GIG REVIEW: Kubix Festival, Herrington Country Park, Sunderland, Saturday 16 July 2022
Kubix Festival began in 2018 as an effort by a group of local promoters to deliver quality entertainment, at a price that won’t hurt your pocket, and, after a slightly bumpy start, has gone from strength to strength.
With some valuable lessons under their belt, the organisers pressed ahead in 2019, and were set to go again in 2020 until Covid-19 intervened and forced the festival’s postponement until October 2021.
Eight months later we’re back on track with another line-up of popular heritage acts, complemented by some newer up-and-coming artists. Kubix is now held over two weekends instead of two days, pop acts on the first, followed by this weekend’s more alternative and indie line-up.
I couldn’t make the first day on Friday due to work, and it appears I wasn’t alone, as most people I know who attended both said it was much busier on Saturday, when we were also blessed with a wonderful sunny day – perfect festival weather.
Friday was also overshadowed by the sad news that second headliners Happy Mondays had had to pull out, after the death of their bass player Paul Ryder, but friends who were there said Crashed Out, Skids, The Undertones, Lightning Seeds, Theatre Of Hate and Ali’s Campbell’s UB40 all put on great sets.
Saturday’s entertainment began at noon, with a set by ’90s alternative rockers Republica, whose singer Saffron was in good voice as they opened proceedings with a set including the Top 20 hits Drop Dead Gorgeous and Ready To Go (which went down a storm, having long been part of the pre-match music used by the local football club).
Next up was Jim Bob, formerly one half of the ’90s indie-punk duo Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, and now a solo artist with a couple of excellent recent albums behind him, 2020’s Pop Up Jim Bob (reviewed here) and last year’s Who Do We Hate Today (reviewed here).
He played a well-received set of tracks from those two albums, plus the Carter classics Do Re Me, So Far So Good and Lean On Me I Won’t Fall Over, and it went down well, even if he did have to apologise for turning the air blue at a family-friendly event with some of his between-song banter!
On my way to the bar I was drawn to the giant marquee second stage by the sound of thumping bass, and found The Specials’ famously-taciturn frontman Terry Hall playing a dub-heavy DJ set. He looked as miserable as ever, but I enjoyed it.
Back into the sunshine, it was time for one of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing, Ferocious Dog, returning to Kubix after playing last year. The six-piece from Nottinghamshire play a vibrant brand of Celtic folk-infused punk, similar to the Levellers, Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly.
That sort of music is right up my street, and I have no idea how I haven’t managed to catch them live in the dozen or so years they’ve been going, but I thoroughly enjoyed their set here.
Ken Bonsall is an engaging frontman, and there were clearly plenty of their devoted fans, the Hell Hounds, in attendance, as they sang and danced through a set including crowd favourites like The Punk Police and The Glass.
Time to simmer down in the sun with a DJ set from reggae legend Don Letts – wow, does he know how to create a vibe! – before heading back into the equally-sweltering marquee for another of my must-see bands, The Bar Stool Preachers (which sadly meant missing Altered Images on the main stage).
I first happened upon The BSP at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool in 2015 after walking out of the Boomtown Rats, and have followed the band ever since.
Based in Brighton, they mix streetpunk and ska, and really know how to get a crowd going with their high-energy, socially-conscious music, and boy did they do that here!
A blistering set contained prime cuts from their two albums, including Trickledown, One Fool Down and Looking Lost, with a couple of new songs from their eagerly-awaited third album thrown in for good measure. No release date is confirmed yet, but I hope it’ll follow their August/September dates supporting The Interrupters, as that will surely take them to the next level.
Leaving the tent for the open air I enjoy more sunshine tunes from a second Don Letts set, before Reef take to the main stage to lay down a different sort of vibe with their bluesy rock.
Frontman Gary Stringer has one of the most distinctive voices in the alt-rock scene, and the crowd lapped up their set, which included the ubiquitous Place Your Hands, as well as Naked, Come Back Brighter and a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain.
Over in the marquee, Kirk Brandon was playing his second set of the weekend with Spear Of Destiny, after performing on Friday night with Theatre Of Hate, and many people had SoD as their high point of the weekend. I didn’t see enough to make that call, but they certainly kicked up an enjoyable racket, with Kirk in great vocal form.
Next on my must-see list, Northern Irish pop-punkers Ash. They’re another band I’ve seen many times over the years, and they’re back to their original three-piece of Tim Wheeler on guitar and vocals, Mark Hamilton on bass and Rick McMurray on drums.
For a few years they were a four-piece, with Charlotte Hatherley on second guitar and backing vocals, and for me that line-up was their best, with her input vital to songs like Shining Light and Orpheus. Both were included on their hits-heavy set here, which culminated in tremendous final run of Buzzkill, Kung Fu, Girl From Mars and Burn Baby Burn, which was as good as anything we’d heard all day.
Wheeler remarked on the strong Northern Ireland presence on the bill, with Therapy? headlining the second stage, but it was another Irish band, veteran punks Stiff Little Fingers, that I – and a good number of the crowd judging by the number of t-shirts on display – regarded as the real bill-toppers.
They were due to play at Kubix in 2020, but had to pull out of last year’s rearranged event, as singer Jake Burns and guitarist Ian McCallum live in the United States, so Covid quarantine restrictions made it impossible for them to travel.
So it was after a two-year wait that they finally hit the main stage, and Burns, McCallum, bassist Ali McMordie and drummer Steve Grantley seemed determined to make up for lost time.
Dispensing with their usual Go For It intro, they walked on, plugged in, and with a “hello Sunderland, we’re Stiff Little Fingers” were off, straight into a furious Suspect Device.
Crowd pleaser after crowd pleaser followed: biggest hit (No 15) At The Edge, the oft-misunderstood Fly The Flag, Jake’s depression antidote My Dark Places, and the song which earned SLF a Top Of The Pops appearance back in 1980, Nobody’s Hero.
At 64, Jake might be slightly more rotund than of old (aren’t we all?) and looks different after giving in to years of alopecia by shaving his head bald, but his distinctive voice and guitar playing remain undiminished.
Anyone who’d never seen SLF would have been enlightened by his song introductions; the latchkey kid horror stories of Bits Of Kids, and the excellent reggae-tinged Safe As Houses, happily restored to the set after he belatedly realised he’d written it in a key too high for him to sing.
As we approached the home straight, the band were firing on all cylinders, and bounced straight from State Of Emergency into Wasted Life and then Gotta Gettaway. It was the best 10 minutes of the day, and perfectly set up the old one-two of Tin Soldiers and Alternative Ulster to finish a superb set.
Kubix is an alternative, indie and rock festival rather than an out-and-out punk one, but the fact SLF’s name was on the bill and the very reasonable ticket prices made it a cert they were going to be band of the day for many people, and not just me.
After 11 hours in the sun, my other half was ready to go, so I reluctantly headed home without seeing if Glasvegas were any better than the last time I saw them on the NME Awards Tour back in 2009, when they stunk the place out, or without seeing Shed Seven or second stage headliners Therapy?
But I wasn’t too disappointed. I’d seen my headliners in Stiff Little Fingers, and left content in the belief that Kubix has firmly established itself on the mid-sized festival circuit.
It’s not too big, it’s well organised, there’s plenty of food and drink available (even if the latter was on the pricey side) and there’s a good variety of bands, most of which would usually cost you more to see than the day-ticket price. Roll on Kubix 2023.
