_edited.jpg)
I’ve always preferred camping festivals. But going to Manchester Punk Festival this year may have changed that. Over the past year and a half, since getting more involved with the punk scene, I heard more and more about the infamous MPF. The annual meeting of punks from across the world in 7 venues across Manchester to support their pals and find new bands to skank to.
Managing a festival with over 140 acts, across 7 stages, is by no means easy but from walking around you would think it was a breeze. The team of volunteers running merch and info stalls were all lovely and helpful and the security staff were always pleasant at the doors and stages adapting to the diverse crowd reactions set-to-set. Everyone attending was bright and friendly across the weekend, happy to chat in queues, share tables, and help each other out across the weekend. Keeping a happy crowd across three full days is a positive reflection of the band choices, staff, and management of MPF as a whole.
No matter what kind of punk you prefer there is always going to be something for you at MPF, and with the majority of the venues being within a 10-minute walk from each other if you find yourself listening to a band that isn’t to your taste, you don’t have to walk far to find one that is. As a heavy music publication, we focused on the heavier and hardcore punk bands across the weekend.
Opening up Bread Shed on the Friday was Shooting Daggers, a self-described “queercore punk trio” they knew how to get the crowd's attention and at 4 o’clock in the afternoon after a four-hour drive, that is exactly what was needed. Their post-hardcore sound brings together very listenable melodies and driving vocal lines with clear influences from the likes of Petrol Girls and combined with their queer femme rage and a hint of 90s indie nostalgia they were a strong start to my first MPF.
IKHRAS. The most ferocious nine minutes of the weekend. Releasing their debut EP less than 2-months before their MPF set gave hardcore fans plenty of time to listen to their 6-minute and 50-second offering of blistering anti-colonial rage. Singing in Arabic and English, Hassan puts an immense amount of passion and anger into both lyricism and delivery that translates perfectly to the stage. Blasting through their set in true hardcore fashion, the crowd reacted in kind with fervent two-stepping and windmilling with Hassan also taking the opportunity to launch himself horizontally into the crowd. As the band started to pack up and walk off chants of “Free Free Palestine” echoed out, Ikhras turned and took to the stage again with Hassan pointedly saying “If you think chanting Free Palestine is gonna make me play another song, you’re wrong, because it’s gonna be free anyway.” before fully wrapping up their set by thundering into ‘Executioner’ once more.
Making their Union debut at ten to three on Saturday afternoon were Cornwall “noisemongers” Rash Decision. Noisemongers is one of the best descriptions I have seen from any band ever and certainly sums up their combination of punk and metalcore. After potentially going a bit too hard on Friday, watching a loud and interesting band was exactly what I needed. Thrashing through hardcore shouts and guttural vocals with galloping drums and tasty metal riffs their set was high energy and entertaining from beginning to end.
Up next and bringing unapologetic rage to the stage was The Menstrual Cramps. Kitted out in their trademark orange looks they took to the stage in a tornado of fiery punk passion.
They were definitely the horniest band of the day driving home their points with thrusts and twerks as the band used their sex appeal to enrapture the audience for their whole set. Emilia made full use of the stage as they danced and kicked and sprawled while shouting about injustices scaling from personal to political. They used their platform on the biggest stage of the festival to call out businesses actively funding Israel, especially those who are sponsoring music festivals, and encouraged the audience to boycott them, fully cementing their meaningful activism and opposition to performative gestures.
After comfortably filling up Gorilla back in 2022 and off the back of their incredible debut album ‘Kill the Dream’, Tripsun graduated to the Union stage and proved their worth by drawing in a full room to watch their set. Largely playing songs from KTD, with some older fan favourites thrown in, there was truly a song for everyone. The highlight of their set was bringing Stu Daly (CHEWIE) out for ‘Apathy’ and seeing the shared joy and love between the two bands in that moment was incredibly sweet. Running high on emotion and adrenaline they powered through the rest of their set ending with the devastatingly emotional ‘Concrete’ which never fails to make me shed a tear.
