No Jello Biafra. One of the mainmen of punk rock - the charismatic Biafra fell out with his ex colleagues in 1998 in a bitter wrangle over royalties. The three remaining band members reformed the band - originally split in 1986) with Brandon Kruz, little know punk rock singer from Doctor Know because ‘He wasn’t trying to be Jello Biafra’. And fuck they rock. The moshpit is hyped and the band are giving it everything, Klaus Flouride may look a little older and East Bay Ray may still look like a hyped up Hank Marvin but all those supercharged songs still rush like prime time amphetamine...all those Beefheart licks and speedball rushes of punk rock fury and Cruz does a great job of fronting the band even mashing his own forehead with the microphone and bleeding all over the stage.

Its a great finale to a great festival. Holidays In the Sun has been going for five years now and is always ignored by the media, odd when you think Cambersands the indie equivalent has just as many bands that have been going just as long and attracts less people. HITS has a worldwide appeal (infact its now going international with festivals in Berlin, Tokyo, San Fransisco and New York) and is certainly riding the explosion in interest in nu punk...there may be some hoary old punks here but there are also loads of youthful teens at the event. Infact most of the crowd look awesome, hours have been spent clipping the hair just right and everyone is turned out in their best punk rock duds. Its a great site to see- this punk rock army in Blackpool (to the consternation of the locals and the holiday makers - there are several reports of punks getting attacked in the streets and even one stabbing....dull conservative Britain rears its ugly head yet again).

The venue is packed for bands like the Exploited, 999, The Lurkers, Penetration and the Subhumans and GBH, groups who still tour the world pulling in huge crowds (up to 5000 a show in South America where British punk rock is loved) and are treated as legends in the USA where their influence has become massive. Its only back home in the UK with its snobbish love of trends and fashion that relegates these bands to the nether world. The good taste ‘gurus’ at papers like the Guardian would never dare step in here, they’d be too busy telling you that The Strokes are ‘punk rock’ and snickering into their designer sleeves from the safety of their 20th story office blocks. Those people are killing pop culture. Good taste is the enemy of the revolution.

Meanwhile the rest of the world knows which British bands it will always cherish and that is bands like Discharge or the UK Subs and its not bands like Pulp or Blur. We should celebrate some of these bands and their impact on world culture and maybe our charts wouldn’t be so full of boy bands and bad indie geeks.