Rebel Rebel

Rebellion Festival is celebrating its 30th year - and we're heading back up North despite the calamitous events during our last visit. Be kind, Blackpool. Be kind.

Some have questioned the announcement that I've bought a couple of tickets for this year's Rebellion Festival.

• "Didn't you..." - yes.

• "And didn't that thing happe..." - again, yes.

As I say, there have been questions.

Time was when we'd be attending each and every festival. No kids, free tickets sent to the office for hard to fathom reasons. Backstage passes so we could use the nice toilets instead of finding a bush in a Reading field. Large or small, we'd do them with a 2 litre vodka swagger.

Rebellion 2022 was blessed and cursed. A post-Covid release for a post-punk generation, this time including four days with an outside stage and some immense artists. My tick list of bands I've never seen but wanted to has diminished somewhat; Bad Religion and Anti-Flag topped it. We were absolutely there.

Now the wife doesn't care much for music - even less for most of the music I enjoy (Sleaford Mods, she's staring at you) - but she adores a couple of nights in a room where breakfast is literally laid on a plate for her. And Gary Numan. And The Levellers. She likes them.

First day, into the pub, down the beers. She took up a table in a bar near the outdoor stage and I dived into the main hall for Anti-Flag. Three songs in, someone nicked my wallet and phone. By the time I had wandered the streets of Blackpool and found her my phone was in North London, well on its way to some lucky person overseas.

With no cash and no access to any, our festival ended there. Given the ensuing revelations regarding Justin Sane, some might say three Anti-Flag songs were enough. The following morning we made the sad journey south having had the foresight to fill the car before becoming a crime statistic.

I didn't feel tempted to return. It's not the festival's fault that some scummers choose to target attendees, in many ways it was my stupidity to take an expensive phone and all my cards into a venue. You learn, eh.

But this year is different, it welcomes the opportunity to witness an all-time legend stride a stage in full pomp.

Some call him a musical genius.

Those who have actually seen him simply refer to him as John Otway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRUC5OGGS2A

I saw Otway in the late 80's climbing speaker stacks at Reading and pummelling his forehead with a microphone till it was bloody. He wasn't a rock act, he wasn't punk - he was Otway. Inimitable Otway. The only downside to going to see him will be if his set coincides with Max Splodge's afternoon bingo. It'll be more wholesome than a Sabrina Carpenter photoshoot, more rewarding than than finding your glasses, and saner than the latest Trump pronouncement.

Actually, scrub that last one.

Who else is playing? Bands, dear reader. The kind of bands you'd normally expect to see at Rebellion. A warhead of UK Subs, a hanx of Stiff Little Fingers, a grr of Discharge and the loving acoustic embrace of Henry Cluney. Acts are still being added weekly.

Early bird tickets sold out in record time, but you can still grab a Tier 3 one if you're quick about it:

• Rebellion Festival - https://www.rebellionfestivals.com/index

• Tickets - https://www.rebellionfestivals.com/buy-tickets

• Rebellion on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RebellionPunkMuskFestival

• The Literary Stage on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rebellionattheedge

Punk's not dead. It continues to inspire new acts and delight the residents of Blackpool with how nice punks can be - the last two B&Bs telling me how much they adore Rebellion being on for the decent sorts it attracts.

With tickets secured in my inbox, now I'm off to shop for a £10 mobile and one of those belts you can tuck tenners into.