FESTIVAL PREVIEW: Outbreak Fest 2024

June 24, 2024 Ed Truby

The most diverse hardcore festival around Outbreak Fest is back this year with a bang, returning to its former home of Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester for a weekend chock full of hardcore, shoegaze, hip hop, and everything in between. Last year’s festival felt like a flagship moment for the event with arguably the biggest headliners in their fairly recent history, and this year is a continuation from where they left off.

Icons of the scene AMERICAN FOOTBALL, HAVE HEART and BASEMENT will no doubt catch your eye, along with the now expected big names in rap such as ACTION BRONSON and JPEGMAFIA, but the sheer volume of artists on offer this year is uncompromising. With such a broad range on offer, here’s your breakdown of the only place to be that weekend.

Friday is the shortest day of the weekend’s line up’s and is the day most detracted from all things heavy. Opening with MAVI and REDVEIL, the hip-hop roots for the day are well and truly laid, before being switched up with California experimental art-punk twins THE GARDEN. BEACH FOSSILS indie dreampop will be a welcome mellow stopgap before returning the way we started the day, with alternative hip-hop king JPEGMAFIA setting the standard before ACTION BRONSON closes out day one with his classic east coast hip-hop flow, fresh off the back of releasing recent single Nourish A Thug. The larger-than-life rapper-come-TV presenter is a continuation in the booking of monumental rap artists following on from last years’ headliner DENZEL CURRY.

Moving onto Saturday and the feast of music on offer looks relentless. The second stage at a glance appears a treat with almost non-stop worldwide crushing hardcore with offerings ranging from TAQBIR’s Moroccan post-punk, hardcore rap bruisers GRIDIRON and more local boys in Leeds hardcore lot BODYWEB. Looking over to the mainstage and frankly, we are overwhelmed with choices. The variety in bands is no better displayed than the rapid jump from Baltimore punk hitters JIVEBOMB preceding triphop influenced dreampop duo CRUSHED. Elsewhere another Leeds band continue their ascent of the scene in HIGHER POWER fresh off the release of latest single Absolute Bloom, their first release since 2021, and no one who has followed the grunge influenced five piece will want to miss them.

Topping the second stage comes a return for SHOW ME THE BODY, who are never a band to miss and surely one of the only groups in town who can justify the bringing of a banjo. The proposition of a dual headline following the cacophony of options preceding them is tantalising, and British melodic hardcore favourites BASEMENT finally take the top spot having sub-headlined in 2022, in what will surely be a lung busting set. Alongside them is HAVE HEART, providing a hard-hitting chasm of 2000s straight-edge hardcore, playing their first show since 2019. Their societally charged lyrics are as relevant now as they were when back when they were written and will provide a great deal of aggressive catharsis to close out Saturday.

Day three displays an altogether more emo complexion, with the first band anyone thinks of after hearing the words Midwest Emo, AMERICAN FOOTBALL, closing out the whole weekend with a set dedicated to the 25th anniversary of their iconic self-titled debut album. Preceding them, completing the sporting evening is SOCCER MOMMY, who’s slumbering indie emo anthems will whir you into a nostalgic melancholy. This theme is carried on by other acts like HOT MULLIGAN and everyone’s favourite named band THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE providing their expansive, dynamic emo anthems.

The second stage will be providing plenty of the limb throwing hardcore that we always want from Outbreak in groups like END IT, GOUGE AWAY, INCENDIARY and HARM’S WAY, with hopefully plenty of running men moves to be seen for the latter. Glasgow hardcore label Northern Unrest has an abundance of pummelling offerings for the second stage including DEMONSTRATION OF POWER, DESPIZE, HELLBOUND and NOTHIN’ BUT ENEMIES who are certain to get the blood and sweat flowing.

Ten year anniversary sets for JOYCE MANOR’s Never Hungover Again as well as THE HOTELIER’s Home, Like No Place Is There will add a certain novelty to the day, in addition to post hardcore veterans THURSDAY closing out the second stage by bringing a battling verses set of their albums War All The Time and Full Collapse, perhaps taking a leaf from When We Were Young Festival having a hefty amount of novel album specific sets really adding to the one off feeling that makes Outbreak Fest 2024 one that you would be crazy to miss.