All Points East presents Outbreak Fest @ Victoria Park 23rd August 2026
I’m a bit late arriving at All Points East due to various train cancellations, diversions and delays, and the first thing I notice is that quite a few people are wandering around wearing bandanas around their faces. Some people are wearing surgical masks too. What’s the deal? Are they trying to look mysterious, intimidating or what? Then a gust of wind blows a load of dust into my face, and I realise what the reason is. After many weeks without rain and two days of festivals before today, the site is a veritable dust bowl. Still, at least I’m finally here. Let the somewhat dust-blown festivities begin!
Having missed my intended opening band thistle. due to my aforementioned transport problems, the first band that I see today is Mannequin Pussy, who, as they repeatedly and proudly tell us, are from Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. Vocalist Marisa “Missy” Dabice dedicates their first song, Sometimes, to FX Rentals, who apparently have supplied her with a broken amp, which is why she’s playing without a guitar today. By the end of the song another amp from the same supplier, this one being used by multi-instrumentalist Carolyn Haynes, has also “blown up”. This time, however, the problem seems to be rectifiable.
Proving that you can’t keep a good band down, Mannequin Pussy carry on with I Got Heaven, the title track from their most recent album, released in 2024. It’s bouncy, with some wonderfully fluid guitar lines from Maxine Steen, punchy bass from Colins “Bear” Regisford, and some cool drum fills from Kaleen Reading. The band haven’t been lazy since the release of their last album and have two new and as-yet-untitled songs to play for us. The first is slow and lumbering with faster choruses. The lyrics for the verses are a little indistinct, so they may still be a work in progress. The song certainly sounds promising, though. During the second song, Maxine Steen’s playing reminds me oddly of Will Sergeant from Echo & the Bunnymen! Colins Regisford adds his vocals to Of Her. Unfortunately, Missy’s vocals are way too low in the mix and Colins all but obliterates her.
Missy and Colins share vocals for the next couple of songs without the mix being sorted. Everything is particularly notable for its romping drum intro. Colins tells us that Pigs Is Pigs is about “fuck all cops and fuck ICE”. Fair enough. He carries on with mostly shouted vocals. Before final song, Loud Bark, Missy gives a long and impassioned speech criticising the USA, fascism and bigotry. It’s quite a speech, and a girl in the front row is crying. Mannequin Pussy aren’t the only American band that I’ve heard speak out about the US government and its conduct over the past six months or so. It’s right that they should speak out about such things. This speech and the song that follows it make an apt end to a superb set delivered in demanding circumstances.
Next up we have Salem. There are two bands called Salem, and unfortunately the one that I thought was playing today isn’t the one onstage. My mistake. I should have realised that something was amiss when taped crowd noise started coming over the PA a good five minutes before the band are due onstage. There seems to be quite a crowd in the North Arena, which is a tent, but whether that’s a reflection of the band’s popularity or whether people are just trying to find some shade is difficult to say. There’s no drum kit, and there’s a lot of crew onstage who appear to be doing little more than adjusting lighting. Five minutes after the band are due on, there’s dry ice which looks like dark smoke, and the bass on the intro track reminds me that I have sinuses. The band eventually appear onstage ten minutes late. They’re a duo comprising a vocalist and a guitarist. Everything else is on the backing track. The guitar is nicely overdriven, but a lot of the material sounds like average R&B. The crowd is pretty enthusiastic, but the band don’t do it for me.
Salvation comes in the form of Interpol. It’s seven years since I last saw them and I’m somewhat shocked to find that vocalist Paul Banks now has grey hair! Still, he is 48 years old, so I guess it’s allowed. It seems odd to think that they’re now a relatively vintage band. Daniel Kessler’s guitar in All the Rage Back Home reminds me of Johnny Marr. His lead playing throughout is magnificent. Nothing is overplayed. It’s definitely a case of “less is more”. There’s still something about the band that is ineffably cool. There’s something oddly Germanic about them too. Maybe it’s the motorik drumming that pops up occasionally. Slow Hands from their second album, Antics, still impresses, especially in terms of the bass line, which is simultaneously punchy, melodic and flexible. It was played on the record by Carlos Dengler, but is perfectly delivered by current bassist Brad Truax. Closing song PDA is enlivened by the powerful, and a tad wild, playing of touring drummer Matt Barrick. Grey hair may have made an appearance, but Interpol are every bit as vital a live band as they always have been.
