Out of the 14 years since it first began, the majority of Outbreak Festival’s reputation and public perception has really been condensed into just the last few. Some of that inevitably comes from the tidbits of lore that have become associated with it—its barrier-less stages; the infamous mosh waiver—but it’s the event that its grown into that stands head and shoulders above all else. Right now, this is the hardcore event in the UK, a flex exhibited by taking place on the same weekend as Download, and inevitably branded as the cooler way to spend your June weekend.
For 2025, Outbreak is back in Manchester’s B.E.C. Arena, with a pared-back version in London’s Victoria Park on the Friday before (because heaven forbid a big music event is held in the UK and London doesn’t get a look-in). Its lineup is more of a greatest hits of the wider bill, with the sole exclusive being the headliners Turnstile, a booking which, no doubt, has persuaded some of the more zealous moshers to travel down south and begin their weekend of broken teeth early. It’s a great get, not only for Turnstile being one of hardcore’s top brass right now, but also just a week after NEVER ENOUGH released to its own incandescent acclaim. If you’re looking for a way to flog your extra day, this is how you do it (regardless of how nice it would’ve been for a more democratic inclusion, like everything else).
Saying that, it’s hardly a case of the south hogging its musical wealth. Back in Manchester, if you’re looking for a bill of some of the best and brightest in hardcore and emo, you’re lousy with options. Knocked Loose are headlining, the undisputed poster-boys for metallic hardcore reaching as far as the eye can see. Sandwiched between the two tentpole moments of late-night US talk show appearances and opening for Actual, Literal Metallica next year, a barrier-free bloodbath is evidence aplenty that Knocked Loose haven’t lost sight of their roots in their current, nonstop whirlwind. Elsewhere, glassjaw are making a typically bus-like UK appearance, making minimal noise for years before returning for three sets across the three days. It’s in celebration of Worship And Tribute and Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Silence with both getting played in full, and anything deliberately pinned to two of the finest post-hardcore albums of the 2000s is A-okay. As for further legends, Sunny Day Real Estate are one of emo’s definitive names, full stop, and Terror make up for a comparative lack of ‘classic’ magnitude with decades of metallic hardcore that can test the Richter scale more literally.
As for the rest, Deafheaven are a good place to start for illustrating the ever-changing boundaries of Outbreak’s rubric. As we’ll see later, shoegaze has some heavy representation this year, and having this band as one of its chief flag-bearers—a crossover hit with the Pitchforkier end of things while firmly having a black-metal base—is a perfect choice. In more familiar emo territory, there’s a swathe of heavy hitters, with Drug Church, Tigers Jaw, Foxing and the ever-welcomed return of Superheaven holding some exceptional weight. In the same vein are the adjacent bands whose groundswell is undeniable—Militarie Gun and Witch Fever in different circles of punk; Gouge Away in emotional hardcore; and Fleshwater in general, all-purpose ‘90s-ness.
Going back to straight-up bludgeoning, though, Outbreak hasn’t lost sight of that initial appeal, especially on lower levels. It’s crammed to the gills with heavy, blunt forms of hardcore with an onus on launching into that heaviness and bluntness face-first. Speed, SPY, Jivebomb and Sunami (and you might as well throw in the latter’s split buddies Pain Of Truth, too) all operate in the circles of hardcore rife with great, streamlined bruisers as of late. In the strata below them are the risers ready to make their names known, often with great ease thanks to being your usual single-worded metallic hardcore guys. Splitknuckle; Impunity; Extinguish; Contention; Kenya; if you want to stretch out the lexicon a bit, Long Goodbye and No Relief; for no-nonsense battering, these have all got you covered.
Then again, you can still be ridiculously heavy and moshable and have a more distinct angle. For some, that’s a little more spurious than others—XweaponX are more openly straight-edge (if you somehow couldn’t tell), and Big Boy are worth bringing up here solely because Googling them throws up a Reddit thread where the poster calls them “the most overrated band in hardcore” (even though they’re not that bad). As for God’s Hate, that’s the band of wrestler Brody King and Twitching Tongues’ Colin Young, if you fancy some more recognisable faces in your hardcore. More to the point, though, Pest Control and Final Resting Place tilt more in a death metal direction; Stiff Meds wear their classic punk side prominently; Chamber have the unmistakable feel of the modern Church Road roster in their arsenal; Cruelty bring some chaotic mathcore throwbacks; and IHKRAS, with a fiercely anti-colonial stance and lyrics in English and Arabic, might just stand out the most amongst this healthy hardcore contingent.
But let’s go to the real curveballs, the property that modern-day Outbreak just wouldn’t seem right without. Back in 2023, they actually caught a lot of flak for how much hip-hop was on the bill, continuing with the thread the next year, and seemingly kowtowing to the criticism now. It’s not entirely gone, to be fair, and the ones who are here feel like no-brainers to work a hardcore festival. Denzel Curry has done it before, headlining in 2023 and famous for an intensity that’s become a real tribe-uniter wherever it sets foot. Meanwhile, Danny Brown is a little more off-the-wall, but in the vein of ‘do-whatever-you-want’ creativity, it’s hard to deny how much that fits in this proudly independent context.
It’s the indie-rock and shoegaze that leap out most, though, also having a place in the Outbreak ecosystem in the past, but really finding themselves thrust forward for 2025. Among the top-billed, you’ve got the patron saint of jobless RateYourMusic lurkers Alex G, and Slowdive, one of the foundational names in shoegaze that, in recent years, have found their initially-lukewarm reputation rehabilitated an ungodly number of times over. As far as bookings go, they don’t exactly scream ‘testing the waters’. At the same time, it’s definitely admirable how much Outbreak commits to these decisions, where a band like Oversize can fit in both this and the ‘normal’ hardcore camps, but they’re very much within the minority. You’ve got slacker-indie acts like Gleemer, Julie, Momma and Feeble Little Horse, and shoegaze from Have A Nice Life and They’re Gutting A Body Of Water that, while not in pride of place, sit with more than enough prominence. Even some of the other scattered names from the outfield have more in common with them in general vibe, like the indie-emo of Kissing On Camera or the higher-brow post-punk of Model/Actriz, Maruja and University.
Finally, there are the real outliers, the ones that have next to nothing in common with anyone else here, other than indomitable DIY spirit. That takes a radically different form for Jane Remover and Kumo 99, however, respectively among digital hardcore and breakbeat that feels as though Outbreak is pawing at its next musical rabbit hole to explore. Does that mean the 100gecs headline set will be made a reality in 2026? Maybe; you’d be foolish to rule anything out at this point, seeing as Outbreak’s only directions of movement continue to be upwards and outwards.
Outbreak Festival takes place on 13th June at London’s Victoria Park, and 14th-15th June at Manchester’s B.E.C. Arena. For more information, visit www.outbreak-fest.co.uk.
Words by Luke Nuttall
