Sunday 10 August 2025.

THE REBELLION FESTIVAL returns to Blackpool. The UK's biggest and best punk related festival returns. Rebellion Festival is the largest INDEPENDENT Punk / Alternative music festival in the world. Over 4 days every August in Blackpool the global punk community gather for the social event of the year. Over 300 bands, over eight indoor stages , over four days. Thursday 7th August 2025 Friday 8th August 2025 Saturday 9th August 2025 Sunday 10th August 2025 Highlights will include The Damned, Peter Hook & The Light, PiL, Hugh Cornwell, The Selector, Bad Manners,Slaughter and The Dogs, Desperate Measures, Neville Staple From The Specials,Mick Rossi Acoustic , Anti Nowhere League, DOA , Maid Of Ace, The Priscilla's, The Undertones,The Avengers, UK Subs, Circle Jerks, Ruts DC, TV Smith and the Bored Teenagers, The Exploited, Girlschool , Gimp Fist , 999, The Molotovs, Millencolin , Slady ,Wreckless Eric , The Wall, Chelsea , Menace, The Nightingales, Ed Tudor Pole and many more. -------------- Wednesday 06 August 2025. Went up by train to Blackpool the day before the festival starts. I booked my hotel and train and then was told my press wristband has been cancelled, as the event was now sold out and the press list has been cut. So not sure how much of the festival i will see, but there is plenty of other things to do. Maybe it is a blessing , as several hours each night of standing at my age can be very tiring. I got my bearings from my other years i attended the festival. My accom is very near the venue which is very handy.....just a 3 minute walk. Blackpool is a great value destination compared to my London prices. £7.75 for a three course meal can be found here ......and plenty of pubs and bars for £3 a pint or less. Still sad to see so many boarded up hotels, shops and houses. Lots of homeless and druggies and alcoholics around. Lots of folks in their mobility scooters. Lots of punk rockin' friends and folks i know up here. Everyone seems to be smoking and vaping and eating chips. Spent the afternoon down by the seafront to get the sea breeze and a bit of sunshine, which ended up being a daily routine Thankfully we did not get any of that bad weather Scotland has been getting. It is not long before i get some Scottish notes in my change. -------- Thursday 07 August 2025. There is an amazing atmosphere here , as the majority of folks arrive. Many have not got tickets, and just sit in the main square and drink and chat. Photographers taking photos of the coloured hairstyles . The fringe events here are great , as over a dozen of the local pubs are putting on free punk bands live, we have a mooch around a few of them. at 9pm we come across Welsh punk rockers FOREIGN LEGION who play a really good 60 mins set of tunes including a cover of Sham 69's 'If the kids are united' with several of their fans joining in. ------- Friday 08 August 2025. Spent a few hours in Lytham St Anne's . It is about 30 minutes away from Blackpool. It brings back memories as it's the first time i have been here for over 20 years , when I brought my parents and two boys here. The houses and gardens are much nicer than Blackpool. The pubs, bars and restaurants are all more upmarket . The windmill and RNLI lifeboat station are still here . The beach area is oddly set 100 yards after some grassy area. Came across a theatre called The Lowther Pavillion, which I had never heard of before. Could not believe my eyes when I saw a poster of John Lydon . He is performing his Q n A show here later in the year. Lots of well known tribute acts are playing there. -------- Saturday 09 August 025. Today was an excellent day , as did all the airshow , and then the bands. Day 1 of BLACKPOOL AIRSHOW....2pm to 5.30pm. The air display was really good . A massive crowd on the seafront of multi-thousands . It was a bit windy today, but nothing serious . Started off with an excellent 20 mins of The Red Arrows and finished with a very loud roar from a Royal Air Force supersonic jet. Every 15 mins a plane or group of planes would come along and do their tricks for 10 mins each ...really great to watch. We even had a couple of human wingwalkers. then the bands at Rebellion.... THE GONADS on at 6.30pm for their 40 mins set. They are fronted by Garry Bushell. Garry was a music journalist for Sounds music paper , and pretty much made the term " Oi! music " his own, as he championed Oi! bands and brought out Oi! compilations. Nice fun cockney lyrics about boozing , women and SE London. Garry said it was their second last ever gig. I saw a few tracks of TV SMITH solo set. One of three different sets he is playing at the festival. NEVILLE STAPLE on stage at 8.30pm for 60 mins. Eight on stage , including two man brass . Ex The Specials rude boy legend has suffered ill-health recently , but was on top form tonight , as most of his set was The Specials classics, that got everyone dancing . PETER HOOK AND THE LIGHT on stage at 10pm for 60 mins. An excellent set of Joy Division classics including ' She's Lost Control', 'Isolation' , ' Transmission', 'Ceremony' , ' Love Wil Tear Us Apart' and ending with a rousing ' Anarchy in the UK' dedicated to John Lydon and The Sex Pistols . Hooky's set was the best I saw all weekend ..superb. SLAUGHTER AND THE DOGS on at 11.30pm for 60 mins They still feature original.nembrts Mick Rossi and Howard Bates....lots of great SATD tracks from their early albums. Mick Rossi on guitar as cool as ever. Full SATD setlist played tonight .. Now I Know The Bitch Runaway You're a Bore What's Wrong Boy? White Light/White Heat ( The Velvet Underground cover) Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run) ( Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus cover) Chasing Me Dame to Blame Hell in New York Boston Babies East Side of Town ( dedicated to Eddie Garrity R.I.P.) Cranked Up Really High Encore: The Golden Age of Rock'N'Roll h(Mott The Hopple cover ) You're Ready Now ( Frankie Valli cover) SLADY on stage at 00.45am for their 50 mins. All female Slade tribute band have a male drummer tonight, and play a great set of those Slade anthems. A tiring long day , but totally excellent overall. -------- Sunday 10 August 2025. Day 2 of BLACKPOOL AIRSHOW....2pm to 5.20pm Back again to see all of the air show display. This time the supersonic jet opened proceedings , and The Red Arrows arrived at 5pm for their 20 mins to close the display. It was mostly the same planes as yesterday, but today we had a group of parachutists , holding a giant Union Jack flag. then , the bands at Rebellion ... Sundays here are always the weakest line-up as organisers know many folks leave on Sunday to get back for their jobs . CHELSEA on stage at 5.30pm for their 45 mins set. Gene October is still here , aged 72. He was one of the original punk rockers ,but for whatever reason never got the success of some of the others. Great to hear the singles ' Urban Kids ' (1980) and ' Right to Work' (1977) again. MENACE on stage at 7.25pm for their 45 mins set. Original member Niel Martin is still here, aged 70. They like Chelsea were an original punk band from 1977 , but never had big success. Great to hear gems like ' Screwed Up' and ' GLC' , with all the crowd singing along. THE STIFFS on stage at 8.35pm for their 45 mins set. The band formed in the late 1970s and feature all four original members , after disbanding for many years. They were more new wave / power pop and had minor hits with ' Inside Out' and a cover of ' Goodbye My Love' which were both played tonight. THE WALL on stage at 9.45pm for their 50 mins. They were another band from the late 1970s. They released two albums before disbanding. Their sound was more guitar led new wave tracks. One original.member , as two of them recently passed away WRECKLESS ERIC. On stage at 11pm for his 60 mins . Good to see him and his band as he does not play live that often. He had some fun stage banter between tracks. He was on thr original Stiff Records tour in the late 1970s, but never had the success of Elvis Costello or Nick Lowe Great to hear his classic single ' Whole Wide World'. The Rebellion Festival was really great as usual.

Posted 4th August 2025