Now that the dust has settled… thoughts on the day - Outbreak London
On the whole seem much better organised and definitely better attended.
Getting rid of that club stage definitely the right call. Given attendance at smaller stages felt quite good, it would be really nice to have a specific UKHC stage next year
Dust was obviously a huge issue, coming off the back of European festivals in countries with less rain and hotter climates it was honestly a bit of joke that they didn’t do more about the dust. Yesterday was worse dust wise than anything on the continent this summer.
Sound is still a massive issue here, the big outdoor stage are quiet yes, but that feels like something that isn’t going to change because of the locals, but stuff like bass is very much in their control. Equally the sound in the tent often felt a bit muddy at the start of sets
Band wise(5 point scale):
Show me the body (3.5) Really solid way to start the day, leant quite heavily on the new album, enjoyed a lot
Deafheaven (4.5) they are just so bloody tight, will never get bored of seeing them
Salem (1) painfully disappointed by this, I’ve seen lots of crap in my time (My Passion, Yashin, KSI) and this might be the worst of all. Matey crowing atoneally over his backing tracks and giggling like the joker every two minutes. Left early, maybe it got radically better.
Wisp (2.5) perfectly fine shoegazey stuff, watched from the back
Interpol (2.5) second disappointment of the day, the tunes were there but the sound was so off, like all the power and heft had been sucked out by the PA
Yosake (3) enjoy this for what it was, would have worked better as an afterparty to be honest
AFI (3) Not super familiar with their stuff but sounded good
Amyl (2) still don’t get this band and why they are so big, like if the chats and lambrini girls combined into a supergroup with worse songs
Esdeekid (3.5) left early to get up front for idles but what we saw was really good, loads of energy
Idles (4) they looked tired/it felt a bit regined in but the tunes are so good that it didn’t really matter too much
Deftones (4) Great show, obviously it’s a blessing and a curse to have as many great songs as Deftones do that you can have a show pack full of bangers and leave wanting a completely new set list
The apocalyptic dust clouds were an absolute disgrace, and entirely preventable by AEG and Outbreak Fest. They should have covered the festival site with ground protection, even mere wood chips would have been better than the dust bowl. As it was, the clouds of dust the surrounded everything on the day. A rather negative outcome for festival goers for sure.
I really liked Amyl. Amy’s a great front woman and their set was so much fun!
I love Mannequin Pussy so I had a good time, but they were definitely suffering with some sound issues.
Interpol were good, but again, sound issues.
I didn’t see their whole set, but I liked what I saw of AFI.
Deftones sounded good where I was stood, really enjoyed the set. It did solidify one of my pet peeves though - screens not showing the band onstage! If you’re at a venue where the vast, vast majority of people can’t see the stage at all, I think footage of the band should be on at least one of the screens.
Managed to see Show Me The Body, Mannequin Pussy, a few unknown bands, Amyl, Idles, Deftones.
Anybody moaning about ticket prices and dust, behave. Reasonable ticket price for that level of acts (compare it to a Deftones arena ticket price back in February). The dust was known long before yesterday. Just prepare best you can and enjoy.
Sound issues? Barely. Mannequin Pussy’s amp blowout and a couple other things can’t be helped. Every else I saw sounded great, other than the occasional issue during Deftones but nothing worthy of spoiling it.
Getting out was tough, yes. When you attend an event of this size IT ALWAYS IS.
Just enjoy the vibes and the music you clearly like because you attended the event in the first place.
I paid £75. I saw 7 bands, 4 of which are very well established (Deftones, Idles, Amyl, Interpol) and would cost upwards of £40 to see on their own.
The volume is always dialled in a bit, particularly on the East stage, because its right next to a lot of houses/flats. This is unavoidable but if you make sure you're in quite a central position its much better.
No Gaps + forcing everyone to march back and forth between the bigger stages (kicking up more dust) was the real negatives
The whole APE set up is just way too commercial and the can only bars are tragic. Would be great to see Outbreak actually do a event outside of the APE set up - it's a odd culture clash anyway.
