Team Punktuation! are at the world's largest Punk festival in Blackpool, catching as many bands as they can!
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Rebellion Festival, the world’s largest annual Punk event, returns on August 6th to 9th to its long-standing home, the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.
Initially known as Holidays In The Sun, the Winter Gardens first opened its doors to mark the then 20th anniversary of Punk, hosting headliners X-Ray Spex, The Damned and Buzzcocks for the landmark three-day event back in 1996. Another thirty years on, and Rebellion Festival is going stronger than ever, as Punk rock celebrates its 50th anniversary! Interest in the music and culture show no sign of dissipating, and the last two years have seen the festival completely sell out across the four-day gathering.
For the fifth year running, our intrepid Punktuation! team of writers and photographers – in 2026: Ruth, Florian, Herman, Per-Åke and Phil – bring you daily reports (and look out for our Introducing Stage Special Review next week!) from Rebellion Festival 2026:
Saturday – Herman De Tollenaere’s Report
At the Literary stage, Steve English (original Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Selecter security man) was asked how he liked the festival, his first Rebellion. ”I love it!” He was born in London, and his parents were from Ireland. He went to a Roman Catholic school; they kicked him out as he had eaten meat on a Friday. They had wonderful Jamaican neighbours, influencing him to love ska and reggae. Later, the Nazi-aligned British National Party put him on a list of persons who should be physically attacked.
What are your best memories as a security guard? “Doing the security for Debbie Harry and Blondie for four years. On tours, my working days started with going to Debbie’s room, waking her up and telling her to pack her luggage. After four years, I got into a fight with an aggressive man and was sacked. My world collapsed, I turned to alcohol, cocaine and heroin. I managed to get out of that self-destructive behaviour. When I did security for The Clash, I found that Joe Strummer was so full of integrity, and that he was generous. When he heard that a small band did not have a bass guitar, he bought one for them.”
The next interview was with Mick Rossi, formerly of Slaughter and the Dogs, now of Gun Street. Gun Street played Rebellion in 2025 and part 1 of this interview was conducted, but Mick Rossi had plenty more to say. He was interviewed by John Robb . Last year, it had been about Slaughter and the Dogs in the 1970s. Now, it was about the present day.
Why a new Slaughter and the Dogs album? “I live in Los Angeles, and so does the Slaughter drummer. We wanted the vitality of early Slaughter, and still make a 2026 album. My other band, Gun Street, has a wider scope, and there will be a new Gun Street LP. When I emigrated to the USA, I at first wanted to leave the past behind, but now, I love reconnecting to Manchester”.
Baz Warne said that Stranglers bassist JJ Burnel had told him that he should write a book. He did, and it has since been published. “Our albums in the 1990s were a bit fewer than before or after. Singer Paul Roberts left in 2006, and we became a four piece. I was able to work very well with keyboardist Dave Greenfield. When Dave died, we thought that he was completely irreplaceable, but then, Toby turned up. We all, including Dave’s wife, welcomed him. Now, it is more difficult to get the band together for gigs, as we live further apart and we are getting older. However, there will be a new Stranglers album.”
Arturo Bassick, bassist of The Lurkers and later in Pinpoint and 999, always has interesting stories to tell. In 1987, the Lurkers reformed, as suggested by Campino of German band Die Toten Hosen.
Arturo was from a very poor working class family. “About 1970, I became a skinhead. I loved football, but hated football hooligans fighting. 1969 was my first concert, John Mayall. I saw a night with Roxy Music and Genesis, but I disliked both, and there were only forty people. After punk started, I auditioned with the Lurkers. After only one song, they accepted me as their bassist. The Lurkers in the studio recorded their songs much faster than Rick Wakeman in the same studio. After the Lurkers, I started Pinpoint.” (Does Arturo know that Honey Bane, when I interviewed her in 1979 for my fanzine, said she was a Pinpoint fan?) “The producer for Pinpoint was Martin Rushent. He was one of the first people to work with computers in the studio, and that did not click with us. I rejoined the Lurkers by chance as I had gone to a funeral.”
Next came Matt Dangerfield, vocals/guitar of The Boys. The Boys were founded in 1976, when Matt left Mick Jones and Tony James‘s fledgling punk band London SS to form a new band. They disbanded in 1982. The band reformed in 1999. Matt Dangerfield‘s new book ‘ROCK CHRONICLES – THE MATT DANGERFIELD INTERVIEWS 1989-2003‘ is released this month by Renegade Publishing.