The first thing that I notice when Amyl and the Sniffers take the stage is that they have a lady on bass! It turns out that bassist Gus Romer is taking the rest of 2026 off from touring, and Lakota Vella from Public Figures is standing in for him, and a fine job she’s making of it too. Amyl and the Sniffers have always been a very tight live band, and that remains the case. Kicking off with Control, there’s a storming guitar solo from Declan Mehrtens, whose playing is extraordinarily good throughout. At the end of second song, Do It Do It, vocalist Amy Taylor tells us that she knows it’s going to be a good set as she’s lost an eyelash already!
The awesome Security features the whole band on backing vocals, whilst stand-in bassist Lakota makes her presence felt with a crunchingly distorted bass intro to Doing in Me Head. Amy introduces Me and the Girls as “one for the girls”. This hilarious tale of girls being drunk at the airport never gets old. Before Pleasure Forever, Amy yells “Free Palestine!” A worthy sentiment, but will it happen in our lifetime? I fear that it won’t. One thing I have noticed is that the sound at All Points East is a touch too quiet. Amy and the band are putting in a powerful performance which isn’t quite reflected by what’s coming out of the speakers. I guess that’s the price we pay for Victoria Park being in a residential area. Still, Got You is fast and punky, and for Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled) Amy is headbanging on her hands and knees. Proceedings draw to a close with a very fast version of GFY. This has been an absolutely storming set: nineteen songs in an hour. That’s how you deliver a festival set!
One band that knows all about delivering festival sets is IDLES. The band in some ways could almost be designed for events such as this. Their material is pummelling and intelligent, which might seem a contradiction in terms but it’s a realistic description. As opening songs go, they don’t get much better than Levitator and its boots that “are gonna walk all over you”. Yet I feel as if something’s wrong: that I’ve seen all of this before. It’s a couple of years since I last saw them, but I almost feel as if I’ve got “IDLES fatigue”. There’s nothing wrong with the band’s performance. They, and frontman Joe Talbot in particular, put 150% into their performance. I try to put myself into the shoes of someone who’s seeing them for the first time. If that was the case, I would think they were absolutely brilliant, and in fact, they absolutely are! Sometimes critics can see the same band a few too many times.
I can’t really pick any fault with the set. Never Fight a Man With a Perm not only has a hilarious title, it’s a bloody good song too! Mr. Motivator does what it says on the tin and Danny Nedelko has a message that any bigoted would-be fascist scumbags could still very much do with hearing. It’s been two years since the release of their last album, TANGK, though, and they really could do with some new material. Maybe that’s what made me feel as if I’d seen and heard it all before. After their shows in Belfast and Edinburgh this month, they have nothing else planned. With a bit of luck they’ll be heading into the studio.
Tonight is the first time that I’ve seen Deftones headline a festival. To me they’re not a natural choice for such a role, although there’s plenty of the faithful who are here today who would disagree with me, so I’m keeping quiet. I’d seen them play at Download four years ago, and whilst they were good, they didn’t really blow me away. Still, with over thirty years of decent back catalogue behind them, they can’t really go wrong, can they? From the get-go it becomes clear that, visually at least, vocalist Chino Moreno is carrying the show. He’s helpfully wearing a white shirt so the spotlights can track him wherever he goes. Mostly, the rest of the band keep their heads down and play. This music is more complex than it might otherwise sound. Chino is everywhere. He’s going to be knackered by the end of the night!
The riff for Around the Fur sounds like it might be a distant relative of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir. my mind is a mountain, however, is powerful and punchy, with some great graphics. Swerve City has a background film of dancing women, whilst prior to Rocket Skates, Chino instructs us to “boogie!” This is a somewhat surprising instruction as the song is something of a slow riff monster. Maybe Chino was confused, or being ironic. The main set winds towards its close with a couple of old favourites, but the actual closing song, milk of the madonna, is from their most recent album, private music, released in 2025. The three encore songs are all older tracks, the final one, 7 Words, being from their debut album, Adrenaline. Once again, whilst Deftones were really good, they didn’t completely blow me away. The faithful, however, were blown away, and that’s what counts. Deftones’ mission was accomplished, and then some.
All Points East continues this weekend with a double-header headlined by Tyler, The Creator on Friday 28th and Saturday 29th August, before Twenty One Pilots close out two triumphant weekends of contemporary music in the capital’s East End on Sunday 30th August.
WORDS: MARK KELLY