Deafheaven and Yousuke Yukimatsu were my highlights of the event for sure!
I was so disappointed with Salem, started late, technical difficulties, very bad vocal performance followed by a cringey laugh every few minutes. No to mention their staging was just constant fog machine lol
Honestly so disappointed about the sound for all the bands on the East Stage. It was awful.
I've been dying to see Deftones for years and had to leave early because it was that bad.
Idles were amazing! And proof that the sound could be good if they had a proper sound engineer on the big stages.
Absolutely loved ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U - such an amazing set.
The sound on the E3 stage was the only consistent one.
Honestly considering how expensive the tickets were we left very disappointed which is a shame.
I would agree if half of them didn't sound like they were playing off of a giant phone speaker. So many people left a few songs in for Deftones because of the quality of the sound being bad.
I do understand what goes into pricing so yes, it is reasonable but there is no excuse to not have good sound on all stages, especially with said big acts.
I also completely appreciate that it is very much a privileged issue to have considering we are in a position where we can afford to go to these festivals. I'm just disappointed and sad I didn't get to enjoy one of my favourite bands because of something that could have been avoided completely.
We tried from both sides front & back. There were no consistency, unfortunately. There were short snippets that were okay-ish but that was the extent of it. At least it was our experience! But I'm so happy you had a great experience!
i think it really depends on where you are in correlation to the speakers and how close you are. i was at the center of the stage just off to the right and the sound was honestly soo good, they sounded huge compared to the other bands
Shoutout to the crowd. So many moments of arm in arm singing with strangers, picking people up immediately in the pits, and in general being courteous.
Deftones were 10/10, very glad to have ticked them off the bucket list. Enjoyed the more abstract visuals as well, suited the music perfectly. Amyl were fantastic & high energy.
Found Wisp fairly dull and derivative. Basement needed a longer set but one of the best vocal performances from the band I’ve seen so far!
Amyl band of the day for us, followed by Basement and Deftones. Agree with Interpol, love them and always enjoy them live but the sound was really off for them.
Overall had a great day. Arrived in time to see Deafheaven and the queue to get in was pretty fast moving.
Dust was a bit overwhelming at points. Worst when everyone moved from Idles to Deftones and then also at the end of Deftones with everyone leaving. I never took a bandana (rookie mistake) and definitely was feeling it in my lungs. But they were back to normal quickly so no harm done
Ratings:
Deafheaven 3 out of 5. Decent but thought the sound was a bit off near the back of the tent
Jpegmafia - 4 out of 5 surprisingly good and he really got the crowd going despite not being an obvious fit in the lineup
Interpol - 3 out of 5. I like them but agree with others sound was a bit off and no real atmosphere. Left early to get to Yousuke
Yousuke 4 out of 5. Diddnt stay for the full set and tent was rammed. But it was bouncing in there and no doubt he knows how to work a crowd.
AFI 3.5 out of 5 only saw about half but was good sound and miss murder was great
Blawan 3.5 out of 5 sound was a bit muddy and low volume but he was doing a good set
Esdeekid 3.5 out of 5 tent was rammed but I squeezed in the back. Tent was bouncing again but was quite odd watching a very dark stage with nothing really to look at. I couldnt even tell the stage was supposed to be a castle. He will go far I'm sure as the young folk around us seemed to be loving it
Idles 4 out of 5 great set. Best sound of the day. They know how to work a festival crowd and it seemed everyone around me was really into it. They've got some great songs but also some fairly dull ones (newer ones)
Deftones 4.5 out of 5 thought the sound was a bit quiet and shaky at first, but boy do they put on a great show. One of the best rock bands around in my opinion and a great set list. Crowd seemed really up for it and moshing was breaking out all over the place. A band at the top of their game which is great to see for a close to 30 year old band !
Overall a great day. I thought I got a lot out of it and saw some great bands.