He was interviwed by John Robb. Before punk, he loved soul music like Otis Redding. He first got involved in music as a graphic designer for bands. The interview was not about his band The Boys, but about his new book, Rock Chronicles, which contains interviews he did with various people in music – such as Malcolm McLaren. Matt had been told the interview would only be 20 minutes. But Malcolm liked Matt, and kept talking for an hour. “If you didn’t stop Malcolm, then he would talk endlessly; not boring, though”. Malcolm had not recognized Matt from when Malcolm had met the Boys in the 1970s.
Matt had not looked forward at all to interviewing Samantha Fox. He considered her just a Page Three girl from Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun. However, when he met her, she turned out to be a very nice person. “She organised concerts in places where her record label did not sell records, like India, where she filled stadiums”.
Saturday – Ruth Rae’s Report
My day starts with a band who it woudn’t be Rebellion Festval without – Los Fastidios opening Day 3 on the Empress stage! Yesterday morning they made the most of the Blackpool crowd to record a video for their new single ‘A Rebel, Not A Fool‘. Today, the hardest working Italian Ska Street Punks wake up our tired legs, and the sprung floor gets a good workout as the exuberance on stage is matched on the Ballroom floor. ‘A Rebel, Not A Fool‘ is particularly meaningful in the current climate of misinformation and extremist exploitation. An oasis of positivity, Los Fastidios shows always encourage us to be our best – vocalists Enrico and Elisa want us to believe that love will triumph over hate, and that our Punk family will come together to reject fascism. Enrico thanks us for supporting anti-fascist music, and the crowd clap along heartily in agreement. ‘Take a Stand’ is sung loudly by most of the large and supportive crowd!
Next I head upstairs to the Spanish Bar for an Almost Acoustic set from delightful duo Cherry & Peesh, soon to be celebrating a decade of their combined song / peoetry writing! Peesh (also of Logoz and Monkeys Blood) on guitar and vocals is a one-man songwriting machine, while Cherry B is a highly creative Punk poet, who always comes up with hilarious and topical numbers. There’s a new number, ‘Chemistry‘, which Cherry B based upon a personal story of addiction. Warning us that she doesn’t wish to offend, Cherry holds up a mask of UK ex-prime minster Margaret Thatcher – which we boo! She hilariously asks Peesh if he can play ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead‘ yet? This introduces one of their songs written for the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival ‘Alan‘, based upon Rik’s vile Tory MP character Alan B’stard. I sing along with the chorus!
Swedish Punks rockers Dead Pollys are a welcome addition to the festival – having seen them twice before, I know what to expect – but those in the Arena crowd who haven’t get a refreshing taste of their powerful songs and stage presence – or in singer Nizze‘s case, everywhere presence! Now including Nizze’s son Loke on guitar, Dead Pollys smash out a stunning set of favourites; Nizze a snarling whirlwind rushing through the crowd as he sings about ‘Idiots Like You‘ and encourages us to ‘Shoot ’em All‘! Bassist Juba gurns at everyone, adding a few choice comments in between songs, and guitarist Lenny dons a Trump hair and visor headpiece for ‘Smallest Man Alive‘. We’re all enouraged to hoist a solitary digit into the air (as the band do frequently) if we think we’re Punk.. A wide grin doesn’t leave my face during this set!
Back to the Empress for the legendary Subhumans, led as ever by the equally legendary Dick Lucas! The crowd are as up-for-it as the band, who are on excellent form; it’s great to see a full Ballroom for a full-on set, the front rows really going for it. Dick rightfully rails against animal testing of products for humans to use, before the band launch into ‘Evolution’, then the Reggae beat of ‘Human Error’ sees the first crowd surfer go over the barrier. Introducing ‘99%‘, about the 1% who think they own the rest of us, Dick cries “Freedom can’t be bought” which we cheer loudly! ‘New Age’ sees a fresh wave of crowd surfers, then the pit goes completely wild to ‘Fuck You’. Next, a song “for the younger ones” (who made themselves heard in the crowd!), warning them against men in suits – ‘Punk Machine’. Dick provides an entertaining moment arguing with himself before Subhumans play a song about this very subject, ‘Internal Riot’. The crowd shout back the words of each song, the walls shake, and the bass even makes floor vibrate in ‘Mickey Mouse Is Dead‘. An outstanding set!
