Deftones’ modern-day renaissance has been impossible to ignore. Beyond reigniting alternative music, the Sacramento icons have spearheaded a massive subcultural pivot, driven by a post-COVID online surge that introduced their back catalogue to an obsessively devoted Gen-Z audience. As they took to the stage to headline Outbreak at London’s All Points East – a special 15th anniversary edition of the hardcore and global counterculture festival – both the digitally obsessed and scene veterans came together on a dusty field to celebrate the music that unites them.

The outcome of such an event? A festival crowd that shattered the stereotype of legacy style, posing a broader question: what does an alternative metal fan actually look like in 2026?

For years, the metal-head archetype was heavily gatekept and visually homogenous. While the aesthetic of cargo shorts, tube socks and stacks of faded festival wristbands has come to define the scene, Outbreak’s All Points East return last weekend served as a noisy reminder of just how multi-dimensional – and multi-generational – the scene’s style has become. 

Despite the rapid evolution of online trend cycles since the pandemic, the one item that connects the subcultures of yesteryear to today is the black platform boot – the scene’s answer to the LBD. However, the sky is the limit for fan fashion, with festival-goers using a canvas of band tees and combat boots and adorning them with faded mullets, self-deprecating slogans, pastel warpaint, human-sized butterfly wings and more tattoos than ever. 

Today, you can no longer guess the bands at Outbreak based purely on what people are wearing. Originating at Sheffield’s Broomhall Centre in 2011, Outbreak moved on to Leeds in 2012, Manchester in 2022, before finally coming under the All Points East banner in 2026, with its own dedicated day. Attendees saw the likes of Amyl and the Sniffers, Salem, Show Me the Body, Mannequin Pussy, EsDeeKid and JPEGMAFIA, alongside post-hardcore fan-favourites Basement and horror-punk turned alternative-rock legends AFI. To the gatekeepers’ dismay, heavy music is firmly on the menu. Festivals like Outbreak make sure that the vast array of fan cultures, many of which were forged in digital spaces, are finally being platformed on a global stage.

Scroll through the gallery above to see all the best looks from the festival