This event differs itself from the typical outdoor, sweaty music festival. Instead, Rebellion is located indoors. The action-packed event is hosted in Winter Gardens Blackpool, home to some of the most diverse events in the UK, and not only festivals but West End Musicals, Operas and Orchestra. Active since 1996, Rebellion festival has accumulated a dedicated audience of new and old fans looking to hear some legitimate punk rock music each summer. Alongside the punk acts there is a mix of garage-rock, ska, acoustic sets, post-punk and more.

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The highly sought-after lineup has at long last been shared online, participants and fans alike sure are ecstatic. Rebellion’s 2026 lineup includes, The Stranglers, Cockney Rejects, Stiff Little Fingers, Sham 69, Split Dogs, Ferocious Dog and almost 300 more names to get excited for.

Spanning 300 artists over 4 days, it is going to be weekend to remember. Not only can attendees expect some insane, electrifying setlists, but Rebellion also provides a fresh variety of additional activities for festival fans to sink their teeth into.

The huge indoor venue houses 6 stages for crowds to flock to. This exciting number of stages includes an ‘introducing’ stage. Small artists solidifying themselves in the scene are provided with the opportunity to perform to a supportive audience for what may be the very first time. Rebellion is a diamond amongst the rubble, especially for small artists to build a dedicated audience.

Away from the music, Rebellion also holds its very own market where attendees can buy clothing, band merch, records/CD’s handmade goods, artwork and countless other trinkets. The festival also offers an astounding variety of workshops for attendees to get involved with between sets, a pleasant opposite end to the crazy mosh pit spectrum.

A family-run festival, Rebellion is also also marketed as an all-ages event, with children under 12 attending for free. Making the festival an apparent no brainer for families, particularly those with young children who wish to attend alternative concerts, however struggle with finding something family friendly. With its wide range of activities and musical genres there’s undoubtedly something for everybody to enjoy. Parents can still have an enjoyable time, jumping around a mosh pit whilst keeping their children entertained, making lifelong memories.

Not only is the primary musical genre on display punk, but Rebellion simultaneously shines a spotlight on a wide variety of other musical genres including a minority of Glam Rock artists and seminal bands from the 1960’s and 1970s.

Rebellion has been recognised within mainstream press coverage from sources such as Kerrang, The Independent and The Daily Telegraph.

Maintaining a positive relationship with both Blackpool Council and its dedicated attendees, Rebellion is an all round positive event with something there for everyone. Make sure to grab either your weekend or day tickets now to experience the punk rock event of the year.

The annual festival returns to the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, running from Thursday the 3rd of August until Sunday the 6th, and will welcome Rollins to Blackpool for the first time on the Friday.

In a press release, Rollins expressed his joy at the invitation, stating, “I’m looking forward to being part of Rebellion Festival this year. I will be on my own, no band, just me speaking. Perhaps the lowest volume performance of the entire event!”

The festival is a celebration of all things punk, having been around around since 1996 (under the previous name Holidays in the Sun, a reference to a Sex Pistols track of the same name), hosting a multitude of punk acts in doing so.

This year’s edition features another frontman of a prominent 80s punk outfit, H.R from Bad Brains, and will see Neville Staples, formerly of two-tone ska band the Specials, and Brix Smith, former member of the post-punk band the Fall, perform solo too.

Other classic punk bands include English band the Damned, American groups M.D.C, TSOL and the Dickies, while English contemporary punk duo Bob Vylan are also set to perform at the renowned punk event.

As well as all the punk rock on offer there are groups whose music goes beyond the traditional punk realm, thereby exemplifying the festival’s ideals: bands like rock group the Only Ones and ska band Bad Manners aren’t specifically punk bands but they carry a certain punk attitude, an attitude that doesn’t particularly care what others may think of them, an attitude on which the festival is built on.

Rollins certainly embodies such a punk attitude. Starting off as a roadie for local Washington D.C punk bands, he formed and fronted State of Alert in 1980, and released an EP with this group before they disbanded later that year.

Rollins soon after became a fan of Black Flag, seeing as many shows as possible and even singing for the group on one occasion. Coincidentally the band was then on the lookout for a new vocalist after former singer Dez Cadena switched to playing guitar, and Rollins was thus invited to join.

Rollins’ stage presence helped Black Flag’s prominence and, after releasing six albums in as many years, the band became synonymous with the American punk scene. In 1986 the band disbanded, however, and Rollins formed another band, the Rollins Band, and also started his spoken word career, and has released seventeen spoken word albums to date.

Listen to “Rise Above” by Black Flag below:

Tickets for Rebellion Festival are available to purchase here.

The event will occur at the exact same time as Rebellion Fest, taking place in the Tower Headland, whilst the latter will take place in Winter Gardens, as normal. The Headland has a capacity of around 15,000 people, and has previously played host to Livewire Festival and Blackpool Festival.

According to The Blackpool Gazette, R-Fest was born of the idea to make Rebellion Festival more accessible with the addition of some more mainstream groups. Jennie Russell Smith, the organiser of the festival, is quoted as saying: “We are all incredibly excited for our first ever R-FEST line up; four days of bands in the incredible headland arena with the tower and the Winter Gardens on one side and the Irish Sea on the other. It’s going to be amazing!”

Blackpool Council member Coun Lynne Williams also weighed in on the exciting new addition to the Rebellion Festival event, saying: “The festival organisers have had the ambition to grow the event for some time, but have been obviously prevented from doing so because of restrictions on large-scale events over the past two years… it is great news that this popular event enjoyed by so many people is going to return in a new expanded format next summer. It is an event that along with others held in our town that really brings Blackpool alive and is a firm favourite festival in music lovers’ calendars.”

