all good!) Tracks like First In/Last Out and Back Of A Lorry, both describe characters of rather unscrupulous nature but do it behind a smile. Love is sent out from the stage to Rancid (who are surely due a Rebellion return) and the set finishes with 69 Candy Street and I am kind of hoping that Death Of Guitar Pop make it three Rebellion appearances in a row next August!

Elvana do their Elvis Presley/Nirvana mash up well and the crowd are loving it. It is the first time that I have actually seen the band and they are rather entertaining on first sight with jumpsuits and cheerleaders agogo but next up on the Empress Ballroom Stage are one of my highlights of the weekend, the wonderful Circle Jerks! The current line up is pretty incredible, led by motormouth Keith Morris, Greg Hetson (ex Bad Religion/Redd Kross) on guitar, joined by Zander Schloss(The Weirdos) on bass and on drums Joey Castillo (The Bronx/The Hives), and in that list of bands are three or four of my favourites so it was down the front I must go! We are treated to so many classics from the Circle Jerks but some other gems such as Coup Detat, Moral Majority by Dead Kennedys and of course Keith’s old band Black Flag! I hope this is not the last time our paths cross!!!

Friday

Desperate Measures are Rebellion veterans but this year are on one of the grandest stages in this wonderful venue, the Opera House. Led by Eugene Butcher this band will be celebrating their 45^th Anniversary next year and they go down very well with this crowd. Starting with two newer songs, Back To The Rats and Mutual Destruction the band go through their 44 years picking out gems from the past like 1984, Enjoy The Ride and recent classic Seven Sisters. The drum stool is occupied by James Sherry (Dealing With Damage/Done Lying Down) and he keeps us pogoing right to the end!

The Empress Ballroom has Yorkshire rockers Random Hand with front man Robin all over the stage (and occasionally in the crowd) singing (and er, tromboning!) their set! Tracks from the whole twenty odd year career have the audience in their palms. On a Ska tip, my favourite band of the day is undoubtably The Selecter. Pauline Black leads the band through a wonderful set with all the classics there, Too Much Pressure, On My Radio and Three Minute Hero all sounding as fresh and important as they did when The Selecter came out of Coventry in the late 1970’s. There is a really healthy crowd (especially when you realise that The Selecter are up against The Damned) and they lap up every minute of tonight’s show!!

Ferocious Dog play the Acoustic stage and prove to us that when they focus on their acoustic instruments they can be as raucous as ever as they go through their back catalogue. Singer (and genuinely lovely human being) Ken Bonsall leads his vagabonds through Dog classics like Sus Laws and More Dogs, More Blacks, More Irish and when he says “I Bloody Love Blackpool!”….well you know he isn’t lying!

The Undertones are returning to Blackpool where they played a few years ago on a stage right on the beach, this time they grace the beautiful Empress Ballroom. Front man Paul McLoone has a wonderful Jarvis Cocker like delivery of songs that although many of which may have been made famous by Fergal Sharkey, he makes his own. Bass player Michael Bradley often introduces the songs and as a fellow Irish who may have kissed the Blarney Stone myself…he is great craic as we saw back home! The band are as tight as anything with guitars provided by the O’Neil brothers and drummer Billy Doherty making sure that the tempo is kept up! All the classics receive an airing, Jimmy Jimmy, My Perfect Cousin and John Peel favourite Teenage Kicks all sound wonderful! I have heard these songs in concert countless times over the years but I still get that adrenaline shot when I hear them. My two favourites of the set though are My Perfect Cousin (I can never get that sight of the band all playing Subutteo in the video out of my head !) and True Confessions with that warble like vocal!!!

Saturday

I, Doris who have a very busy Rebellion 2025 as they not only play the Opera House stage but they are also curating a stage all day on the Sunday. Ex Senseless Things/3 Colours Red guitarist Ben Harding put on the pinny for the first time for this show. Tracks like HRT, Cowboy and In The Ladies all sound great but I think my favourite must be their cover of Up The Junction by Squeeze. Enjoyable I must say!

The Molotovs are a three piece who I am sure you will be hearing a lot from in the coming months. Reminiscent of The Jam in their more amphetamine filled moments, the really are something special live. Tracks like More, More,More and Today’s Going To Be Our Day are wetting the appetite for their debut album, Wasted On Youth and our American friends will be lucky enough to be able to catch the band on tour with the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter in Dallas on the 16^th September!!

Roman Jugg who was incredibly entertaining on the Literary Stage last year, telling his musical journey from Wales to joining The Damned,

is back this year on the Rebellion Acoustic Stage. He has brought a couple of his mates and he is as entertaining as always, dropping in Monty Pythonesque humour of the ‘wafer thin mint’ and playing some cracking tunes from his past with The Damned as well as the odd cover like Gigolo Aunt by Syd Barret. A raconteur of the highest order!

Neville Staples from The Specials had been warned by his doctors to not take the trip to Blackpool following some ill health but there was no stopping this 2Tone legend from taking the stage. I think it is only now that The Specials are no more that it truly sunk in what a wonderful and important band they were. In a time where the nation was divided in regards to race it was bands like The Specials who made it very clear that Britian is a far better place when we stand (and indeed dance) together. And let’s not forget the songs…Nightclub, Monkey Man and Ghost Town all sound as wonderful as they did when I first heard them in the late 70’s/early 80’s (and in my opinion if there was one song that summed up Britian at that time, well Ghost Town is it!). Chants of Rude Boy fill the air all the way through this amazing set and when set closer, Enjoy Yourself gets an airing…well Neville, thanks to you, I really did!!!

