Have you visited the Punk Rage & Revolution exhibition at Leicester Museum on New Walk yet?
The exhibition, which explores the history of the punk scene, has been a hit this summer, and organisers are celebrating again with a big Punk Festival Weekend from 18 – 20 August in the city centre.
We chatted to one of the organisers, Joe from Arch Creative, to find out more.
What are some of the highlights that people can expect for the Punk Festival Weekender?
One of our key partners in the Punk project, Chris Wigmore from Soft Touch Arts, has been brilliant in helping to pull together the Punk Weekender with us. This will include bands, DJs, exhibitions, talks, films, dance, street food vendors, a record fair and more. Here are some music highlights:
- Friday 18th August – We have Lora Logic (of X-Ray Spex) and her band Essential Logic performing for the first time with a new line up at Leicester’s Firebug bar, alongside local art punksters Jesuscarfish and Unglamorous Music’s Boilers. More punk bands are lined up at Duffy’s Bar the same night including The Docs, The Burnout, Pretty Dirty Rats & Aubrey eels.
- Saturday 20th August – is our free music extravaganza on Jubilee Square – ‘Scooterama v Punkorama’. This will feature a display of fabulous retro scooters, live band Last Edition, Punk bands and DJs, Firebug’s pop-up cocktail bar, street food stalls, a record fair, family fun face painting and other activities.
- Sunday 21st August – To top off the weekend, there will be a huge punk gig at O2 Academy Leicester featuring Buzzcocks, UK Subs, Chelsea, 999, Ed Tudor Pole and Gestalt. The second stage plays host to The Verinos, First Wave, Hex Poseur, The Wonky Portraits and Glitch Magnet.
Leicester is also turning punk with John Lewis and city centre charity and vintage shops taking on a rebellious aesthetic in their shop window displays, so it’s great to see the streets come alive with bursts of colour!
How did the event come together?
The Festival is a great way to top off a brilliant 18 month project with the whole city coming together to celebrate this remarkable subculture. The same team worked together on the Mods Revive festival four years ago which was a great success, helping to bring £1.75M into the local economy and winning us a tourist award, so it seemed like a natural progression – and what people have been asking us for. It seemed only logical that if we’re telling the story of punk we should show what contemporary punk culture looks like up close.
It’s also a chance for us to say thank you to all of our projector contributors, ambassadors, supporters and sponsors who have been amazing throughout the project.
There are also a number of non-music events as part of the weekender, including talks and film screenings. Tell us about some of these?
Yes, as punk is about a lot more than music, we wanted to explore the ideology and give equal focus to all of the other creatives who form this movement. Some of these include:
- The main Punk : Rage & Revolution exhibitions at Leicester Museum & Art Gallery and Soft Touch Arts. These free events include the first retrospective of Vivienne Westwood’s clothing since she died, and the legendary artist the late Jamie Reid’s 8 metre mural.
- Taking Liberties Exhibition at The Gallery, De Montfort University featuring the late Jamie Reid’s iconic social injustice works.
- Punk Fiction Talk with acclaimed Leicester author Nicholas Hogg at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery.
- Screening of Derek Jarmon’s iconic 1978 film Jubilee at the Phoenix Cinema with an after-screening Q&A featuring star of the film Jenny Runacre and University of Leicester’s Dr Emma Parker.
- Women in Punk and screening of I am a Cliché. The documentary shows Celeste Bell travelling across the world and through her mother’s history—her mother being the late X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene. The screening will be followed by a talk led by Dr Emma Parker, featuring Celeste Bell, Cindy Sherman, and Ruth Miller of Leicester’s Unglamorous Women’s Punk band project.
Do you need to be a huge punk music fan to be able to enjoy the event?
Not at all, we’ve catered to a range of interests and have events for all ages across the weekend. If you’re into film, art, music, feminism, politics, fashion, literature, or just getting outside with the family and seeing something new, we would encourage you to look through the full schedule as there’ll be an activity for you.
How has the response been to the Punk : Rage and Revolution exhibition at Leicester Museum?
We’ve had about 25,000 visitors so far, with people coming to see us from all over the country and even further afield. We’ve had people flying in especially from Germany, France, USA, Canada and even Australia! It’s not just a nostalgic exhibition for the original punks, the audiences have been really diverse. We’ve had young people intrigued by subcultures, creative students and people interested in fashion, design, art and photography, music fans and people interested in culture and social history. We’ve had some brilliant reviews from the likes of Huck Magazine, Punktuation, ITV news and BBC Radio 4 who called it “thrilling, a really energetic and enjoyable exhibition.” We’ve also had some famous faces tweeting about us including Irvine Welsh, Lora Logic from X-Ray Spex and Rufus Hound. It’s clear that people want to see more of this type of content in museums.
How important is it for partners including BID Leicester and Leicester City Council to support projects like these?
Their support has been invaluable. It takes a tremendous amount of work to bring these events together and having their support enables us to make the events truly special. Their experience, contacts, marketing, planning skills and financial assistance are vital in bringing events like these to the city. We’re looking forward to working closely with them again on future projects.
Are the Festival events ticketed separately?
Yes, they are as some events are free to enter such as the main exhibitions and the Jubilee Square Scooterama, while Essential Logic and O2 Academy have their own ticketing systems.
Where can people find out more/buy tickets?
A full list of events and links to tickets is available here: Punk Festival | Rage & Revolution (rageandrevolution.co.uk)
The Closing Party at the O2 Academy Leicester: Punk: Rage & Revolution Closing Party Tickets | O2 Academy Leicester (TICKETS)
Lora Logic gig at Firebug (TICKETS)
Punk: Rage & Revolution is presented by the same team who were behind the successful 2019 Mods: Shaping a Generation exhibition, Arch Creative (headed up Joe Nixon), Soft Touch Arts (headed up by Chris Wigmore and Sally Norman) and Shaun Knapp.
Our BID Spotlight features are brought to you in collaboration with BID Leicester.
