Music
Review
Outbreak Festival takes London by storm, quite literally
Thanks to supreme headline set from Turnstile that summoned torrential rain and thunder, the genre-fluid festival reiterated that hardcore’s moment in the limelight is very much now
Few hardcore bands make it big like Turnstile. Few ‘hardcore’ hardcore bands perhaps want to. Hence why the jury was out on the Baltimore band according to some inked disciples of Outbreak Festival who were still tediously nattering about the festival’s headliner ‘selling out’ right ahead of their highly-anticipated set.
Hardcore had been one of the last untouched subcultures to receive the mainstream gentrification treatment. But Outbreak – in collaboration with LIDO Festival having ventured out of its Manchester foundations for the first time – has very much lent into the genre-fluid ethos for its debut open-air outing in London, emphasising that inclusivity is in fact the scene’s strength and can rubber stamp the event as an annual edition to the city’s festival calendar.
Who better to headline than Turnstile then, a band who have brought hardcore – in their own distinct vision – to the fore. After their supreme headline show, the three-time Grammy Award nominees reasserted that hardcore’s moment in the limelight is very much now.
On what was initially a cloudless, scorchio afternoon, seemingly everyone that didn’t nab a ticket to Download Festival flocked to Victoria Park’s sun-baked lawn. The diverse crowd (whose multi-coloured dyed hair incorporated every hue on the colour spectrum) were welcomed by the softer American Pie soundtrack-adjacent sounds of Momma on the main stage whilst Drug Church and Speed ensured everyone crammed in the tent was left dazed and dehydrated. Such is the festival’s openness musically, rapper Danny Brown was fawned over by thousands; post-hardcore stalwarts Glassjaw pulled in a vast crowd to the big top, Daryl Palumbo’s banshee-like scream slicing eardrums in spite of the muddy sound quality; Alex G is the veritable king of lo-fi indie rock, a rare artist that can bring together former eyeline adorning emos and Neil Young rock classicists.
For Turnstile though, headlining Outbreak is kind of a homecoming. Kind of. Not only is London the hometown of now-permanent guitarist Meg Mills, but Outbreak was the first event the band played in the UK. “The first show we ever played in the UK was in 2013 at Outbreak,” frontman Brendan Yates recalled in a rare moment of stillness amongst the 20,000-strong audience. “We flew out for just one show. Here we all are together 12 years later – what an amazing gathering of beautiful bands and people. We love you.”
Their performance was an all-encompassing display of why they’ve spearheaded hardcore into the big leagues – and incited division amongst the scene’s ranks. Opening with ‘NEVER ENOUGH’, the title track from their lauded recent album, the band brought on London jazz legend Shabaka Hutchings for an extended flute intro, before blistering breakneck renditions of ‘T.L.C. (TURNSTILE LOVE CONNECTION)’, ‘FLY AGAIN’ and older, raw sluggers like ‘Drop’ and ‘Real Thing’. Even Dev Hynes aka Blood Orange came on for ‘ALIEN LOVE CALL’.
Pat McCrory’s exploration with vintage pedals has seen the fusion band draw comparisons with The Police since the release of GLOW ON. Though for all their ambient and new wave experimentation, in the flesh they still sound more aligned to the lineage of Bad Brains’ 1986 album I Against I. Bodies undulated in the audience for the entirety, with the die-hards (and try-hards who sacked off the crowd-surfing after a few numbers, myself included) braving the torrential rain and thunder throughout unrelenting combination punches of ‘HOLIDAY’ and ‘BLACKOUT’.
A landmark moment of celebration for hardcore, Turnstile’s ascent can only help Outbreak secure its footing as a festival staple. Hopefully there’s another breakout act who can lead the line next time around.
Photos credited to: Isha Shah