A Wilhelm Scream were a force to be reckoned with. As the penultimate main stage band of Saturday, they did not hesitate to show the technical mastery they had over their instruments ploughing straight into their high-octane set. With moshpits and crowd surfers galore, the photo pit became a risky place to stand barely two songs in and by the third song I had retreated further back to watch the remainder of their set. They continued from strength to strength highlighted by consistently high-quality vocals and beautiful guitar solos they kept the energy up and the crowd involved with lead singer Nuno throwing himself into the throng. A solid demonstration of why they are the pinnacle of modern melodic hardcore.
A must-see for us at MPF was Witch Fever. Manchester-based doom-punks headlined the Bread Shed on Saturday evening and brought the home team advantage with them. The room packed out for the quartet and the cheering crowd was on side and ready for the onslaught of sludge as they made their way onstage. Melding genres together in a way that shows the breadth of what punk can be, their set kept up momentum and hype. Ending with their best song to shout to, ‘12’, Amy charged into the pit and finished their set on a high.
Clobber are massive. That could be the entire review. They set out with that ethos and delivered. One of the loveliest bands on the scene these Londoners proved that taking the journey outside the M25 is worth it by winning over the late-night HXC fans with a tight thirty minutes that set the standard for the rest of the hardcore bands at MPF. Between songs, Charlie took the time to emphasise how getting involved in the scene has steered him away from a more negative path, appealing specifically to the blokes to take it from him - someone who looks like a “proper geezer” - on the importance of listening to other voices around them. With pits and mic grabs galore they blasted through their tracks with a brilliant cover of Blur’s ‘Parklife’ thrown in they provided one of the most fun sets of the weekend.
Kicking off Sunday morning (afternoon really, but by day three time was a bit of a blur) were Buds., the only band I saw over the weekend that had a rocky start to their set. Through no fault of their own, they were left stranded by the sound engineer with their mics off in front of a packed-out Zombie Shack. Filling the silence by bantering with the front few rows of the crowd they kept the energy up and once the mics were recovered, they were off. Easily launching into an energetic mix of emo, punk, and hardcore that got everyone up and moving. Having two vocalists adds depth and vibrancy to their performance, clean melodies from Dan emphasised by deep shouts and growls from Sonny really work well together live.
Moving onto one of the messiest bands of the weekend, Pizzatramp. Notorious for their on and off-stage shenanigans they brought their trademark energy with them for a late afternoon Sunday set to remember. Jimbob took to the stage and went on a 40-minute rant interspersed with old-school-shouty-thrashy punk tracks. He rattled through his current vendetta against a certain delivery company for causing their merch to be delayed, a solid back and forth with a heckler whom he went down to the crowd to chat to, successfully slagged off Saturday night headliners Hot Water Music, and then proceeded to throw up over the stage and apologise profusely while a sea of blue roll was laid around him.
After taking a brief break from the madness and grabbing a bite to eat in the Flour and Flagon, it was time for DARKO. One of the many fantastic offerings from Lockjaw Records at MPF this year, their presence across the weekend showed how diverse the punk scene is from the brilliant acoustic set in Yes! from Katie MF on Friday to this glorious dark and fast set in Bread Shed. Their set saw the return of human pyramids which had become a staple of the weekend and one of the best pits of any set, successfully engaging the room with their blistering mix of melodic punk, thrash, and prog influences. Tom’s vocals are hard to beat as he effortlessly switches between clean lines, highs, and growls uplifted by the incredible talent the other members brought to the stage. They have embraced the transition from their previous EP ‘Sparkle’ to the next chapter ‘Greyscale’ putting angst and fire into their performance.
MPF was an absolute delight. Being surrounded by so many like-minded people for a weekend and watching so many talented bands was a treat. We’re very thankful to have been present and can’t wait for MPF25 to roll round next Easter.
Words: Kayleigh Fryer
Photos: Kayleigh Fryer
Comments