Reflections on the festival by an older HC dude
So first of all this was only my third year attending and I'm not from UK so ofc I lack a lot of history of this festival. But as an 40y old as fuck dude that has been active in different scenes since my teenage times and that has seen shit from the early 2000's to TikTok era, I think I have enough HardcoreCreds™ to give some reflections here.
So yes this will be long and sorry for my broken english (I refuse to use ChatGPT)
What Outbreak has done right
You can't make everyone happy, that's for sure. Everyone will have their opinions and preferences, but I often see a lot of complains about how "not so heavy/hardcore" has this festival has become. Issue is, there is always room to look for the most "trve" form of hardcore and ditch whatever doesn't fits there. Everytime I see beatdown-metalish hardcore dudes complaining about whatever genre it's soft and "not so hardcore", I do remember how in the early 2000's you would get called a posser for considering Death Before Dishonor a "Boston Hardcore band" cause that was shitty rap-numetal stuff, unlike the true "Boston Hardcore" like SSD.
Gatekeeping has never been cool and it's time for some to realize that Hardcore as a scene can and should be inclussive, as long as bands align with some principles that are more important than how do you sound; there is where we should Gatekeep, not in how they sound. I do for example can't give a shit about rap and experimental stuff but I think it's nice those artists have room as long as the DIY, community values are shared.
And I think Outbreak does a fucking amazing job at booking bands that are hardcore-adjacent. No matter if they are hip hop, alternative rock, shoegazy, proof that those bands fit there if the fact that some of them share members with other hardcore bands.
And with all respect to my metalhead dudes, my biggest fear regarding Outbreak it's not that it becomes a "too soft" festival but that it goes exactly the same direction as Hellfest and Resurrection Fest, which were fucking amazing hardcore fests but metal took over it (people don't realize how profitable is that genre) and god damn I don't want to see Outbreak among divorced dads cosplaying as satanists waiting for Sleep Token or whatever dadrock shit (sorry for the rant :D)
So in short I think Outbreak has kept their hardcore values intact, and that's not easy at all. They send the right message about taking care of each others, they always have nice local hardcore bands playing (even if it's in Stage 3, lets be realistic and assume you can't put xWarhorsEx from Fordwich playing in Main Stage)
Minor things about the visuals (kudos for them on Alexisonfire), Staff being generally quite nice (and I think working there specially on Friday with that heat must have been terrible) are also things to appreciate.
What Outbreak could've done better
Hatebreed on stage 2. Like, why? Literally my reason to come this year was Trapped Under Ice but even them had more reasons to go indoors than Hatebreed. I wasn't able to check them out cause both entries were blocked. And maybe it's because I am still living in 2009 but can't think who thought Basement, TUI or Snail Mail would get more crowd than Hatebreed.
And again as most of people said, it just felt overcrowded. Closing the stand bathrooms (whatever english name that place to pee with your weiner standing has) at the end on Saturday or those fences separating the bathroom and the ONLY corridor that connects stages and the exit felt also not the smartest decision but I'm no logistic expert.
This is pure theory but not seeing Daitan or Hoodsoulja Security felt like something is changing there. Specially with Stage Security, it felt like a step back, indeed (kudos for the videographer btw, nothing against them). I have no idea about this SPS company, and as said staff was generally nice and friendly, which is good, but they did not seemed really vigilant on the stage. Some dude literally thrown himself somewhere to the floor in I Promised the World and the security guys were totally confused.
And this takes me to Saturday with 2 incidents that forced the bands to stop playing. And it's fucking Loathe and Alexisonfire, not End It. Something failed, whatever it was. And shit happens, considering I've literally broken my bones and lips in different gigs among my life, I get it's part of the deal. But if this happens with not so "moshable" bands, it means something didin't worked. And as said, someone also got hurt at I Promised the World so I'm sure more injuries happened around. Which again is part of the deal but that was too many for a day, and not the most aggressive day at all.
In short, logistics failed here. And it's too early to know if it's due greed or just something getting bigger than expected. Only time will tell but I would be heartbroken if this becomes another massive rock festival with barriers and big companies instead a "for the kids by the kids" fest.
And yeah sorry I might be too punk to support the adidas collab. Nice looking thou, but corpos are corpos.
What we as a scene have sucked
Being fucking old farts. I am tired of gatekeepers shitting on kids for being kids. Do I like stage invasion in American Football? No. Do I like cute people sharing stories of how nice they look before the pit and how they looked after? No fucking way. But I don't like either grown ass "music content creators" way past 30's sharing similar stuff but with some aura of knowledge, but in the end, same shit; using hardcore for attention.
We live in a shitty economy of attention and that's a fact and not necessarily generational. My feed on IG it's full of these "content creators" doing the same thing everyone complains about the kiddos, but the difference is they are not kids anymore. I guess the algorythm know I'm older than the forest so not a single kiddo has popped out in all my Outbreak related content, but dozens and dozens of people monetizing their content using the festival. And that will ruin the scene more than a kid not naming 3 songs.
Social Media has turned everything in a niche market and hardcore it's sadly becoming one already. And has nothing to do with age or generations, and can't blame the fest itself. That's on us.
Yes, most of the folk doing stage invasion, getting hurt and so on were kids. But cause they physically can do it. And that's great and fine and it's also ok they might not name three songs, but we all were like that at some time. People come and go in this scene, and even the most cultured, vegan, straight edge that was gatekeeping 10 years ago can just become some christian tattoo influencer. Hardcore will not survive only with +40 dudes naming 90 songs and collecting vinyls. But it will die if it starts to be something cool to share on socials.
Let the kids have fun and before judging them for finding their identity the same way we did, maybe think twice before following some content creator that will recommend you 5 bands if you like "Crowquil". And trust me, most of those would also jump on the stage and take selfies with Pat Flynn if they could.