Guildford rocked and skanked to bring in the Spring with Undercover Festival XII - Ruth Rae reports on all the action..
Returning to Suburbs at The Holroyd, Guildford from 5th to 7th April for its twelfth consecutive outing, Undercover Festival brought a fantastic variety of alternative music to the town over jam-packed three days!
Punktuation’s Ruth Rae was present throughout to capture the atmosphere of this friendly festival, where both fans and bands all enjoy great music together in the pit and over a pint or two!
The justifiably popular Red Anger took to the stage next, dedicating their set to the memory of Janine Ray, the late singer of Stone Heroes and a friend to many here, who we sadly lost to cancer just last month. “We’re going to wing it” announced frontman Jamie Red, who then proceeded to belt out a choice pick of songs from both the stage and his preferred spot in the middle of the audience!
A short break to get the beers in, and it was time for the mighty Rage DC – on fire as always with their fast and insanely catchy Punk anthems! An array of band T-shirt clad fans lined the barrier to jump and sing to favourite songs including ‘Make A Noise’, ‘Austerity’, ‘I’ve Had Enough’, and set closer ‘RIP Mr VIP’.
Tonight’s headliners Subhumans completely filled the dancefloor with keen moshers wanting to enjoy the best of this Wiltshire Anarcho-Punk band! Frontman Dick Lucas held them all in the palm of his hand as Subhumans’ 110mph wall of sound got everybody going.
At the end of their set, the sweat-soaked jovial crowd celebrated another top performance from these cracking headliners while the band took pride in a job well done, having conveyed their message to the eager masses.
Tonight’s afterparty band Night Of Treason closed the live music part of the festival with a selection of their own material and a few Clash covers. These guys rarely play, which is a shame as they are so good – it was an honour to welcome them up from Portsmouth. The rest of the crowd agreed, calling for favourites such as ‘Speed and Glue (& Rock ‘N’ Roll)‘ and ‘This is My Town‘, which they duly gave us to everyone’s delight!
Undercover organiser Mick Moriarty took to the mic for ‘White Riot‘ then the whole crowd joined in for a joyful rendition of the Sex Pistols ”Pretty Vacant’!
Those still eager to strut their stuff finished the night dancing to DJ Murph‘s record collection, while I drove home, still buzzing from a marvellous evening of upliftingly good music and friends.
Main Photo Credit: RUTH RAE
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Usually found jumping around down the front at gigs, I also relish taking photos and videos, singing, speaking with fellow music fans, and asking musicians the questions nobody else does. Writing about my favourite bands and connecting with people who love music too keeps me more-or-less sane! I’ve worked for over 25 years at a video production company, mainly filming live music events, therefore I have an additional backstage perspective on the scene.
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