The rest of my night had me remain in the Empress Ballroom to see two bands that I have previously reviewed for TotalRock so I won’t repeat myself but Peter Hook And The Light were superb and we were lucky to get to see them as Peter Hook was forced to cancel the two gigs that were due to follow Rebellion to receive surgery on his shoulder. Their set was a wonderful run through the best of Joy Division with the band sounding great and to end with a Sex Pistols track in a nod to tonight’s headliner, well you won’t get any complaints from me or anybody else in the Winter Gardens tonight. Speaking of Mr John Lydon, PiL follow and play a great set. I am not the biggest fan of their new logo and maybe I would have liked a few more tracks played instead of tracks like Warrior being extended in a hypnotic way but I will also admit that I would say I am in the minority and the band went down really well! If I had to say a favourite moment from Pil’s set I would say it is a battle between Poptones and Rise with Rise winning on a technical knockout!

Sunday

It’s my 4^th Day of rocking in a row and what I really could do with is a bit of a chill, I should wander around Blackpool trying to find the best deal I can on a multi pack of Blackpool rock  for our lad and a ‘Kiss Me Quick’ hat for the missus! But no, not only is my final day of Rebellion filled to the brim with punk rock action it actually begins at 11am with an extra gig thrown in for the good measure!!

I say gig, this is so much more!!! This is a battle. This is a grudge match. This is two bands not only putting their punk rock credentials on the line but the reputations of both the UK and US Punk rock respectability on the line. This ladies and gentlemen is….

The Attack (USA) v Pet Needs (UK) – This is no longer a punk rock show but a duel in wit and er, punk rockiness and it is a joy to behold! Right from the start I can see that both Johnny and his brother George from Pet Needs definitely have their game faces on. Johnny is pacing the stage like a tiger waiting to be unleashed upon these unsuspecting men from across the Atlantic. They are bedecked in their boxing gear with both indulging in shadow boxing that obviously has The Attack possibly regretting coming up with this idea in the first place! Every round consists of each band playing 3 songs but it is the in-between banter that has this audience whooping like banshees. I would like to inform everybody who reads this review some of the jibes that were coming to and for, but for reasons of decency I feel I must not. The first round goes to Pet Needs as they unleash the big guns with tracks like Separation Anxiety and Scratch Card just proving too hard to cope with.

During the 2^nd Round though, The Attack show their class. They are veterans of this punk rock thing (and I am not dissing them for their age as Pet Needs do to these Punk Rock veterans from Florida). Referring to their opposition as the Pet Shop throughout it is a double blow in the form of The Attack playing Vagabonds and then referring to their opponents as the ‘dog and cat band’ that sees them winning the 2^nd Round easily.

The deciding round was surely the most difficult to score. It starts with The Attack bringing out a punk version of Bad Moon Rising and them pronouncing that “We are The Attack from the USA, you must be the UK” IN TRUE Spinal Tap tomfoolery but Pet Needs come to the fore, with a little bit of help from the Referee , Jake Martin who starts giving it to those Yanks before pronouncing Pet Needs as the winners!!! The place goes nuts but in a truly wonderful gesture both of these two battling bands, who have been like true Gladiators come together for a wonderful and rousing version of ‘Anarchy In The UK’ by the Sex Pistols (and surely they must be the band that will always be the defining artists in any battle between US and UK Punk!!!!) The best fun I have had on a Sunday morning since they stopped showing ‘The Banana Splits’ in 1978!!!

Back to Rebellion proper I go and to a band that I knew very little about before I saw the Stewart Lee film, King Rocker which tells so wonderfully the story of The Nightingales who are fantastic on the Opera House stage! With songs from their past as well as new cuts from their most recent album, Nightingales, the very healthy crowd are entertained with quality songs (some of which remind me of The Fall) and tracks like This Ain’t About Love and wait for it….some quality kazoo from singer Robert Lloyd…well I am now most definitely a fan! Veteran Canadian punks D.O.A. who are just about to celebrate their 48^th year are very entertaining with tracks from their back catalogue like Disco Sucks or You’re Fucked Up Ronald where he reminisces about the US having one very dodgy President while saying that nothing much had changed forty years later. We are treated to some covers and lots of laughs, I am sure they will be back at Rebellion.

And so to my final review from Rebellion 2025 and like all things, it is always good to end on a high. HR (yes, he of Bad Brains who was so enchanting on the Literary Stage earlier) has a rather cracking band behind him (including Spike who has previously played with Morrisey/Jolt amongst others). No, this isn’t the back flipping  hardcore legend who came out of  Washington DC in the late 70’s. No this is the elderly man (but with a definite glint in his eye)  who gives us a 45 minute dub reggae masterclass. Mr Human Rights still has a strong voice even though his body is frail and with tracks like Fools Gold or Peace And Love (with HR’s rendition of The Lords Prayer) had me with my hand in the air like some strange preacher offering praises.

This was a wonderful way for my Rebellion 2025 journey to end, but I am already looking forward to next year where Rebellion will be celebrating it’s 30^th Anniversary 6^th-9^th August 2026  with bands like Sham 69, Cockney Rejects, Subhumans, Culture Shock, Rezillos, GBH and many more already confirmed! Come and join me and we will share a bag of chips, have a pogo and we are in for a cracking weekend!