Photo by Michael Fung Photography
I’m not a natural festival goer. The lack of sitting down, questionable toilets and quite frankly, some rather annoying people, don’t always make festivals very appealing. Although I have enjoyed many festivals in my time, this is usually down to a stellar line up with any other positives as a bonus.
But I love live music, and I’ve sorely missed it these past 18 months. Attending a few gigs has started to fill that gap, but All Points East seemed like a quick booster by seeing several special artists in one afternoon.
Spread over two days of the bank holiday weekend, I opted for the Saturday where on balance the line up was more to my liking. However, due to terrible mismanagement at the entrance gate and being treated like cattle rounded up for feeding time, just getting in took one hour, meaning I missed the enigmatic Pa Salieu. Having had such a successful year I was curious to see if he could hold himself on a festival stage, but by all accounts afterwards, he smashed it.
Once inside, I was swiftly reminded of the unique festival fashion statements, whiffs of over doused cologne and fried food at inexplicable prices, only acceptable when in a field. I did manage to catch another rising star, Rema, who appeared in a sky blue Daily Paper tracksuit and black balaclava. The Nigerian native quickly attracted a large crowd to the previously sparsely attended area, and ran through tracks at pace, but not without successfully engaging the willing audience with his bigger hits of ‘Lady’ and ‘Woman’. Simultaneously he was shedding layers to reveal well-styled jewellery to match his electrifying energy, and ended the set by standing on his DJ’s table.
Enjoying a pint and a burger at one of the few picnic tables, London’s own Alewya was headlining the BMW Play Next stage. Drifting between DnB, afro and dubstep beats, she commanded a growing and lively crowd in an otherwise docile corner of the park.
But all of this was just the support, the warm up if you will, for the real reason I was there - to witness the living legend Kano takeover the mainstage. Having only seen him live at an intimate SXSW show in 2018, I was keen to catch him in action on a larger scale and in his hometown. After finding myself unintentionally standing next to an old friend in the depths of the Kano crowd (another surprisingly wonderful thing about festivals - familiar faces) a full live band appeared and his backing singers began ‘SYM’ (Suck Your Mum) - the final song from his 2019 album Hoodies All Summer. The man himself then appeared in head-to-toe Gucci with Yeezy sneakers, layering his vulnerable singing voice onto the soulful female vocals.
After this it was pretty much a blur of half-remembered lyrics screamed into the ether and flashing lights, with my memory only aided by jumpy phone footage. It was an hour of euphoric nostalgia that only a veteran like Kano can deliver. Commanding the mainstage with both a relaxed and intense presence, he calmly delivered his set as if it was quite literally a walk in the park. Playing from daylight to dusk, the east London rapper reminded us what real live music is about - the swagger, the crowd interaction, the wheel ups - the entire day was worth it for this beautiful energiser, forgetting where we were in time and space.
I had got what I came for, but there was one more artist who deserved my attention, the new age rockstar, Slowthai. Walking to the exact other end of the park over crushed cans and squashed chips, the Northampton star was commanding a predictably large crowd with his unique flavour of stage presence. With minimal production (aside from occasional pyrotechnics that must have been double regulation height) and only accompanied by his DJ/producer Kwes Darko, Slowthai admitted he had already performed at the outsized Reading Festival that day, making this second performance even more impressive. As ever, topless on stage showing his many tattoos, but maturing from previous performances in just boxers, he later said unprompted, “The jeans are Givenchy, by the way,” showing an endearing level of self-awareness around his studded blue denim.
With all but the mainstage silent, the entire festival walked in one direction, as if under the trance of a siren’s song, towards the headliner Jamie XX. Although an excellent booking, it was not strong enough to make me stay too long in the increasingly chilly August evening, where I was also keen to avoid repetition of the hellish gate experience on exiting.
The late bank holiday weekend was the busiest London has been since before the pandemic. In lieu of Notting Hill Carnival, it seemed like every festival, promoter and institution was filling this gaping cultural hole with their own celebration. Therefore, the distractions were endless and one’s energy had to stretch across all corners of the city. In this context, and in general, All Points East made a sterling return to form with a (mostly) well-organised, safe and positive event. Even for a non festival person like me, it was good to be back.
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I’ve really missed live music too since the pandemic. I bought tickets to Rolling Loud New York, but will no longer be attending. While the videos I’ve seen of the chaos and lack of crowd-control from their previous dates make festivals seem less appealing, reading about your experience at All Points East makes me just a tad bit regretful of not going. Maybe it’s the combination of experiencing live music and my desire for physical social interaction due to the pandemic. Great article, Nicola!