Review: Outer Town Festival – ‘It felt like this festival should have existed for years’

Old Market vibrated like never before in honor of the Outer Town Festival on the weekend.

The multi-venue festival welcomed over 30 bands across 6 stages for the first ever time.

All of us already had the chance to shout, dance and sweat in the multiple characteristic venues along Old Market, but never on the same day. Wandering under the sun around Glitch, The Exchange, Elmer’s Arms, Ill Repute and the Old Market Assembly just felt like this festival should have existed for years. What an exciting line-up, yet the price for such an event is to have to select your bands, and the choice wasn’t easy.

So my journey started at the same place as anyone else: the Moor Beer Taproom on Days Road. The brewery, sponsoring the festival, was a strategic spot to collect your ticket, get a fresh drink and set yourself up for the rest of the day.  That is where I had the chance to chat with one of the organizers, and I was surprised but mostly impressed to learn that this was actually a dissertation project put together by two BIMM students, Clooney and Harry. “All our lecturers think we are crazy” she joked. It is a massive project to put on and the result was even better than what we all expected!

Wristband and sunglasses on, it is now time to hit Old Market to listen to the melancolic post-punk band Dwell at Glitch, and this place is worth the detour: a plant shop, hairdresser, art gallery, coffee shop and music venue too. An interesting place offering a very intimate atmosphere, where you can feel like you’re almost sharing the stage alongside the band. Dwell were a pleasing discovery as well, initiating a soft mood among a crowd peacefully warming up as the daylight was still shining.

Dwell were a pleasing discovery, initiating a soft mood among a crowd, photo: Alice Boeglin

Next stop was the main room of The Exchange for a few songs from Cruelty, a Bristol based art punk collective hitting it hard and you could already feel the temperature rising up. Such a pleasure to be back at The Exchange which remains one of my favorite independent venues in town, constantly gracing us with interesting shows and highlighting the underrepresented communities of the local scene.

No time to settle though, as one of my current favorite Bristol bands was starting at a similar time at Elmer’s Arms: Erotic Secrets of Pompeii. It’s their third show I was attending in a month and this one was probably the best. The dusk getting closer combined with the intimacy of the venue, I have seen the band under a new light and their music sounded more intense than ever. In a past review I was describing them as a frenetic and refreshing art rock, with an endearing bizarre touch that makes all the difference. That is still true today.

Erotic Secrets of Pompeii’s music sounded more intense than ever, photo: Alice Boeglin

I headed back to The Exchange for DEAFDEAFDEAF, whose name took on its full meaning. Coming from Greater Manchester and self-described as “independent post-something band”, they put on a cathartic show in the basement of the venue, where the public was deservedly raging. After a few songs, you need a couple of minutes to recover your spatio-temporal landmarks, which walking towards the Ill Repute did successfully.

The one song I had the chance to hear from Workfriends, the mysterious quintet from Sheffield, was enough to convince me that I shouldn’t miss them on their next gig in town. Rock? Jazz? Experimental? Hard to tell, but it was intense and gripping.

The night had properly fallen now and it was time to head to the final destination of the day, the Old Market Assembly, where Opus Kink were about to start. After the show, they offered me a few minutes to chat and I will quote them on this: “ Let’s say we’re jazz punk, but we can’t do jazz, and we can’t do punk.” I swear that these words make perfect sense after a sweaty 40 minutes set of what I will call, without a doubt, one of the most fascinating bands I have seen for a while. Brighton based, they told me that they are constantly grateful for the crowd of Bristol, always welcoming, moving hard, getting mad, and that night was no exception.

“ Let’s say we’re jazz punk, but we can’t do jazz, and we can’t do punk.” – Opus Kink, photo: Alice Boeglin

No time to cool down though as the unmissable band of this event, JOHN (timestwo), was starting right after. The Londonien duo is drummer/lead vocalist John and guitarist/backing vocalist John. Straightforward. They returned to the city but it wasn’t just the two of them this time: Adam Devonshire, bassist of the no-need-to-introduce-anymore IDLES, joined his voice to the bestial two-piece band on stage for a few songs, and it was wild. The surprise added a delightful taste to the show, finishing to bash our ears with pleasure and style. A lot of style.

JOHN (timestwo) finished the day, bashing our ears with pleasure, photo: Alice Boeglin

An after-party back at the source, Moor Beer, was welcoming all the survivors of Old Market with DJ’s and band members, but my energy was all gone by the end of the last gig. There were so many bands I wish I could have seen, but mostly I would like to mention all the volunteers without whom this event would have not been achievable. A massive thanks to all of the people involved, the generosity of the sponsors and the trust of the venues. What a relentless day!

I am pretty confident about a Round 2 for Outer Town Festival in 2023. We will be waiting for it!

Main photo: Alice Boeglin

Read more: Review: Erotic Secrets of Pompeii – ‘Frenetic art rock’

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