Weeks of drought might have turned London’s Victoria Park into Arrakis, but like the Spice, the heaviness must flow. Outbreak’s takeover of All Points East brings new acts, old favourites returning, and the headlining set that proves Deftones have transcended from a band to a full-on experience.
Words: Kate Allvey // Photos: Emma Stone
Basement
‘Time Waster’s tumbleweeds of modern grunge herald the welcome return of Basement to the capital after their long hiatus. There’s an easy stampede to the front to see what they’re doing now they’ve evolved beyond emo, and the new status quo is melodic echoing snapshots that progress into booming slippery realness that encourages dramatic MTV-era pauses to let the emotion sink in.
Deafheaven
Let’s bring the Coachella vibes to one corner of our desert. Cosmically heavy, they bring a pit for those who need it and room to contemplate if you just want to let the waves of gorgeous shred wash over you. George Clarke’s growls keep Deafheaven grounded in their classic metal heritage and provide relief from the heat with a torrent of drums.
Mannequin Pussy
Missy Dabice drops vocals like an anti-siren song, drawing us in with solidarity and curiosity, cavorting through ‘I Don’t Know You’s fields of riot grrrrl distortion. They’re the uncompromising, sophisticated siblings to Amyl And The Sniffers, with machete riffs to challenge and invigorate. ‘Control’ channels old school punk rebellion in magnificently tumultuous style; all babydoll eyes to distract you while they’re throwing a brick through your window.
Recluse
Recluse’s raw sound attracts more and more followers with every show they play. The way they drift through outrage and into soundscapes makes each brief set a punk journey, and if you aren’t pitting, you’re nodding along to their ferocious sentiment and rip-roaring screams.
Clarion
Are Clarion the perfect accompaniment to a Sunday afternoon in the park? Songbird vocals on ‘Cover Me’ veil a bold riffing edge that motors straight into ‘Blue Fairy’ with the kind of energy that Kim Deal would be proud of. Considered and vibrant, and even more dynamic under the huge arching X Stage which their sound fills along with the dust, Clarion are an exceptionally cool respite to the day’s heaviness.
Ecca Vandal
If you want taut, indefinable energy, look no further than Ecca Vandal. Jump like gravity’s flipping to screeching guitar then bounce to a sound that’s our favourite parts of everything during an uproar of a set that threatens to break out of the confines of the X stage and spark a street party to shake the looming tower blocks. Absorbing, infinitely danceable, and incredibly exciting.
AFI
The ex-goth-pinups-turned-post-punk-legends bring a mature show to the West field packed with hits to sandwich their latest tracks. Opening with ‘Girl’s Not Grey’ feels like a payoff of a lifetime of fandom for the crowd packed into the thin slice of shade, and ‘Love Like Winter’ sends the moustachioed Davey Havok into a one man dance-off. The path to their current incarnation is laid clear when ‘Holy Vision’ explodes into their set, but they’re more than capable of chucking in an anthem or two when ‘Beautiful Thieves’ comes out to play.
Amyl And The Sniffers
If there was ever a doubt that the Aussie punk sensations could pack a whole field, that’s been swept away with a flick of a bombshell-blonde curl. ‘Do It Do It’ brings the party; all you need is the right attitude and the right riffs and everything else just flows when you’re Amyl And The Sniffers. “You know it’s gonna be a good set when I’ve already lost one of my eyelashes,” laughs Amy Taylor, just before the big groove that evolves from ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’. Their pep, grit, and cartoonish ultra-human energy makes them a force to be reckoned with.
IDLES
‘Levitator’ makes for a gutsy opener from the mighty Idles. Their presence is huge and incendiary, and their posse is ready to go from drumbeats of ‘Never Fight A Man With A Perm’, roused by Joe Talbot’s everyman preaching. As the sun sets to frantic drum breakdowns, their infectious bravado and bass struts feel both abrupt and necessary. Horse impressions, anti-pop sax and a whole lot of rabble rousing make IDLES the main pull for more than a few festival-goers.
Deftones
This isn’t just a headlining set. Deftones have become so much more than a band; they’re a full body, total immersion experience now, with a show that slides deftly between hypnotic states. From behind the smoke, the opening to ‘Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)’ sparks an eruption as we surge into action. Deftones seem to float serenely against the bustle of the crowd, underscored with a gentle glow, as we’re led from ‘Around The Fur’ into ‘My Mind Is A Mountain’. Perhaps they were made for a space this massive, we think, as ‘Feiticeira’ echoes among the trees, vibrantly alien. Phones raise gently to capture the bass emptiness of ‘Mascara’, a sprinkling of flowers in the cooling night air.
The music takes first place with the band as a mere medium for their vision. We get an “Alright! Let’s boogie!” from Chino Moreno half an hour into their set, but this isn’t the kind of show that needs a charismatic presence onstage. We’re here to lose ourselves for ninety minutes to a band who conjure whole worlds from memory and imagination if you let them. ‘Rocket Skates’ is bursting with blistering contradictions, and like the other newer songs, slots into their set effortlessly, but when they drop a headbanger like ‘Change (In The House Of Flies)’ or ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’, we are momentarily reminded that they are still one heck of a rock band when they chose to come back down to Earth. Whatever plane of existence they’re inhabiting, tonight could be their finest festival set in the UK to date.