The DIY spirit is alive and well at the first Portsmouth Punk Festival | Review
It’s another swelteringly hot day, so what better way to spend it than in a poorly ventilated room with a couple of hundred like-minded souls?
It’s the first Portsmouth Punk Festival – nine bands rattling through their sets over the course of seven hours, and yes, as pretty much every act mentions: it is very hot.
Openers, local trio Uncivilized set an early high bar with their turbo-charged romps laced with a healthy dollop of daftness, and an impassioned, self-explanatory song – Stop Feeding my Cat.
Canterbury’s Well’Ard are raw and their songs don’t so much end as collapse around them. Unfortunately their regular drummer isn’t behind the kit, but there’s scrappy spirit here in spades.
More hometown boys, Why Pinto, inject a dose of pop into their punk and their bouncy tunes.
Buds may apologise for being from Southampton, but there’s nothing apologetic about their music – their urgent anthems provoke the strongest crowd reaction of the day, and in set-closer Building Blocks they have a deceptively catchy beast.
South Wales’ Pizza Tramp are fast and very funny – frontman Jimmy gives good between song chat, and it’s safe to say he’s not a fan of Jeremy Clarkson.
Being a punk event, politics and social commentary are never far from the surface – Sunliner have a flag pronouncing “no one is illegal” draped on an amp, and there’s a shout out for the queer community and trans rights during Be N!ce’s set.
If you view calling someone “woke” as an insult rather than a positive label, then this day is not for you.
Headliners Wonk Unit bring “a stowaway” with them to the stage – frontman Alex’s young daughter is perched at the back, because of childcare issues, apparently.
Things are going great guns until Alex’s voice gives up a handful of songs in.
But with the help of fans from the audience (as well as the singers from Why Pinto and Pizza Tramp), whatever songs they know the lyrics for and the band can remember how to play, they struggle on. I’ve seen bands leave the stage for far less.
For the last few minutes, Alex’s voice has returned a little and he croaks his way to the finish line.
It’s all a little surreal, but also rather heartwarming. And if that doesn’t sum up the whole spirit and ethos of the DIY music community, I don’t know what does: if things go wrong, you don’t give up, and the community has got your back.
An excellent first year – here’s to many more.