First band of the day on in the Empress Ballroom is Slackrr from Southampton. To be brutally honest they did nothing for me whatsoever. Their sound was reminiscent of so many generic modern American “punk” bands, and the singers voices were really grating on me. To be fair their final song had a bit of life about it, but by then I had lost interest.

Rumkicks took Rebellion by storm last year and this year they are back and in the Empress Ballroom. Such is the anticipation surrounding these 3 South Korean girls that the Ballroom is absolutely packed at 2.00pm. They certainly look the part with their colourful liberty spikes and punky attire. They certainly sound the part too, short, catchy fast pop punk that reaches the spot.

Their humble approach and obvious excitement of playing on the same stage that Cock Sparrer had played on completely wins over any doubters in the huge crowd. Announcing the song Drinking Every Day, Yeawon, guitarist and vocalist of the band, produces a bottle of Korean beer and asks who wants a taste. Getting so many affirmative replies, she climbs into the audience and starts giving the bottle to people to swig from.

Later she explains the story behind the song Fuck You, how she suffered at the hands of an unscrupulous manager who sounds like a total dick! The band obviously love being at Rebellion, to great applause Yeawon announced “In South Korea we are weirdos. But here, there are lots of weirdos”, they have found their spiritual home. It was fitting that this was the last gig of their European tour to go out with a huge gig and lots of love and applause. I bought their cd afterwards to discover that there was a handwritten note from each band member inside thanking you for buying it.

If you didn’t know before the concert that Los Fastidios were an anti-racist, anti-fascist band, you certainly did afterwards. Quite simply, this band were absolutely stunning and the best I saw all festival. A sublime mixture of ska, punk and oi had the crowd absolutely bouncing. The band’s tour manager and label owner, Elisa Dixan is a frequent guest vocalist and what a presence she brings to the stage. She is quite a ball of energy bouncing all over the place and her interplay with vocalist Enrico is wonderful to behold. The whole audience went absolutely crazy for this band and long after they had finished the song Antifa Hooligans remained in my head.

It was off to the Opera House for TV Smith and a much-needed sit down. TV Smith is, of course, the former singer of punk legends The Adverts. His friends consist of a couple of members of his own band Bored Teenagers, Leigh Heggarty (Ruts DC) on guitar, two backing singers and Attila the Stockbroker on electric violin. A wonderful time was had by all (both audience and band) with a spirited romp through a number of songs which culminated in very speedy renditions of Gary Gilmore’s Eyes and One Chord Wonders.

This year’s festival does not seem to be affected by the sound problems that plagued last year’s stages. That said, The Chisel at the Casbah had to have had the worst sound of the weekend, it was horrible at times. It didn’t help matters that singer Cal was going on huge rants between songs, about what I don’t know, as you couldn’t hear properly. The music was loud and furious, and the band seemed to teeter on the edge of chaos throughout. Impressive, despite the poor sound.

Appearing at Rebellion for the first time since 2011, the Meteors entertained us with their inimitable brand of psychobilly. P. Paul Fenech (founder, guitarist and vocalist) did seem a grumpy bugger and seemed to feel that the band were not getting the recognition they deserved from the audience. From where I was standing, everyone seemed to be enjoying the gig, especially the Wrecking Crew in the mosh pit. Fenech was right though when he said punk rock comes in many guises, psychobilly arguably being one of them. The guy can play some mean rockabilly guitar though, and his band was rock solid.

Our last band of the night, and it is firm Rebellion favourite Millie Manders & The Shutup in the Casbah. The reputation of this band just keeps growing, and it is easy to see why. The band deliver their own brand of ska/punk/rap brilliantly and flawlessly, and in Millie they have such a great frontwoman who grabs your attention and keeps it throughout the set. Great way to end the day!