Off to the Opera House for Ruts DC‘s acoustic set. The original band The Ruts was renamed Ruts DC after the untimely death in July 1980 of original Ruts singer, Malcolm Owen. Fortunately drummer Dave Ruffy and bassist Segs Jennings still form the core the band, with Leigh Heggarty on guitar duties for the past 18 years. Having just released a new EP – unbelieveably, their first ever – they include its title track ‘Bound In Blood‘ in a set otherwise full of fan favourites. Segs thanks us all for our support over the years the band has played Rebellion Festival – and to me and any others, they are an essential part of it! Afterwards we all headto their merch stand to get our EP copies signed by the band – magic!
I remain in the Opera House for a band many of us have been eagerly waiting to see – Dave Formula & Noko. Magazine’s keyboard player Dave and guitarist Noko had promised us an entire set of Magazine material. Joined by Peter Petersen from the French new wave band Affection Place on vocals; his son, Tim on the bass; and Dave’s son, Max, on drums, they brought back the spirit of the band in spades! The delighted throng filling the venue were rewarded with a spine-tingling set, including ‘Motorcade‘ and ‘Rhythm of Cruelty‘, Peter’s French accented voice suiting the songs perfectly. “Now we’re going to take the temperature down and go somewhere very cold, we may be some time..” introduces ‘Permafrost‘.
As expected, Dave’s keyboard and synth playing are totally superb, particularly in ‘Parade‘. Noko’s guitar sings through his spectacular solos. A thrill runs through the hall when the opening notes of ‘A Song From Under the Floorboards‘ ring out. The musicians step forward, the bass intro sends a shiver down our spines, and we get gossebumps to ‘The Light Pours Out of Me‘. It couldn’t be a better choice than ‘Shot by Both Sides‘ to end this wonderful celebration of a band that still means so much to so many of us here.
Saturday – Florian Reith’s Report
Yesterday, Bite Me Bambi brought my second day at Rebellion to a close. Today, they were the ones kicking things off for me again – this time with a short acoustic set. When I first saw that they were only playing for 15 minutes, I honestly thought: is that really worth getting out of bed for? An extra hour of sleep or actually having some breakfast for once didn’t sound like the worst idea in the world. But I dragged myself up anyway. After all, I probably won’t get another chance to see Bite Me Bambi anytime soon, and they had been absolutely fantastic the night before. Those 15 minutes flew by – and yes, getting up early was completely worth it. If only for their cover of Prince’s ‘When You Were Mine’. A Prince cover at a punk festival, played acoustically first thing in the day? Hell yes!
Next up were Clitspit – another discovery that I really hope I’ll get to see many more times in the future. I stumbled across them completely by accident on the Rebellion Spotify playlist and immediately knew I had to check them out. The Leeds trio – bass, drums and guitar – reminded me quite a bit of Lambrini Girls, while still having a sound and personality very much of their own. High-energy riot grrrl punk at its finest. I would happily have watched them for much longer, but unfortunately their set ended with a broken bass string, meaning the final song had to be performed as a two-piece with just guitar and drums. In a strange way, though, that made the ending even more memorable. It showed just how well the band can improvise, and chances are we’ll never hear that particular version of the song again. Every year I spend a lot of time watching bands on the RIS stage, and every year I discover acts there that completely blow me away. But Clitspit are definitely up there with the very best bands I’ve seen on that stage during my 13 years of coming to Rebellion – alongside the likes of The Ramonas, Mannequin Death Squad, The Dollheads and Deaf Devils.
Then it was time for an audience with King Charles. Charlie Harper invited everyone to join him for his traditional acoustic set, and I already knew it was going to be busy. Very busy. The UK Subs frontman played stripped-down versions of Subs classics including ‘Down on the Farm’ and ‘Warhead’, alongside a few covers. Unlike in previous years, though, Charlie Harper wasn’t completely alone this time. After the first few songs he was joined by his wife Yuko – who, as it turns out, is a fantastic guitarist.
The atmosphere was incredible. I honestly can’t remember ever seeing the acoustic stage that packed before. You could feel the energy in the room. ‘Warhead’ always gives me goosebumps when I hear the UK Subs play it, but this time it felt different. I was standing barely a metre away from Charlie, and while he was singing he looked straight into my eyes. For a few seconds, it genuinely felt as though he was singing the song just for me.
