Outbreak returns to London with its most diverse bill to date!
Following its London debut last year, Outbreak Festival has returned; this time with its most diverse bill to date, and a hell of a lot of dust! Oh well, such are the joys of a post-heatwave festival, and ultimately today’s musical treats are well worth getting a bit grubby. The weather is good, and the crowd is in high spirits, so we eagerly head on in shortly after gates open.
The North Stage tent is already impressively full by the time Show Me The Body take the stage, and the New York trio instantly demand – and get – a circle pit going for the raging punk rock of ‘Eat For Peace’. There’s a sense that this is a band on a mission, and whether getting the place dancing with the hip-hop tinged ‘Dance In The USA’ or bludgeoning us with the crunchy breakdowns of ‘Alone Together’, this is pretty much as explosive an opening statement as Outbreak could have wished for.
Over on the East Stage, it’s debatable as to whether any of today’s bands make us bounce as much as Ipswich’s very own Basement. Their melodic post-hardcore tunes are lent that extra oomph in the live setting, and as the sun comes out from behind some clouds during the opening ‘Time Waster’, all feels well with the world. Frontman Andrew Fisher grins as he gives a shout out to those who crowdsurf during the slower ‘Covet’, and shortly before closer ‘Promise Everything’, delivers an impassioned speech about not letting people stand in the way of your creativity. Superb stuff.
Interpol probably realise that their dark post-punk sound is somewhat at odds with much of today’s bill, and make the smart move of dropping the epic ‘Evil’ only two songs into their set, to huge applause from an increasingly huge crowd. Their vibe is also somewhat at odds with the blazing sunlight, but they seem happy enough up there, and the insistent, clockwork riff of ‘Rest My Chemistry’ and the brooding ‘Obstacle 1’ certainly hit the spot. The couple of new tunes played today bode well for the band’s future, and by the time they sign off with ‘Slaw Hands’ and ‘PDA’, it’s clear that the New Yorkers can chalk up today as a victory.
This is our first time seeing AFI in about 20 years, and we’re both amused and bemused to see that frontman Davey Havok has morphed into a kind of goth-punk Freddie Mercury, with his impressive moustache and theatrical presence. Old favourites like ‘Girl’s Not Grey’ and ‘The Days Of The Phoenix’ still shine as brightly as ever, but the synth-laden post-punk of newer effort ‘Holy Visions’ and the widescreen chorus of ‘17 Crimes’ prove equally compelling. It’s a shame that they choose to close with the plodding ‘Miss Murder’ (didn’t like it back then, still don’t like it now), but overall, this is an impressive display from a veteran band.
Amyl And The Sniffers rule the day. It’s doubtful that any vocalist gives it as much as Amy Taylor does today; like some kind of rebel cheerleader, you sense she’d stop at nothing to make this the ultimate punk/pub rock n’ roll party, and her bandmates are no slouches either. Quite rightly, there’s a large, seething, writhing pit throughout their set, and we’d have joined in if we weren’t so full of cheesy chips. ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’ and ‘Me And The Girls’ emerge as a couple of highlights, but really, their hour long set is pretty much wall-to-wall gold.
It seems lazy to compare an Australian band to AC/DC, but like Angus Young’s mob in their prime, the quartet have riffs to burn, manic energy and no end of rascal charm. As they bring things to a joyous end with a vitriolic ‘GFY’, all that remains is for us to kick ourselves for having not seen them live before – because with sets like these, enormo-domes such as Wembley and The O2 surely beckon. An absolute triumph.
“Are there any scumbags in the audience?” That’s livewire IDLES vocalist Joe Talbot, shortly before making us all crouch down en masse – and jump up again – during a mid-set ‘I’m Scum’. We find ourselves in a bit of a slump (probably mostly from the food and the heat) as the Bristol quintet kick off their set, but with riffs this spiky and a performance as frenzied, sweaty, and thrillingly agitated as this one, they were never going to fail today.
They channel their righteous anger well on the likes of ‘Never FIght A Man With A Perm’ and ‘Car Crash’; both onstage and on record, this is the sound of a band who’ve taken a good hard look at the state of modern Britain and not particularly liked what they’ve seen. They finish with ‘Rottweiler’, a song as fierce and intimidating as its namesake dog, and depart, surely knowing that they’ve given us the musical equivalent of a jolt with an electric cattle prod (but in a good way).
Headliners Deftones certainly pull out all the stops; with some spectacular ‘Planet Earth’-level visuals on the video screens, and a whopping 22-song set. The opening ‘Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)’ is suitably seismic, and frontman Chino Moreno remains a magnetic figure – one with not much to say between songs, but still in fine vocal form after all these years.
We’re not as familiar with the Californian crew as we used to be, and the crowd’s attention occasionally wanes somewhat during their slower, more prog-tinged songs, but a late brace of the melancholic ‘Change (In The House Of Flies)’ and an utterly crushing ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ is a winning combination indeed. The lure of a shower and good sleep is clearly too much for a fair few folks, but more fool those who leave early, because as the band close their encore with old favourite ‘7 Words’, it’s harder to think of a better way to simultaneously sign off and bring the house down.
An excellent end to a day that will be remembered for all the right reasons! Here’s to Outbreak Festival’s return in 2027.
Main Photo Credit: CLEMENTE RUIZ
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