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Outbreak’s Saturday and Sunday were incredibly different from their Friday offering - you can check out our Friday review here! Saturday didn’t fail to satisfy the hardcore kids and Sunday was a beautiful mix of emo. Each day managed to provide a solid mix of bands while maintaining a distinct theme that, despite calls for a heavier weekend overall, seemed to satisfy most of the weekend punters.
Saturday 29th June
Gridiron was a blistering force of heavy rap metal hardcore, thrashing through their set with a great mix of breakdowns, mic grabs, and headbang-worthy beats. If you were still hanging from Friday night’s antics Gridiron will have put the pep back in your step ready for the day ahead.
Moving outside to the main stage, US shoegazers Nothing played almost in conflict with the bright mid-afternoon sun. Their moody, trauma-driven songs captivated the crowd squinting up at them.
A band that truly highlighted the genre-mashing that Outbreak presents were Bodyweb, their hardcore roots influenced by jungle and metal alike gave the crowd vibey beats to dance to and heavy, gritty moments to throw down to. Their unique sound was a welcome introduction to the variety of massive sounds that Glasgow-based label Northern Unrest presented across the weekend.
Relative newcomers to the scene, Speedway are putting Sweden on the map for the new generation of hardcore. Tearing up the third stage on Saturday, they got limbs and bodies flying everywhere. Despite being only the second band on the third stage all weekend, people showed up and threw down. If this set is a sign of things to come for the band, they’ll be getting more opportunities to play in the UK very soon.
Taqbir definitely lived up to all the hype and recommendations we had been given ahead of the weekend. Raw, political, and unwavering in their rage and freedom, the 5-piece delivered an incredible set harnessing the energy of the room. Using their set to highlight the importance of expression, being true to yourself, and rebelling against oppressive systems, they were one of the most impactful bands of the day.
Perp Walk are one of those bands that just get substantially better every time you see them. We're not just telling you that either - the whole crowd agreed. Not a second after they played their first chord the room tore in two and was filled with moshers, two-steppers, and crowdkillers alike battling for space to the frenzy of their SW hardcore stylings.
Not a pit for the faint of heart. Detroit Michigan’s Never Ending Game got the crowd right off their feet. Pulling up to the Manchester stage halfway through the day, they pulled in an audience that was warmed up and ready to fly. A barrage of stage divers and a mosh pit filled their set with unrivalled movement - the perfect way for people to enjoy Never Ending Game’s unapologetically heavy and intense style of hardcore.
One of the weekend's most highly anticipated bands was Poison The Well. Returning to the the UK after a hiatus of 14 years (on and off) their Outbreak appearance was their 2nd show back across the pond, and by the sounds of the cheers, a fair few people had been to their New Cross Inn gig the night before. With energy and appreciation high, they blasted through their set, only taking breaks to encourage more and more people to stage dive and use their front-of-crowd waivers to their full purpose.
If there is one band that fits the ambience of torrential rain just right, it’s Touché Amoré. Unperturbed by the downpour, they delivered a moody, cathartic set that fit the weather to a T and allowed the tears to flow freely from the soggy crowd, disguised by the streaming sky. Closing their set with a stage invasion to be rivalled, they were clearly a Saturday fan favourite.
New York is famed for its hardcore scene and Mindforce are a staple. Packing out the second stage to the point that some people missed out on the pit because there was no space to get to the front, it was no secret that this set was going to be a big one, having not played Manchester since the pandemic. They did not disappoint either, playing a set that had the crowd moving from front to back simply by bringing the very best they have to offer.
One of the only barefoot bands you see on the circuit - Chat Pile do make themselves at home on stage. The stompy sludge metal noise rockers were successful in getting the crowd going right from the opening song, launching into ‘Why?’ and being met with tonnes of fans shouting along and making the air vibrate with the volume of it. If you haven’t seen Chat Pile yet, catch them when you can, they put on an incredible show and aren’t one to miss.
Post-hardcore five-piece Basement headlined the main stage on Saturday. The rain was not going to stop people from enjoying this set to its fullest extent, adding an extra layer of catharsis to the atmosphere. Playing five songs each from their heavy-hitting albums 2012’s colourmeinkindness and 2017’s follow-up Promise Everything, the grunge-hardcore outfit knew what the fans wanted to hear and the fans showed their love by singing the songs back word for word. The only song that wasn’t sung back to the band was a new yet-to-be-released song that was played for the first time, which still got plenty of excitement.
Sunday 30th June
Balance and Composure woke us up bright and early on Sunday morning, but they were well worth getting down for. With their travel issues the previous day and the very early start they pulled up acknowledging the struggle of rocking out before midday and proceeded to deliver a great set regardless.
The promise of emo and emo-adjacent, scream-into-the-void style anguish was thoroughly fulfilled when The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die took to the stage. Starting their set with an unreleased song and bringing it to a close with their newly released cover of Ceremony’s ‘Kersed’ they succeeded in pleasing the whole depth and breadth of their fans. They rarely spoke between songs but their homage to their home country stood out, 'We're from the United States, it sucks there' and was received with a chuckle and a cheer from the mainly British crowd.
You could tell Angel Du$t really enjoyed being at Outbreak, encouraging all the stage divers and moshers to get involved from the offset, and jumping down to the lower platform to join them. Their distinctive style is carried by thrash-style riffs and an eye-opening definition of hardcore punk with poppier influences bleeding through their set and elevating it immensely. They crammed all they could into their half-hour set, amping up as time got tight towards the end but to the crowds' pleasure, they managed to squeeze in a very healthy 13-song set.
