All Points East 2026: Twenty One Pilots

There’s a specific kind of festival day where you can tell, from the second you walk through the gates, who everyone’s there for. All Points East’s 2026 run was closed by Twenty One Pilots with their only UK date of the year, and their first London show since the decade-long Dema storyline wrapped up on last year’s Breach.

There were a few things that made it clear just how devoted the headliners’ fanbase is, and how deep the lore around the band runs. There was an enormous queue by the X Stage for what turned out to be red and yellow duct tape (which I had to search for the meaning of). I learned that yellow tape represents hope, freedom, and protective camouflage from the controlling rulers of Dema (a fictional city that serves as a metaphor for mental health struggles, insecurity, and entrapment). Red tape signifies the oppressive authority of the Bishops (the rulers of Dema) and an open, defiant rebellion. People were choosing between the colours to align themselves with their chosen team, with a real feeling of allegiance to it. I also got given a homemade friendship bracelet by a stranger who was going around offering them to everyone, which was a lovely, moving moment.

However, before we got to the main act there was plenty else going on, with a stacked line-up. Half·Alive were my first act of the day, and drew a strong crowd despite being on early. Their opening song came with a pair of dancers in matching outfits doing sharp, synchronised choreography that was both fun and mildly unsettling.The tight, unnerving precision in their dance moves that reminded me a little of Severance, especially with the backing visuals looking like an old-school computer. It was an enjoyable set and a great high-energy way to kick off the day.

Mouth Culture was a highlight of the undercard for me. The Leicester trio have spent the last couple of years being mentored by You Me At Six, supporting them on their farewell tour, and their relationship with the industry veterans showed in the frontman’s confidence. They brought out Max Helyer (YMAS’s guitarist) for a new song they’ve collaborated on, which took the set in a new, poppier direction. The sound wasn’t perfect, and there was a fair bit of bleed from the neighbouring stages during quieter points, although this luckily didn’t impact the set beyond the moments in between songs.

Nova Twins were the heaviest set of the day, with the kind of distorted bass you feel in your chest and the perfect band for the North Arena tent. Previous editions of All Points East have faced criticism for low volume, but this definitely wasn’t the case on Sunday. If they were the heaviest, bbno$ was the most unhinged act I saw all day, and also the most unapologetically fun. Self-declared “the Gen Z Eminem”, he played Charli XCX’s ‘I Love It’, Scouting For Girls’ ‘She’s So Lovely’, and the ‘meow meow’ version of ‘What Was I Made For,’ handed out a cookbook to whoever was moshing hardest, and paused mid-set to read out a recipe for jammy doughnut balls. It was just so silly, and impossible not to grin all the way through.

This brings us to Twenty One Pilots. The band walked out to a crowd that had been building steadily for the past five hours, and the field filled up very quickly with people streaming in from Wunderhorse across the site.

The two-plus hour, 30-song set leaned hard on nostalgia as much as the new Breach material, and kept the energy high by threading covers into bridges: a snippet of Milky Chance’s ‘Stolen Dance’ folded into ‘One Way’, and Drum Show’s extended breakdown included a crowd singalong to Radiohead’s ‘Creep’. Emi Grace joined for a live debut of ‘Robot Voices’, and ‘The Contract’ turned into one of the night’s biggest crowd moments when Tyler Joseph was hoisted above the crowd, balancing on what looked like a surfboard. Their traditional trip to the B-Stage was my favourite section of the set, partly because it was surprisingly close to where I was standing but also because they concluded the section by setting a car on fire, bringing the character of the Torchbearer, who features in 11 of their music videos, to life (which did slightly concern me given the hosepipe ban currently in place in London).

Any criticism of the day is really criticism of scale rather than quality. Sound bleed between the smaller stages is an unavoidable cost of packing this many acts into one site, sponsor branding is inescapable, and the impact of the dust is well-recorded (although less serious than the previous weekend). None of it took the shine off Twenty One Pilots themselves, who definitely gave their only UK show this year the respect it deserved, both from a setlist and a lore perspective. I still don’t have the faintest idea what happened in the storyline, but it didn’t matter one bit — whether you know the lore or not, they’re simply a fantastic live band with a show that offers something for everyone.