After Charlie Harper’s brilliant performance, I stayed exactly where I was for Nick Cash. Like Charlie before him, the 999 frontman included several covers in his acoustic set, one of them being Johnny Thunders’ ‘Born to Lose’. Before playing it, Cash recalled being in the studio in 1991 with Johnny Thunders and Die Toten Hosen, recording the song for the Hosen’s upcoming ‘Learning English, Lesson One’ album. Sadly, those sessions would turn out to be among Johnny Thunders’ final recordings. Only a few days later, after returning home, he died. Cash then moved back onto familiar territory and, of course, treated us to a couple of 999 classics, including ‘Homicide’ and ‘Nasty Nasty’.
There probably weren’t many bands at this year’s Rebellion who brought as many of their own travelling fans with them as Die Toten Hosen. Hardly surprising when you consider that back home in Germany, they are currently playing a huge sold-out tour through some of the biggest stadiums in the country. The last time Die Toten Hosen played Rebellion was in 2023. That show featured a number of guests and, for whatever reason, never quite felt completely settled. At times, the whole performance seemed slightly tense. There was absolutely none of that today. The band looked relaxed, comfortable and clearly happy to be there. Better still, they pulled out a few genuine rarities that went down brilliantly not only with the German fans who had travelled over, but also with the local crowd. One of the biggest surprises was ‘Perfect Criminal’, a song the band had only played live four times before, most recently back in 1998 in Australia during the Vans Warped Tour.
Naturally, there were plenty of English-language covers as well, including Dillinger’s ‘Cokane in My Brain’, The Clash’s ‘I’m So Bored with the U.S.A.’ and V2’s ‘Man in the Box’. For the latter, they were even joined onstage by V2’s original guitarist. Of course, the big Hosen classics couldn’t be left out either. After 55 minutes, they closed their Rebellion return with a huge run of ‘Pushed Again’, ‘Wünsch DIR was’ and ‘Hier kommt Alex’. I’d actually planned to take a little break after Die Toten Hosen, recover and let the gig sink in. That plan didn’t last very long!
Pussyliquor were next in the Pavilion. They’re another band I first discovered at Rebellion a few years ago, and I’ve loved them ever since. I’m still hoping I can somehow get them over to Germany for a little tour one day, and after seeing them again this year, that desire certainly hasn’t disappeared. Once again, they didn’t disappoint. My only complaint? They still don’t have enough merch! The five women from Brighton play with attitude, confidence and serious musical ability. Their songs are loud, filthy, funny and confrontational, but underneath all the cheerful obscenity there’s plenty being said about female empowerment, reclaiming agency, social justice and smashing the taboos society still likes to impose on women. Basically, Pussyliquor being Pussyliquor – and that’s exactly why I love them.
Then came one of the hardest decisions of the entire festival: Cock Sparrer or Penetration?
I absolutely love Cock Sparrer, but in the end I chose Penetration. I’d never seen them before, and I had the feeling this might be one of those opportunities that simply doesn’t come around again. Sadly, the Opera House wasn’t as full as I had expected. It certainly wasn’t empty, and considering the competition elsewhere at the festival it was understandable, but a band like Penetration deserved a packed room. Those who were there certainly seemed to appreciate it, though, and very few people remained sitting down – which, as anyone who has ever been inside the Opera House knows, is actually quite an achievement considering how bloody comfortable those seats are. I have to admit that I didn’t know a huge amount about Penetration beforehand. I knew a handful of songs, but several friends had told me that I absolutely had to see them. They were right.
Musically, it was completely my thing, and my first thought when I saw – and especially heard – Pauline Murray was simply: “Wow, she reminds me of Patti Smith.” As a huge Patti Smith fan, that was already enough to make me happy. And then something happened that I really hadn’t expected. Penetration actually played a Patti Smith song! Not just any Patti Smith song, either. My favourite one. ‘Free Money’.Sometimes at a festival you make a difficult decision, spend the next half-hour wondering whether you should have gone to the other stage instead, and never really know whether you chose correctly. This time I knew. Sorry, Cock Sparrer. I think I made the right choice.
Photographer Phil also caught WREX on the Introducing Stage – and the team have a whole lot more to bring you next week with our RIS Special – keep your eyes peeled!
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Review: Rebellion Festival 2026 – Day 2
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Rebellion Festival, the world’s largest annual Punk event, returned to its long-standing home, the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Team
Review: Rebellion Festival 2026 – Day 1
Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Rebellion Festival, the world’s largest annual Punk event, returned to its long-standing home, the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Team
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In 1978 Herman co-founded Dutch Rock Against Racism and was a founder of Pin punkzine. He’s vocals/saxophone for Cheap ‘n’ Nasty and in 2021 co-founded the Punk Scholars Network, Netherlands.
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