Commemorationitis is a dreadful political disease. The commemoration can never be as exciting as the original event. That was the problem confronting the organisers of Sunday’s festival in Victoria Park. For starters in 1978 the area was the heartland of British fascism. Thirty years on the fascists are now living in Essex, London’s periphery and the de-industrialised towns of the north. Staging the event on the intersection of two boroughs with big non white populations and a minuscule fascist presence was not the obvious way to confront an enemy now living in Dagenham and Romford. At the original event the bands were not household names but were on the cutting edge of youth culture and had reputations for radical politics. No such claim has ever been made for Hard Fi.
Musically the standout moment was Poly Styrene revisiting Oh bondage up yours. Second best was The View’s Same Jeans. I’m not convinced anyone got the bronze medal. Damon Albarn’s The Good, The Bad and The Queen were martyred by the worst sound system I’ve heard in thirty years of listening to live music. To get a taste of how bad it was try listening to Radio Thailand on a cheap short wave radio. Jimmy Pursey merits a special mention. He tried to murder White Riot in 1978. Rent the Rude Boy video for confirmation. After thirty years’ practice he succeeded. You can see the video evidence soon.
This might sound like a grumpy complaint but there was an inordinate amount of swearing from the stage. I’ve no desire to shake hands with a fascist but 80% of the stage speakers insisted that we all fuc# one.
On the plus side the weather was not as dreadful as had been predicted and some tens of thousands of mostly young people came out and identified themselves with an assertively anti-racist music festival. That made it worth doing.
Liam redux 
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