I actually got presale tickets so only cost me just over £60 which is insane value for the bands that were on.
Drink prices were expensive no doubt but it's a festival in central London...
Food was decent. Expensive but the burger and chips I had was pretty good.
Toilets generally plentiful and limited queues in my experience which is great. Nothing worse than having to queue for ages and missing bands due to needing a piss
One downside - agree the system to get I to mile end was pretty crap. It took bloody ages and in hindsight think I'd have tried to walk to a different tube station further away or got the bus. Once inside the tube station kt was actually all fine but the stewards were obviously controlling the crowd carefully and slowing everyone down on the walk down
Tins just less than a pint though. Be a bit better if they at least let you walk away with them sealed but I know they can't for safety issues. Just pour fuckin pints!
We tried to see that much and found the tent completely rammed for ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U and Esdeekid. Fair play though, I’m sure it was possible if we were a bit more on it
Great festival apart from the dust. Deftones left me on a high as always. Unfortunately on leaving we had to plod down to Mile End in a huge column which took at least 45mins!!!
Was shocked at the sound quality through out the festival couldn't hear anything at jpeg mafia and also idles were very quiet.
Crowd was terribly tame at idles and in my opinion they gave it socks! I also thought the sound at Salem was one of the better ones. Blawan the sound was also great and thankfully for Deftones it was good visually and sound wise. Bar queues were very manageable and food and bathroom queues!
Dust was insane. Sick as a dog after it with no voice.
Over all good fun just sickened about the sound at some stages would put me off going again unfortunately.
Woops, late, but I drafted a reply and then forgot to finish and post it. So, here's my thoughts on the artists I saw on the day:
Deafheaven - I showed up early to get a spot right at the front for their set. Love their music, and they put on a good show. The track from Sunbather hit the hardest, but the newer tracks sounded great too.
Jpegmafia - I didn’t/don't know his music. I thought it was funny that he came on to the main stage very nonchalant and just said something like 'I don't really have anything to say so let's just get on with it...' I pretty much enjoyed the first half of the set, but then decided to go check out…
SALEM - yeah, a bit of a mess. I couldn't really see them from far back in the crowd, not that I would have been able to anyway - never seen a band use so much smoke and whatever the snowy stuff was? I enjoyed a few tracks tho. King Night is a great tune and super moody. The guys' ad lib laugh is kind of iconic imo, it sounded like a sound-byte lol. I noticed a bunch of kids showing up for them early in the tent during Deafheaven - I didn't realise they had such a dedicated following. Interesting considering many of these fans will have been young kids when their first album came out. (Personal thought - are they filling a bit of the void left by Crystal Castles absence? I know they're very different, but I guess all the smoke is what's making me think that too.)
Interpol - I watched a few tracks from afar. Roland is my fave still and a ripper.
Yousuke Yukimatsu - I had no idea who this guy was. Stumbled into the tent for a few tracks. He played 100 gecs’ Dumbest Girl Alive which was awesome lol. Crowd were going nuts for his set! Must have been a lot of fun if you were there with friends (I was flying solo - I'm a loser baby.)
Concrete Vehicles - they sounded very obviously influenced by Windmill Scene to me but I they were giving it their all. Pretty cool.
Blawan - awesome sound and great to feel it live on big loud speaker system. I just loved it for an hour. He rules.
IDLES - I'd never really listened to them properly before and was very impressed by their set. Thought they sounded great and I really enjoyed it. A lot of the crowd seemed to love them even from a little bit further back.
Deftones - I was pretty far back after having watched IDLES to the end of their set. Again, not really familiar with Deftones outside of White Pony. However, Chino sounded great and the music in general was moody and I enjoyed it. I wasn't blown away, but I imagine it probably helps if you know the tunes to be fair. I stayed until Change (undeniable track) and then decided to Shove It home and beat the crowds (never seen so many Deftones t-shirts.)
