So. The Rising. It was jaw-dropping. The lineup across its two stages could be described as the best of the punk festival scene. Bob Vylan. Dub Pistols. Henge. Spacehopper. Zion Train. 3 Daft Monkeys. Ed Tangent. The Death of Guitar Pop—if you follow the small, actually good festivals rather than the big sprawling corporate ersatz facsimiles, you’ll know that’s 100% legends.
You see, The Rising was a festival by, and for, festival lovers. While it was theoretically a first-year event, the crew—many of whom are veterans of festivals like Bearded Theory—are so experienced and good at everything they do that it had none of the janky nonsense I’ve come to expect from early editions of other events.
Headliners Bob Vylan and The Dub Pistols were inspired choices for the event, with Bobbie and Bobby’s unbridled aggression attracting a younger crowd to the front, while the legendary Barry Ashworth and gang showed why they’re some of the biggest names on the UK independent scene (go to Mucky Weekender).
Lower down the bill, The Rising hit bloody hard too. The Death of Guitar Pop are an incredibly tight, high-energy ska band whose self-referential humour will have you giggling as you bounce along with them. Henge, the alien-themed enviro-rockers who have been tearing up the scene for the last few years, brought their patented marmite-like love-it-or-hate-it brand of Space Rock.
Spacehopper, as always, were fantastic! Recently adding a third guitar to the lineup, these legends really offer something special, delivering trancey, ravey guitar-led dance music played by a live band that’s absolutely incredible to boogie to. Unlike almost every other festival, however, they did not have this niche of magical live dance music entirely to themselves.
Loonaloop, over all the way from Australia on their Grand European tour, are a live psychedelic dub folk trance fusion act and strewth mate, I think they might be the best band I’ve seen this year. Jaw-dropping musical talent, paired with incredible composition and hypnotic stage presence, they weave a truly enchanting tapestry with a surprisingly broad appeal.
Thank you, Shiney, for dragging your collective of geniuses to the other side of the world so we can experience your wonderful music. It is absolutely unmissable, to the point I’m strongly considering throwing my summer plans in the bin so I can come see you again!
3 Daft Monkeys, Loonaloop’s Glasto Neighbours were a great live act too- funny, energetic and lively, I don’t know how these guys keep their energy and schedule up. It was a pleasure to meet you. Now, to Brian Stone—you sounded amazing in the distance, but Labour just won the election the previous day, so getting to the stage by midday was, well, a little beyond my poor over-celebrated body. Sorry I couldn’t give you a proper review; it sounds like you deserved it.
Onto the problems—well, there is one, only one, but it’s a moderately bad one and obvious to most who went there: the site’s current licence cuts off way too early. Now, a great attitude among the crew and guests goes a long way to mitigating this at The Rising, and it’s not like the late evenings were boring, but really, with a festival like this, by midnight you’re just getting started, and unfortunately that’s when they had to kill all sound on site. It led to silliness such as Loonaloop and Spacehopper playing during daylight, which is, quite frankly, a waste.
While Kibblestone Scout Camp is a good site, with great tree cover and easy accessibility, it is not worth this quite frankly massive imposition. Not having a late dance tent of any kind is simply a dealbreaker for many people, and I know The Rising would do it so bloody well—they already have two of the best live dance bands touring performing, now they just need to put them on at night. Sunday, too, was missed, but not as sorely as the joy of a 2am boogie session. What wasn’t missed, really, was a third stage- people were generally in agreeement that the two at the festival were more than enough.
A final thing worth noting about The Rising is the price. £50. I would have happily paid twice that for what was delivered, but paying essentially half price for a festival does massively mollify my complaint about the latter half of the event essentially being missing. While I have my minor moan, this is small compared with the incredible things the team at The Rising have accomplished. Offering more festival for the money than practically anyone else in the industry, they manage to keep the quality of programming and environment sky high, far beating any similarly priced competitors.
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