As one of hardcore's most prestigious destinations, Outbreak Festival has already cemented it's legacy as one of a few live events indicative of the health of the culture. With a meticulously compiled, heavily nuanced line-up that is among the most anticipated of the year, Outbreak 2025 again delivered an incredibly well-constructed roster - one that considered hardcore's periphery in a way that asserts an intimate knowledge of the culture. 

Outbreak 2025 also proved a important mile marker in the history of the festival. Along with the two day, barricade-less flagship event at Manchester's Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Outbreak expanded to include their first-ever London event. Along with the new digs came a significant scale-up in terms of production and spectacle - functioning as the hardcore-centric tangent to LIDO Festival at Victoria Park in East London. 

The extension of Outbreak also marked the biggest headlining UK performance for current hardcore titleholders, Turnstile. Bolstered by sets from Danny Brown, Australian hardcore hitters SPEED, indie powerhouse Alex G, Sunny Day Real Estatem, Glassjaw and Knocked Loose - the magnitude of the Outbreak's first crack at London set an incredibly high bar. Along with memorable submissions from skyrocketing bands in Fleshwater and Drug Church - London covered all the bases. 

And while there might have been some reservations about Outbreak veer too left of center and compromising the ethos of the fest in the process - the barricade, the LED-screens, the conventional festival format - none of those were enough to hamper the kind of energy that blared from each of the stages. Though the purists might object to the expansion, Outbreak only further reiterated their track record for showing a real reverence for hardcore - the kind of reverence that dares to the move the culture forward rather than simply securing a bag from it. 

It's that real love and respect for hardcore that makes Outbreak one of the most authentic festival experiences regardless of genre or speciality.

Check the gallery of images from the first-ever Outbreak London. All images by Erica Lauren.

KNOCKED LOOSE

DANNY BROWN

DRUG CHURCH

FLESHWATER

SPEED

TURNSTILE