Rage Against Racism, Review – 18th June 2011 @ The Well – Leeds

The Oppressed, Liberty, Social Schism, Overspill, Lowlife UK, Geoffrey Oicott, The Drastics, The Denholme Velvets, The Heels, Black Star Dub Collective, Skank Agenda.

Most events seem to be described as either ironic or ‘post-ironic’ these days, the concept being way too overused when describing anything that doesn’t fit into a neat little ‘genre box’. I’m thoroughly dismayed at myself then for beginning this review in a similar fashion: Rage Against Racism at The Well was indeed packed full of irony.

In the first instance it is ironic that the police were called to an anti-fascist, and judging by some of the t-shirts on sale decidedly anti-police event to control a situation caused by a few childish racists (I won’t mention the group they affiliated themselves with, wouldn’t want to give them any publicity). However as a friend of mine pointed out “we either call the police or take it into our own hands, the latter being exactly what the morons would’ve wanted so what choice do we have?”

To further the sense of irony at the event, rather than provoke retaliation this incident seemed to galvanise the sense of togetherness and solidarity shared by the punks and skins in attendance. It wasn’t too many years ago that these two social groups were labelled by the media with just the kind of blinkered and bigoted idealism the ‘Rage Against Racism’ concept sets out to challenge. A lovely irony then that the peacekeepers on this day were the media-portrayed demons of yesteryear. This resulted in an extremely positive and morally righteous atmosphere inside the venue with most of the bands playing up to this and using the idiocy witnessed to fuel the passion of their music.

The line-up was refreshing and diverse with hardcore and punk rock being played alongside ska and dub/reggae all supplemented by the eclectic selections of the dj’s present, John Firth and Jamie Headcharge ‘n’ Z-Carr who kept the crowd buoyant with broad range of past and present punk, ska and reggae favourites.
There were several stand out performances from bands on the day. Social Schism played with an energy and honesty rarely seen nowadays and treated the committed souls who had ventured indoors at that point to half an hour or so of tightly played anthemic punk rock.
Also worthy of praise, my personal favourites Skank Agenda who in spite of the absence of a drummer played hard and fast and delighted the crowd with their selection of acoustic ska-punk anthems. Always a joy to see live.

The day continued with solid sets from Overspill, Geoffrey Oicott, The Drastics, The Denholme Velvets, The Heels, Black Star Dub Collective and Liberty. Lowlife UK showed great stage presence and had the crowd singing along with them throughout, stoking the collective fire nicely for the main attraction. Finally then the band everyone had come to see: The Oppressed. Having never played in Leeds before today this was always going to be a special performance and the guys from Cardiff did not disappoint. Hard, fast, loud, passionate punk rock played with the ease and swagger that only comes from a band that has been involved in the scene for years. Truly lovely stuff. 

by Nick Hart
YorkshireGigGuide