How do you follow booking Turnstile on the brink of their breakout? Outbreak – now aligned with All Points East – seems determined to find out, assembling Deftones, IDLES, Amyl and the Sniffers, EsDeeKid and more and for a Sunday that looks set to be one of its most ambitious yet.
The festival’s inaugural London edition, in partnership with LIDO, drew the hardcore faithful south and quickly cemented its reputation as a place where scenes intersect rather than sit neatly apart. Charli XCX, then fresh from her own dizzying 2024 rise, was asked which act might be next in line for a “Brat Summer”. Her answer – Turnstile – surprised many given their hardcore roots and her pop audience. She wasn’t wrong: the now Grammy-nominated group have since found themselves bigger than ever, and were booked alongside artists as varied as Alex G, Knocked Loose, Speed and Model/Actriz – a signal that Outbreak has never been precious about genre boundaries.
This year’s line-up holds to that ethos. Deftones, arriving with their tenth album private music and the momentum of a sold-out arena run, headline with the confidence of a band long outgrowing any expectations set for them in the 1990s. Their recent Radio 6 endorsement merely confirms what fans already know: few rock groups have maintained relevance – or evolved so restlessly – for as long.
IDLES make a return too. They’re a band I try to catch at least once a year, partly because Joe Talbot remains one of the most magnetic and outspoken frontmen around. Their fourth album pushed them another step towards the top tier of UK live acts, and their shows reliably blend political ire with euphoric catharsis. Expect sweat-drenched pits, anti-monarchy broadsides and, almost certainly, a crowd more than willing to echo them.
Further down the bill, Australia’s Amyl and the Sniffers bring their whiplash punk energy back to London following US dates with Turnstile. Long hailed as heirs to AC/DC’s chaotic spirit, the band’s live shows – whether in tiny London venues or on far larger stages – have helped cement Amy Taylor’s reputation as one of modern rock’s most compelling performers. With Cartoon Darkness behind them, they look more road-hardened and uncontainable than ever.
Outbreak’s commitment to cross-pollination continues elsewhere. JPEGMAFIA, who long ago discarded rap’s strict genre lines, returns armed with I Lay Down My Life For You – a record as confrontational as it is inventive. ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U pushes things further into club territory, while Liverpool’s EsDeeKid arrives riding a wave of viral attention.
Then there’s Deafheaven, whose 2025 release Lonely People With Power reaffirmed their status as blackgaze trailblazers. Basement’s emotional alt-rock provides a dose of homegrown nostalgia, and Wisp’s fast-rising shoegaze adds a younger dimension. Fans of Model/Actriz’s nervy art-punk will find similar electricity in New York’s Show Me The Body, keeping the day’s energy sharp at every turn.
For those who remember Outbreak’s 2011 beginnings as a DIY one-dayer in the north of England, its present form can feel almost unrecognisable. Yet its purpose – offering space for the fringes, the experimental and the ferociously committed – remains intact. Its 2025 London expansion only widened the scope, aided by All Points East’s growing legacy as a curator of standout weekends. This year looks set to continue that trajectory: a celebration of punk, blackgaze, shoegaze, electronic chaos and everything that thrives between the cracks. In short, it’s exactly where you’ll want to be.
Words: Donovan Livesey