For years, Manchester’s Outbreak Fest has had a reputation as one of the world’s biggest, best hardcore festivals, and it’s gotten big enough that it’s basically become something other than a hardcore festival. Last year, the festival got a bit of blowback for billing Denzel Curry and Death Grips above all the hardcore bands on its lineup. This year, the festival is doing things a bit differently. It’s still something other than a hardcore fest, but it’s hard to picture anyone complaining too much about this one.

Right now, the big headliner for next year’s Outbreak Festival is Basement, the British post-hardcore band that’s mostly inactive these days. (They haven’t released anything since their 2018 album Beside Myself, and they haven’t played live since Outbreak 2022.) The festival will also feature a bunch of rap acts — including JPEGMAFIA, Flatbush Zombies, redveil, and Mavi — but they’re all booked on the first night. The main two days of the fest are dedicated to different forms of guitar festival.

Many of the biggest names on this year’s lineup are hardcore-adjacent bands playing 10th-anniversary sets for classic albums: Joyce Manor doing Never Hungover Again, the Hotelier doing Home, Like Noplace Is There, Nothing doing Guilty Of Everything. Thursday are also playing what’s billed as a War All The Time vs. Full Collapse set.

The bill also features tons of the best hardcore, punk, and emo bands out there. It’s got Touché Amoré, Ceremony, Poison The Well, Chat Pile, Soccer Mommy, Mannequin Pussy, Show Me The Body, Mindforce, Angel Du$t, Fiddlehead, Never Ending Game, Incendiary, Magnitude, Gouge Away, The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, End It, Hot Mulligan, Balance And Composure, Bib, Harm’s Way, Modern Color, Higher Power, Teenage Wrist, Crushed, Jivebomb, Truth Cult, Stiff Meds, and a whole bunch of others.

The fest claims that a bunch more names will be announced, including three headliners. This looks fucking sick. I’m not the kind of person who can cross the Atlantic for a hardcore festival, but I am intensely jealous of everyone who will be there. The whole thing goes down 6/28-30 at Manchester’s BEC Arena, a new venue for this festival. You can find all the relevant details here.