Deftones – When All Roads Lead to Victoria Park and All Points East

Desh Kapur
1 hour ago
4 min read

All Points East, Victoria Park, East London, 23rd August 2026

WORDS ALAN BRYCE / IMAGES

Deftones – When All Roads Lead to Victoria Park and All Points East — Photo Credit Clemente Ruiz

A festival of impossible choices eventually arrived at the correct answer: Deftones.

All Points East is one of those festivals that seems determined not to belong to any one scene. Across a couple of weekends in Victoria Park, it brings together pop fans, hip-hop fans, indie kids, metalheads, ravers and everyone in between. On the day I attended, though, the park belonged to the loud guitars. Curated in partnership with Outbreak, the bill featured Deftones, IDLES, Interpol, AFI and Amyl and the Sniffers at the top, supported by an impressive undercard that included JPEGMAFIA, Deafheaven, Basement, Show Me The Body, Mannequin Pussy, Wisp, Salem and EsDeeKid. The result was a festival day that felt less like a collection of individual acts and more like a snapshot of alternative music in 2026, from hardcore and post-punk to hip-hop, metal and everything in between.

The festival site itself felt huge. Two main stages, four minor stages, thousands of people, constant movement and just enough overlap between set times to make every decision feel slightly painful. Most of my day was spent walking between the East Stage and the West Stage, trying to catch as much as possible. The downside was that I only saw parts of most sets. The upside was that there was never a dull moment.

The first band I caught were Interpol on the East Stage. They remain one of those rare bands who can make a festival field feel intimate. While the rest of Victoria Park seemed busy and restless, Interpol just got on with being Interpol. Crisp guitars, dark bass lines and Paul Banks delivering everything with that familiar detached cool. They sounded as elegant and controlled as ever. I didn't get to see the full set, but what I saw reminded me why they've remained so influential for so long.

Photo Credit @khaliphotography

Next it was over to the West Stage for AFI. If Interpol were calm and measured, AFI were the complete opposite. Davey Havok seemed incapable of standing still. The band attacked every song with real energy, and the crowd responded in kind. There was a genuine sense of passion in the performance, the kind that can't really be faked. I only caught part of the set before moving on, but it left an impression.

Back at the East Stage, Amyl and the Sniffers brought an entirely different kind of energy. Amy Taylor is impossible to ignore. She has the sort of stage presence that instantly draws your attention, and the band behind her were equally sharp. The songs came fast, loud and direct. There was nothing complicated about it, just brilliant punk rock delivered with confidence and attitude. They probably produced some of the most purely enjoyable moments of the day.

Photo Credit Perry Gibson

From there it was back across the site again for IDLES on the West Stage. By this point the crowds were growing and the anticipation was starting to build. IDLES delivered exactly what people wanted. The band were loud, relentless and full of conviction. Their music always sounds like it could fall apart at any moment, yet somehow remains completely in control. The crowd bounced, shouted and threw itself into every song. Even though I didn't see the entire set, it felt huge.

Photo Credit @khaliphotography

As the evening drew in, the movement stopped. Everyone seemed to be heading in the same direction.

The East Stage.

Deftones.

For the first time all day there was nowhere else I wanted to be.

They opened with Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away), which immediately felt like the right choice. Some songs simply belong at festivals, and this is one of them. As soon as those opening chords rang out, the crowd was locked in.

From there, Deftones moved effortlessly through different periods of their career. Classics like Around the Fur, Feiticeira and My Own Summer (Shove It) sat comfortably alongside newer songs such as My Mind Is a Mountain, Locked Club and Infinite Source. What stood out was how natural it all felt. Nothing felt forced. Nothing felt included simply because it had to be.

Chino Moreno remains a fascinating frontman. One moment the band were pushing out something crushingly heavy like Rocket Skates or Korea. The next they were drifting into the dreamlike atmosphere of Rosemary, Entombed, Xerces or Sextape. Few bands move between heaviness and beauty as convincingly as Deftones.

Several songs really stood out. Mascara sounded fantastic. Tempest felt enormous. Rosemary was one of those moments where a festival crowd seems to collectively stop and listen. The band trusted the strength of their material rather than relying on constant crowd-pleasing tricks, and it paid off.

The emotional highlight arrived with Change (In the House of Flies). By then the sun had gone, the lights had come up and thousands of people were singing every word. It was one of those moments that reminds you why live music still matters.

Photo Credit Clemente Ruiz

The encore was equally strong. Cherry Waves drew a huge reaction before Lotion raised the intensity again. Then came 7 Words, which brought the evening to a suitably chaotic conclusion.

Walking out of Victoria Park afterwards, tired and slightly deaf, I kept thinking about all the things I'd missed. The rest of Interpol. More AFI. More Amyl and the Sniffers. The end of IDLES. But that's the nature of great festivals. You're always somewhere between satisfaction and regret.

On this occasion, though, every road eventually led back to Deftones. They delivered a headline set that justified the journey, rewarded the patience and provided the perfect ending to a day spent chasing music across East London.

A festival of impossible choices eventually arrived at the correct answer. Deftones.

SETLIST