Static Dress trolled the crowd at last weekend’s Outbreak Fest, where they played a surprise set. Check out the footage below.
The Leeds post-hardcore band and recent NME Cover stars appeared at this year’s edition of the Manchester event unannounced on Saturday (June 27) in support of their second album, ‘Injury Episode’, which arrived last month.
After fans had gathered to find out the identity of the mystery act on the line-up, the group pulled a fake-out stunt as they took to the stage. Static Dress played the intro to ‘Safe In Your Skin’ by Title Fight – the US hardcore outfit who have been on hiatus since 2018.
“Oh my God. No fucking way!” a man screams in a fan-shot clip of the moment, as blurred letters appear on the big screen.
It seems at one point that the words slowly coming into focus could read ‘Title Fight’, but the Static Dress logo is eventually displayed. This is followed by a flash of ‘Sorry’, before the band jokingly introduce themselves as Manchester’s Guilt Trip.
Some attendees were visibly disappointed at the trolling, and proceeded to leave the crowd.
The secret set kicked off for real with ‘Nostalgia Kills’ from ‘Injury Episode’. Towards the end of the gig, Static Dress covered ‘Can’t Relate’ by fellow Leeds hardcore group Higher Power (via Setlist.FM).
50% of the people walked outta there https://t.co/xaXfUkdyYO pic.twitter.com/hch9N7h5qb
— xvx (@anotherxpromise) June 28, 2026
laughing about Static Dress pretending to be Title Fight doing a secret set at Outbreak, but in all fairness I’d probably throw up if I heard a secret set start with a Modern Baseball song and I was on the other side of the venue thinking it was actually happening
— brodie / knox (@brodiecantskate) June 28, 2026
In the comments section of the video, one person wrote: “I love all the dudes leaving immediately 😂.” Another person said: “How did [the audience] fall for that with that guitarist and then the drummer walking out lol.” Someone else added: “The ‘no fucking way’ is priceless.”
Elsewhere, a tweet read: “Laughing about Static Dress pretending to be Title Fight doing a secret set at Outbreak, but in all fairness I’d probably throw up if I heard a secret set start with a Modern Baseball song and I was on the other side of the venue thinking it was actually happening.”
Static Dress have also shared some footage from Outbreak Fest ’26, showing a lively pit in front of the stage. “Thank you Outbreak,” they wrote. “‘Injury Episode’ has been out one month.”
The band will return to Manchester as part of their UK and European headline tour this autumn. Find any remaining tickets here.
In a four-star review, NME described ‘Injury Episode’ as “a deliberately more intense, more complex record than [2022 debut] ‘Rogue Carpet Disaster’, one that feels like Static Dress are trying to connect more deeply with whoever’s listening”.
“It’s a fearless approach to guitar music that’s more interested in storytelling than mass appeal,” it continued.
The LP has been named as one of NME‘s best albums of 2026 so far, too.
Frontman Olli Appleyard told NME in Static Dress’ Cover interview why he feels the need to control all of the band’s output. “I don’t want to be walked over,” he explained. “We’ve had people in the industry actively try to ruin us before, because they don’t like that we didn’t let them in.”
To accompany the conversation, the group curated a playlist titled ‘Real Emo (Modern Day Edition)’, featuring songs by the likes of Blood Orange, High Vis, Mk.gee, Dream Fatigue, Jim Legxacy and Puma Blue, among others. Listen to the full playlist here.
Next week, Outbreak Fest will host Bring Me The Horizon’s two ‘Count Your Blessings’ 20th anniversary shows.