Punks love Pontins. Why else would the Concrete Jungle Festival of Punk have chosen the Camber Sands Pontins Family Beach Resort as the venue for the year’s first kickass cultural festival? Unless of course punks have a secret yearning to swap mohawks and bovver boots for Hi-De-Hi-style yellow coats. Anything is possible.
Avoiding those who would question whether punk and culture should exist in the same sentence it is pleasing to announce that by all accounts the inaugural punk festival to be put on by Jack the Lad Productions was a huge success and every bit as colourful and energetic as you’d expect from an unholy convergence of a few thousand UK and international punks. A review in Distorted Magazine highlights the surprising lack of chaos at the event and the fact that it was a family-friendly affair. In the current climate of political correctness it’s quite refreshing to see images of juvenile punks flipping the finger while their parents nod their encouragement. What is also refreshing is that this festival tried hard to find a home for the many sub-genres that make up punk, including bands that incorporated ska and reggae. This goes some way to show that festivals are about more than just entertainment, they are about providing refuge for and binding together communities of people who share (passionately) a common interest.
