Music / Reviews
Review: Outer Town Festival – ‘A roaring success’
The multi-venue grassroots Outer Town Festival is back for its third year running. Originally set up as part of a BIMM dissertation project in 2022, the festival has quickly become a staple of the Bristol festival circuit.
Old Market plays host to a variety of pubs and venues, from the classic stages at The Exchange to the Elvis punk decor of the Ill Repute, the unique area is a perfect host to champion both new and established artists.
Once the wristband was acquired at Trinity Centre, it became evident that this year they’ve really scaled things up. At the back of the venue, a festival tent with roughly 1,000 capacity was the newest addition to the previously smaller scale festival.
is needed now More than ever
An impressive development, but with a new found bigger capacity, it turned out to be more difficult to get into the smaller venues throughout the day.
Kicking things off at Trinity Centre was Eve Appleton Band, a six piece set with stunning vocals from Appleton, the violin adding a texture that worked in perfect harmony with the steady guitar.
Also at Trinity Centre, Tyla X An, piercing electronica vocalist and producer, captivated everyone with her song Daddy, the masked backing dancers and the hyper-pop tracks making for an unapologetic, high energy set.
Getdown Services, a regular of Outer Town Festival, played Trinity Centre in the late afternoon slot. The pair didn’t disappoint with delivering their rowdy tunes with clever lyrics. Always managing to stir up a party, the shirtless pair had the crowd enraptured with their Bristol bashing song Cream of The Crop.
Gigs quickly descended into a crowd surfing mosh pits – photo: @_ev1997_
It was time to head to the Exchange main room, where the crowd gathered half an hour early to make sure they caught the highly anticipated riot that is Knives. A few minutes before the set started, lead vocalist Jay Schottlander ran through the crowd, climbed onto the stage and announced that he’d just finished work, instructing tech to make the stage as ‘green as possible’ before hurtling into the head thrashing set.
It quickly descended into a crowd surfing mosh pit, notable tracks were Dopplegänger and new single Headcase They proved themselves to be a stand out of the day.
We managed to catch singer songwriter Olive Featherstone’s set at To The Moon, melodic yet heartstrong songs over a full band, she caught the attention of passers by through the window. Definitely one to watch.
Genre defying Flaming Gods at the Trinity Centre was a highlight of the afternoon. The psychedelic groovy four piece played their unique tunes while swapping instruments. It was hard to keep your eyes off them.
Around 5.30pm it was to the Ill Repute to see Midnight Rodeo, but unfortunately we were refused entry due to full capacity. Gutted to miss this one, but it was obvious from the outside that the crowd were enjoying the hazy psychedelic tunes.
As the sun set, Old Market was buzzing with day festival goers, streams of people walking quickly on missions to get to one of the many hosting venues in time to be let in before they got too crowded.
Hector Who Lived, previously performed at Outer Town as part of double act Try Me, went solo at The Stag and Hounds with piano, bass and drums to accompany the fun jazzy vocals. Within moments of the set it was clear the sheer musical talent Hector possesses, with the crowd streaming out the door to get a look in.
Vanity Fairy, an art deco BeeGees-inspired act, headlined the Elmers Arms. Donning the stage in head to toe hot pink sequins, as usual she made use of the space: heading into the crowd, going outside and serenading through the window, not only putting on a stand-out performance, but also incredibly danceable disco tracks.
Handing out karma sutra playing cards and letting her ethereal warm personality shine through, she had the audience in the palm of her hand. So much so they demanded another rendition of the track Superstar.
Snapped Ankles headlined Trinity Centre. With their signature masks and boiler suits, they played high energy synth and dance inducing tracks.
There is something both unsettling and enticing about the band: they tap into the electronic krautrock genre in a way that provides a charged up spectacle, a great way to end the festival.
For those still going, there was the after party at Moor Beer with DJ sets from MrSteveBob, Tokky Horror and Getdown Services to end the night.
Despite being over-subscribed, Outertown proved to be a roaring success for the third year running. The quality of the lineup made you want to be in three places at once.
It will certainly be exciting to see what the festival has in store for Old Market next spring.
Main photo: @_ev1997_
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