Deftones @ Outbreak x All Points East: 5 top bands from the London day festival
Guitar bands are still alive and well, as the East London one-dayer proved
Last year, Outbreak festival had its first London edition, held in association with LIDO. In 2026 it was All Points East’s turn, bringing a day of rock and alternative to a multi-day line-up otherwise largely dominated by pop and hip-hop.
Guitar bands are still alive and well, though. And not just the headline stars like Deftones — who to be fair are as vital and current now as they have been in decades. What a feat.
We spent the whole day marching between stages (and inhaling a lot more dust than would be recommended under WHO guidelines) in order to bring you some of our favourite picks.
Here are our top 5 stars from Outbreak x All Points East, spanning the big names and some newer faces you may not have encountered yet...
Idles
How do they keep it up? Almost a decade on from their first album, Idles sound as aggressively potent and vibrant as ever. While 2024 album Tangk brought out a somewhat softer side of the band’s sound, the snarl singer Joe Talbot is known for is still present and correct in Idles’ live performance. The day’s highest-energy performance? Perhaps so.
Interpol
Interpol have a new album out this week, This Mirror Weighs a Ton. Early released tracks suggest we’re getting a more atmospheric and airy sound, from a band whose best-known songs trade in edgy pneumatic guitar lines. Saying that, recent single See Out Loud slots into tracks from the band’s first two celebrated albums just fine. It’s those tracks that bring a bit of punctation to a performance that doesn’t even try to bring the bombast of the Amyl and the Sniffers and JPEGMAFIA sets that bookend Interpol’s slot. Check out the new album from 28th August.
Wisp
Apparently shoegaze goes down well on TikTok? Who knew. Wisp’s Your Face was a social media hit back in 2023 — a song that was reportedly built off a licensed backing track rather than composed by Wisp from scratch, but it has launched her into a more substantial music career. That she has covered Coldplay’s Yellow shows this is an entirely new school, new generation of interpretation of shoegaze from, say, My Bloody Valentine, but the band built around Wisp sure do sound great. She also wins the award for the day’s most polite act.
Good Health Good Wealth
In the slot that should — according to the festival timetable — have given us Liam Gallagher son Gene Gallagher’s Villanelle, we got Good Health Good Wealth. And they are almost undeniably a lot more fun. There’s an anachronistic charm to this twosome I’m going lean on the lazy habit of comparison to relay. If you took The Streets, but gave the front man some added Suggs’s cheekiness and layered in some Damon Albarn nonchalance, you’re about there. Sure enough, the group supported The Streets’ 2026 tour. Witty spoken word storytelling.
Deftones
We are in a different era of Deftones to those who may have fond — not to mention ancient — memories of the band’s first three albums. Huge backdrop visuals and the more alt-slash-shoegaze leanings of the band’s Private Music album make for an atmospheric watch — more groove than slam in this Deftones sound. Sadly, we didn’t get to see Stephen Carpenter, who for the last few years has not toured internationally with the band following health issues. But Chino? He’s looking trimmer and more spritely than he has in a long time.
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