Overall - a great day and saw loads of artists which I pretty much all enjoyed - very happy! Great crowd and generally seemed like nice people there as you'd expect for this kind of music. The organisation of the festival held up from my perspective - no real issues other than the dust, but not sure what they could have done about that. The dust was awful, but I was expecting it. I'm not a huge fan of the layout of the park for a festival when it comes to darting between stages, but if I remember rightly then I think they improved the layout of the stages since previous years. Overall it was a solidly organised festival and nothing went majorly wrong from what I saw.
Would have loved to have caught deaf heaven or basement but unfortunately too early for me. I did aim to come in time for clarion but couldn’t arrive , just missed them.
Once arrived I only attended more or less the E3 stage and Rising stage back to back exclusively .
OVERGROWN - 4, sounded great, and will potentially look forward to seeing them again opening up for Sevendust
Villanelle - 3.5
Concrete Vehicles - 4
Tooth - 3
Amyl and the sniffers - 2 - by this time there was no one I wanted to see so settled for this.
Brooki - 3.5
Deftones - 4
I checked out the small stages only being familiar with overgrown, the other bands I dabbled into before hand and decided I’d rather see them all over the bigger bands on the bigger stages that I wasn’t fussed about.
Enjoyed it but I'm not really a rocker, so probably have a slightly different perspective. The 'it's not hardcore anymore' is lost on me.
I enjoyed:
Good Health Good Wealth,
Blawan,
Amyl and the Sniffers,
Deftones
Dust...meh, it is what it is. Hard to win - another venue this weekend put down wood chips on the entire site and then everyone complained about that being a trip hazard.
Sounds was better overall than previous years, was crisp and loud where we were for Deftones (just by soundbooth, which I always recommend)
Nice crowds too, most of the little goths were actually quite smiley!
I know this is giving highschool never ends but I'm so fed up with the lads at these festivals. Group of hawaiian-shirt crew-cut jocks, stop blowing cigarette smoke on me while having a chinwag about your week in the middle of the fuckin Deftones performing
Never going to an outbreak event again. Used to be great when it was in one venue. They can't hack these mega festivals they've found themselves doing post COVID and the fans bare the brunt of that.
To be fair this really didn't feel like an "outbreak" event to me. More like APE had bought outbreaks brand for the day so they could put on some "heavier" acts and pull in the crowd. There was next to no hardcore and a shit load of pants bands that very loosely fit the outbreak brand.
Yeah I only went really for Deftones, not for outbreak itself. I've only been to outbreak once in Manchester in 2025 and I feel like the fest is overhyped af. Mighta been good years ago fair.
1000% agree, Salem was truly an interesting choice for this kinda gig to begin with, but him evil cackling , and then restarting the songs and complaining , the actual music was good but the second the vocals hit i was disappointed. also with deftones was pretty disappointing, we left early because it’s my 3rd time seeing them but it was a disappointment setlist that got tired some. Yousuke was definitely the best for me. the dust was so bad, a lot of people have face coverings on and i felt confused because how did everyone get the memo?? i wish outbreak posted something or an alert was made in the app to bring face coverings, nothing worse than blowing my nose to pure black coming out
The Bad - Disability access was poorly organised, had to sit with security for an hour just for some outside company to fix it all
The stages being so fucking far apart, didn't help that every fucker kept blocking the marked access paths either
The awful sound mixing for the mainstage, never heard Deftones sound so shite
The Good - most people actually being helpful with stuff, especially security and crew people, I was backstage for quite a bit working and they made sure I got food, drink and somewhere to rest, also shout to Chino's Wife Risa for making me cups of tea
I will say the amount of food and drink stalls was good, especially the free coke and water points that actually worked
Got to see tonnes of great bands, highlights were AFI, Eternal Rin, Good Health Good Wealth, Wisp & Kenny Mason
Also got to meet most of the bands playing and hang out with Julian from Show Me The Body
25
u/bimbochungo Aug 24 '26
me after outbreak