Rebellion Festival is currently the biggest punk festival in the world and features a myriad of punk and hardcore groups from the UK and beyond. Among the line-up this year includes English punk legends Sham 69, Scottish band The Exploited, as well as Texas punk rockers M.D.C. and New York City hardcore frontrunners Cro Mags.

More information about the event can be found here, on Rebellion Festival’s website. It has been stated that for anyone purchasing tickets only for R-Fest, the event is a standalone, however anyone who has purchased tickets for Rebellion Festival will be admitted to R-Fest free of charge. You can find tickets for R-Fest here, and for Rebellion Festival here.

Ticket prices are as follows:

R-Fest Day Ticket- £55.00
Rebellion Festival Day Ticket- £95.00
Rebellion Festival Weekend Ticket- £195.00

The post-punk band played at Rebellion festival back in 2016 and was known as one of the most memorable sets of the weekend, so Rebellion are welcoming them back with open arms for next year, bringing old and new fans along with them. Peter Hook and The Light is lead by the former Joy Division and New Order bassist, Peter Hook, and cover a lot of those well known classics, and they are noted for performing the Joy Division and New Order albums live. The band also features Hook’s son Jack Bates (bass), as well as Andy Poole (keyboards) and Paul Kehoe (drums), who both played with Hook as part of Monaco, one of Hook’s previous groups.

Peter and his band mates will be playing a special ‘best of Joy Division’ set and he stated “It’s a real pleasure to be returning to Rebellion Festival with The Light again, rebellion’s a tremendous event bringing together a great line up of alternative and punk bands with a very enthusiastic crowd. The reactions are always great and it attracts a real mix of people to Blackpool’s Winter Gardens, a great venue in its own right. It’s always a unique occasion and one of the highlights of the year.”

Rebellion is an indoor festival – lots of venues, cafes, bars under one roof and no need to worry about umbrellas or the great British weather affecting the festival. Firstly starting out in 1996 in Blackpool as the ‘Holidays in the Sun Festival’, it was then taken around the world with a name change to ‘Wasted’, before landing with the name ‘Rebellion’ in 2007. Establishing itself as an independent and family run punk festival that supports the best of the new breed, widening the scope to include many sub genres and the ‘alternative’ scene in general. They have added literary stages, Punk Art exhibitions, Acoustic Stages, Poetry, Vintage Clothing, Tattooists, Healing workshops and much more.

Joining Peter Hook in 2018 is the kind of line-up that Rebellion Festival is known and respected for the world over, bringing together the best and most vital bands from the long and varied history and present of punk and alternative music. Whilst it’s still early days in the festivals curation, the programme is already shaping up to reflect the very best of what the scene has to offer. Some of the acts already confirmed include the cream of UK punk such as The Exploited, Cockney Rejects, Angelic Upstarts, Discharge, Ruts DC, UK Subs, and Slaughter & The Dogs joining a host of punk and hardcore from around the world, including legends such as D.R.I., The Adolescents, SNFU, Toxic Reasons, Raw Power and many more yet to be announced.

Rebellion Festival is an ALL AGES, family friendly event and children under 12 are admitted free of charge (accompanied by an adult). The cost for the weekend lands at £140 for a (4 day) ticket. More information and tickets are available here.

]]> https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/rebellion-festival-confirms-peter-hook-the-light-to-the-lineup/feed/ 0 https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/rebellion-festival-announces-20th-anniversary-line-up/ https://www.mxdwn.co.uk/news/rebellion-festival-announces-20th-anniversary-line-up/#comments Fri, 17 Jun 2016 11:17:34 +0000 http://www.mxdwn.co.uk/?p=4483 Blackpool based Punk festival, Rebellion Festival has taken to social media to announce the details regarding their confirmed line-up for what will be the 20th Anniversary of the festival.

Rebellion Festival organisers complete the line-up, and it's pretty much incredible. https://t.co/mz2VIVDZkK pic.twitter.com/Z0vUGPwGSE

— Punktastic (@punktastic) June 16, 2016

The iconic Punk festival is also set to be host to a plethora of different entertainment; with the festival also hosting Q&A sessions, interviews and film screenings in ‘The Winter Gardens’ venue. This year’s Rebellion Festival is set to be the biggest one yet, with over 350 acts over the course of the four days in August (August 4th – August 7th).

The line-up this year includes Californian band The Descendants only UK date this year! Lead man Milo Aukerman had this to say on the festival:

“The Descendents have never played Rebellion Festival, so we’re psyched to rock Blackpool for the first time! Along with our classic material, we will be playing songs from our new record, Hypercaffium Spazzinate. That’s right; folks get to hear some new Descendents music!  The four-day Rebellion lineup is amazing; I wish we could stick around for the whole thing.  On that first day, I’m looking forward to seeing the Pears, the Dwarves, Gnarwolves, and Off With Their Heads.  It should be a blast; see you there!”

Find the big names in the line up below:

Descendents
Cock Sparrer
Stiff Little Fingers
Buzzcocks
Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine
The Damned
Flag IIII
The Exploited
Peter Hook & The Light
Slaughter & The Dogs
Angelic Upstarts
Cockney Rejects
Jilted John
The Adicts
Dag Nasty
The Dickies
Discharge
Ruts DC
GBH
Anti Nowhere League
TSOL
The Slackers
The Dwarves
CJ ramoe
Ferocious Dog
Chelsea
Agnostic Front
Bouncing Souls