Rebellion Festival Day Two

The second day of Rebellion Festival started where the first one left off for a lot of people, judging by the level of drunkenness I witnessed outside the Winter Gardens at 12:30. The first band I happened upon seemed to be suffering too and I left after about a minute.

This gave me a chance to look around at some of the other stuff on offer, including an exhibition of punk art with items for sale. There was a lot of good stuff to see, but the artists seemed to think that the definition of art was ‘add a zero to the actual value of all items’.

By this point music was underway on four different stages, so it was time to roll the dice to determine who I should go and see. I ended up with Dipsomaniacs from Sunderland. They were pretty good for old fellas, but large sections of the audience could probably have used an interpreter for the between-song banter (sorry to any Mackems reading this (not really)).

Next I sampled the Olympia Stages. That’s right, both. They were in the same “room”, so as the action ended on one, it started again immediately on the other. I say “room” because, as the walls were clearly made of bricks and cement, the roof was clearly a tent. This meant that the whole place stank like some sort of sweaty campsite beer festival. The first two bands I saw there weren’t much cop either, but as good as could realistically be expected for lunchtime.

I happened on some alternative entertainment on my way to see the next band. The Goodfornothing Circus was, well it was like Ronseal. I then caught about 30 seconds of Eastfield (crap) on my way to see Pete Bentham and the Dinner Ladies (from Liverpool AND Widnes, we were reminded). Pete is only a short fella who would probably get at least silver in the looking-like-Willie-Carson Olympics and I’d seen him swaggering around thinking he was a rock star the previous day. Well done Pete, you opened the biggest stage in front of about 250 people and your music is shite.

I’d heard a couple of people talking about Victims of Circumstance, so I thought I’d risk them next. Thankfully it wasn’t the band of the same name that was around in Darlington in the early 90s. They served up a good slice of ska punk, guaranteed to put a smile on even the miserablest of faces (yes, even mine). The place was absolutely bouncing and I even saw a man in a Hawaiian shirt and Speedos dancing with an inflatable sheep. Their set was over all too quickly and I bought some CDs off them afterwards, mumbling something about them being “fucking brilliant” and fist-bumping the trombone player.

People’s recommendations are important when it comes to deciding who to go and see, and this was what made me check out acoustic troubadour, Billy Liar (thanks Loz). You can stick Frank Turner up your arse, because this fella really knew his onions. His 20 minutes were soon up and it was time for the evening to properly get started.

I’d been looking forward to The Stupids all day, so when a band came onstage and the singer announced “we’re The Stupids”, I felt a surge of excitement (or was that heartburn brought on by the KFC I had earlier?). Imagine my surprise when he then added “actually, we’re not. They couldn’t make it, so we’re some shit band from Manchester you probably don’t want to see.” And how right he was.

I then rattled through Napalm (German; sang one song in Finnish for some reason), The Restarts (“fuck the Olympics” was their opening gambit), Sick on the Bus (meh) and The Blame (reminded the audience they were from New York City at least 500 times; good cover of Safety Dance), before taking a break.

I found a venue where I could sit against the wall and relax for a while. The prog rock/punk/synth pop/techno/experimental twattery mash-up that was served to the audience meant I didn’t hang around there for long.

It was time to head to the venue where 7 Seconds would be playing in four hours to ensure I could actually get in. There were four bands to see there before the headliners and none of them made much of an impression. Crashed Out (Geordies), Drongos For Europe (nothing worth mentioning), Vince Ray and the Boneshakers (psychobilly) and Citizen Fish (fairly poor ska) all chipped in to make four hours feel like six.

By the time 7 Seconds took to the stage it was 1:10am. The venue was only 80% full at best because most people were next door in the ballroom watching Social Distortion (a lot of people were only at 7 Seconds because they were turned away from the full-to-capacity Social D show). A South African guy I’d spoken to before the show beamed like a kid at Christmas throughout, as did I probably. They played for almost an hour and packed in a good 20 songs as we all sang along and bounced around in a sweaty room. Highlight of the weekend so far.