Departing from the regular dispatches on obscure football players, @DarrenSpherical has turned his attention to near-mythical bands. He recently returned to the northern English seaside town of Blackpool to attend the 2016 Rebellion Festival, a mammoth four-day celebration of punk and its 40-plus years’ worth of subgenres, featuring bands, interviews, artwork, poetry, comedy and an improbable cast of characters.

Rebellion Festival 2016

4-7 August 2016

What follows below is as much a personal account as it is a review of this meticulously mapped mayhem written by a 28-year-old man who has committed a reality-defying amount of man-hours to this broad culture. I make no claim to be an authoritative guide and understand that many fellow attendees may stumble upon parts and wonder if I was actually at the same festival as them. Indeed, as will be expanded upon via a number of tangents inspired by what I encountered, there are countless strands, layers and…