Sweaty photos of fans in the pit at Outbreak 2023

Chris Bethell captures the UK's biggest and best hardcore festival from the belly of the beast.

As Aaron Bedard put it dur­ing Bane’s head­line set at Out­break 2023, there’s nev­er been a moment quite like this in hard­core. From Turn­stile being nom­i­nat­ed for a GRAM­MY, to The New York Times declar­ing a renais­sance,” to the long list of artists from Soul Glo to Mil­i­tarie Gun giv­ing things a genre-defy­ing kick up the arse, hard­core has sky­rock­et­ed both in pop­u­lar­i­ty and cre­ativ­i­ty. The shared DNA between punk and hip-hop gen­res has also evolved in recent years to erase many of the lines between scenes and sounds, ush­er­ing in a new era of cross-pol­li­na­tion that finds the sub­cul­ture at its most diverse and, as a result, most interesting.

Top to bottom: The goth cowboy Denzel Himself crowd-surfing during his set. Someone on their arse during Converge.

In the UK, noth­ing reflects this shift bet­ter than Out­break. The DIY fes­ti­val began in a youth cen­tre in Sheffield in 2011 and has since grown into one of the best alter­na­tive events in the coun­try, reli­ably pulling fans from all over Europe and the US. After cel­e­brat­ing its 10th anniver­sary in 2022 with a stacked line-up of inter­na­tion­al heavy-hit­ters includ­ing Turn­stile and Touché Amoré, this year it made the jump from com­mu­ni­ty and mid-lev­el venues to Depot May­field – a 10,000 capac­i­ty for­mer rail­way sta­tion in the heart of Man­ches­ter. The line-up switched things up to match and cast its net as wide as hardcore’s cur­rent Venn dia­gram, with alt rap­pers like Earl Sweat­shirt, Den­zel Cur­ry and Armand Ham­mer join­ing scene sta­ples like Trapped Under Ice and new gen revival­ists like Scowl and Zulu.

Chris Bethell was there to cap­ture the ener­gy of the week­end from the bel­ly of the beast, brav­ing his equip­ment and also his teeth to pho­to­graph fans in the pit for Con­verge, High Vis, Den­zel Him­self and more.

Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Denzel Himself at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Denzel Himself at Outbreak Fest 2023 (ft. Denzel's legs).
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Converge at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Converge at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Denzel Himself at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Denzel Himself at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Converge at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Converge at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Converge at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Soul Glo at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Converge at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Denzel Himself at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for High Vis at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Fans in the pit for Converge at Outbreak Fest 2023.
Thank you and goodnight! See you at Outbreak 2024.

Find more of Chris’s work on Insta­gram.

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