If you were at Outbreak this year you may have had the luxury of seeing Sweet Pill twice! They took full advantage of the gap left by Balance and Composure’s travel delays and asked if they could take that slot. Their Sunday set still had so much energy and gusto you wouldn’t have guessed they had played the day before unless they told you. Truly making an impression as modern emo legends on their first shows outside of North America, they acclimated well shouting out their favourite British phrases - ' "Cheers", that's my favourite thing to say here, "You fuckin wanker" I like that one too’.
Bristol-based ‘dreamo’ mob Split Chain are a band that is hard to define because they blend so many genres so seamlessly. Whilst heavy riffs gave the energy needed for mosh pits to open up, the shoegaze choruses made way for people to sing along. A good turnout that matched the energy of the set and the band was clearly very happy to see the full room. Finishing on a Type O Negative cover felt very fitting, adding a fresh but also very welcome twist on the energy of ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Me’.
‘We’re not Mannequin P, we’re Mannequin Pussy!’ And they won’t let you forget it. With an incredible set celebrating female rage and empowerment, anti-censorship, anti-cop, anti-antisemitism, and anti-Tory, their stage chat between songs was well received to say the least. Marisa has a way of commanding those onlooking both with her lilting voice and charm that, like a siren, draws you in while deriding those who have dared to cross her - ‘you seem to have no problem saying the Buzzcocks and I'm tired of the double standard’. Her ability to switch between styles makes her performance all the more enigmatic.
Initially started as a project focussed on making one EP for one show and nothing more, noise rock collective Gouge Away have spent the last eight years still going strong. Coming over all the way from Florida, the long trip was completely worth it because they put on a great show. Pulling in a crowd that filled the front section showed that the fans were very glad they stuck around for a lot longer than they initially planned.
Celebrating 10 years of Home, Like Noplace Is There and their first UK show in seven years, both The Hotelier and their fans alike had a blast playing and experiencing the album from cover to cover. The familiarity of the song progression drew the crowd into the experience, crowd surfing and climbing on stage simply to be closer to the experience as a whole. As a seminal modern emo record, it did not fail to enrapture the audience as much as it did 10 years ago, with ‘Dendron’ finished they cheekily loop back into the opening chords of ‘An Introduction to the Album’ before almost unwillingly closing out their set.
From the blazing sun of Orange County, California to the summer rain of Manchester, Movements got a true British experience. Off the back of releasing their latest album RUCKUS! in 2023, they came to get the crowd moving, vowing to make anyone who hadn’t heard of them before a fan by the end of the set. Playing a good mix of songs from the new album and classics from their debut album Feel Something the band knew how to get people on their feet and singing along before getting everyone emotional by closing on their song ‘Daylily’.
For a band that released their first-ever EP exactly one year to the day before playing Outbreak, Impunity felt like a band that had been together for years with the support they got. They have quickly become one of the most talked-about bands in the hardcore scene by both fans and other bands alike, and have cemented themselves as ones to watch. Making fans mosh hard to a heavy cover of the theme from Inspector Gadget was not what we were expecting to see, but we absolutely loved it.
Joyce Manor joined The Hotelier in celebrating a 10 year anniversary of an album by playing Never Hungover Again in full. They opened with ‘NBTSA’ and ‘Beach Community’ before launching into the 2014 fan favourite, which had fans moshing and crowd surfing along to every song. The energy and community on show was a thing of beauty, with the crowd singing along word perfect to every track, both on stage with the band and from the floor. Closing their set on a high with ‘Constant Headache’, they left their fans entirely content.
Incendiary were exactly that, lighting up the second stage with their energy and almost assuredly increasing the temperature of the room by a few degrees. The indoor stages were incredibly humid and sweaty by this point with the amount of people who had come in from the rain now sheltered together. The New Yorkers showed us how it’s done across the pond with high-energy songs blasting out and the crowd loving it from the second their set started.
Self-proclaimed 'number 1 hot new band' and inventors of post-emo, Michigan’s Hot Mulligan are known not only for being funny but also for making great music. Playing their set in an unorthodox fashion, they didn't save a single one of their most popular songs for the end of their set, choosing instead to pepper them throughout. Despite confusing some people with the order of songs played, the crowd were not at all worried by this and were just very happy to be watching Hot Mulligan.
Shoutout to whoever put Soccer Mommy on before American Football, bands with sports in their name to the front! With beautiful vocals alongside twinkly indie rock instrumentals, they were a welcome cool off after a busy day full of emo and hardcore to jump around to.
Headlining Sunday and closing the whole festival was American Football, the band who put Urbana, Illinois on the map - they had a lot to live up to, and they exceeded all expectations. Embarking on tour in 2024 to celebrate 25 years since the release of an album that redefined a whole style of music, the band played the incredible self-titled LP in full. Taking the audience not only on an auditory journey but a visual journey too, with video accompanying each song of 704 West High Street, Urbana, Illinois famously featured on the cover of the album which the band are now part-owners of. We saw different angles of the house passing through a day with a new angle for each song, culminating with the angle from the album cover as the band closed the set and festival with the timeless classic ‘Never Meant’. Lead vocalist and guitarist Mike Kinsella was hoisted atop a stage invasion, a beaming smile plastered across his face, in a beautiful way to bring the weekend to a close. Outbreak is known for being a hardcore festival, but when they bring in a band as widely adored as American Football it makes for a show that is as memorable as it is enjoyable. Looking around as they closed out the fest, it was more than just the rain that was wetting people's faces.
Words: Kayleigh Fryer, Alex Long
Photos: Anna Swiechowska, Nat Wood
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