Day three of Outbreak Festival at Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester consisted of another eclectic group of bands and artists ranging between hardcore, emo and all things in between.
FIDDLEHEAD
First up for me was Fiddlehead, the post-hardcore group with Patrick Flynn as frontman who co-headlined the festival yesterday with Have Heart. His amazing stage presence and vocal delivery seen at yesterday’s set was present again today with him throwing himself into the crowd and rallying fans up into a frenzy. It was truly a fantastic start to the day with the bands energetic riffs and grooves inspiring the sea of fans in the crowd and on stage to go wild. The band were on at 2:30pm and for a slightly earlier slot at the festival, the group pulled a massive crowd of die-hard fans. The set was feel-good throughout with Pat dedicating songs to his friends who are getting married to which he said: “nothing makes me happier than seeing my brothers in love”, and even dedicating another song to his best friend who stood to the side of the stage. Much like last nights Have Heart set, Pat explained “this stage is your stage” which prompted even more crowd surfing, stage diving and moshing. I can’t think of a possible better start to the final day of Outbreak 2024.
MANNEQUIN PUSSY
Next up was my most anticipated set of the day, Mannequin Pussy. The Philadelphia punk band have just come off a much talked about and well received Glastonbury set and were ready to bring their live show to Outbreak Festival. The band blend their softer moments with harsh, hardcore elements in a way that works perfectly together, most notably on the cathartic I Got Heaven which was a highlight of their set for me. The song comes off the bands 2024 album of the same name which the group played multiple tracks from including the fast and abrasive Aching and fan favourite Loud Bark. Frontwoman Marisa “Missy” Dabice spoke on the censorship the band has gotten from the UK regarding their band name asking the question “Why is it ok to say Buzzcocks but not Mannequin Pussy?” The show really took their songs to a new level and in my opinion, deserved a longer set time rather than the 30 minutes they were given.
MODERN COLOR
I then went down to the second stage to see another post-hardcore group Modern Color, a band I had been recommended to check out at the festival. They really brought the energy early on in the day rallying the crowd up to give it their all. Their set consisted of more melodic tracks with a heavy edge, mainly brought by drummer Vince Nguyen who’s backing vocals sounded amazing live. Fans were pacing across the stage with one even doing multiple backflips to the amaze of guitarist Fleming Valenzuela. The set was great however, closer Pale really brought the best out of the band and the audience with a reaction unlike much I had seen at the entire festival. The set ended with a stage invasion with fans swarming the band.
MOVEMENTS
I made my way to the main stage to catch Movements set. Frontman Patrick Miranda opened their set saying: “This is the second time we’ve played here. The first time we set this motherfucker off, let’s do it again.” What followed was a set of anthemic post hardcore bangers which had fans crowd surfing and moshing throughout. There was a real emotion potency to the set with the band being extremely thankful to have the opportunity to play Outbreak, even at one point saying that it’s their favourite festival outside of the US. New tracks were interspersed with old songs with both going sounding fantastic during their show. A really solid set overall that went down amazingly with the crowd.
JOYCE MANOR
Following Movements were Joyce Manor on the main stage. The band played their entire 2014 album Never Hungover Again for its ten-year anniversary. Equipped with fast tight grooves, Joyce Manor provided a set of pure euphoria with fans singing along and moshing to every song. It’s clear how much the songs played meant to the fans in the crowd with people running onto the stage in arms with one another. Their guitarist was unable to make the show, so they had someone filling in on short notice who did a fantastic job with the lead elements to the tracks. Closing with Constant Headache, fans swarmed around the singer reciting the lyrics perfectly almost like a choir, it was truly a sight to behold.
HOT MULLIGAN
Sticking to the main stage, the next band up were Hot Mulligan who really elevated their recorded sound for the live setting. Frontman Nathan “Tades” Sanville made a few comments on stage about them experiencing sound issues and not being able to hear himself but from my point of view, they sounded killer throughout. The bouncing crowd didn’t let up during any of the songs in the set and even continued what seems to be the tradition of the day by ending the show with the stage being swarmed with fans singing the last song up close and personal with the band.
DEMONSTRATION OF POWER
Another one of my most anticipated for the weekend were next on the third stage, Glaswegian hardcore band Demonstration Of Power. They absolutely blew me away with their set at last year’s festival, so much so that I made it a necessity to catch their set this year. The band provided possibly the craziest show I saw all weekend with absolute pandemonium on and off stage. They had the audience in the palm of their hand throughout, the entire band were hypnotising making it almost impossible to look away from the chaos. The festival has a real sense of community that was made even clearer with multiple members of bands on the Scotland based Northern Unrest label being on stage during the set. Confetti cannons were set off towards the end showcasing how much of a celebration the show and festival as a whole is for the hardcore community.
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
Then it was time for the final act. As the sun started to go down, midwest emo band American Football took the stage. Backdropped by the iconic house that features on the front of their self-titled classic debut album, the group started with their soft guitars which gradually built as faces around began to light up. The diverse set of instrumentation on stage really added depth to the band, in particular with drummer Steve Lamos who was going between drums and trumpet throughout songs. The set consisted of unusual time signatures interwoven with massive sing-a-longs from die-hard fans who were dancing and crowd surfing. The stage design as a whole was striking, it was clear a lot of care and thought was put into their set. American Football’s set was a beautiful way to close out the weekend.
Outbreak Festival 2024 was a glorious celebration of hardcore, hip hop and alternative music as a whole. The event has such a nice sense of community that is hard to find at other fests. Roll on Outbreak Festival 2025.
