The Yeah Yeah Yeahs at All Points East [Róisín Gadelrab]
ALL Points East undoubtedly has the ability to pull in one of the London festival circuit’s best line-ups. Stormzy, Jungle, Aphex Twin, Haim, Dermot Kennedy and Gabriels led the way supported by many more alternatives acts over the last two weekends.
Last Friday’s delectable selection included The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Walkmen in a tribute to the emergent indie NYC scene of the early 2000s, ably supported by, amongst others, Amyl and the Sniffers, Girl in Red, Be Your Own Pet, Black Midi and star DJ turns from Carl Barat and Gary Powell (The Libertines/ Dirty Pretty Things) and Laroux on the 6Music stage.
But the day belonged to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. From the first bars of last year’s Spitting Off The Edge of the World, Karen O span on to the stage in her razor sharp rock star bowl fringe and dark sparkly layers – a batlike figure commanding the dancefloor. A hypnotic light show cut through the dark as the YYYSs ran through a tight 13-track set, the punchy cries of Sacrilege whipping up a frenzy.
Dedicating Maps to Sinead O’Connor, the three-piece concluded their electrifying set with Heads Will Roll and Date With The Night, by which time part of the crowd had raced off to see The Strokes, while the wiser part were still reeling from the euphoric and timeless set.
You’d pity whoever had to follow, had it not been The Strokes, who have never been known to look like they were making any effort to win approval. So, they did their trademark thing, cramming 20 songs into their headline set and playing Last Nite early on to get the crowd going.
There were rumblings about the weak sound, but this depended on where you stood so, after some moving around, things became a little louder. Ever the professionals, their trademark distorted sound evoked memories of the messy early noughties – and while a lot of the stage chat was fuzzy, at one point we caught Julian Casablancas inquiring why it was suddenly winter, a nod to the earlier downpour that had turned things a little grey and chilly.
The Strokes at All Points East [ShotByNee / Nirah Sanghani]
Running through Juicebox, Meet Me In The Bathroom, Reptilia and more, they inspired a huge chorus for closer Is This It.
Perhaps leaving not quite as much of an impact as the YYYs, their contribution was exactly what you would expect of the mystery guy at a house party whose mere presence raises the cool factor.
Earlier, there was plenty to keep festival goers occupied for the entire day without rest, which was much-needed as we trekked between the various stages – the two main stages polar opposites apart, sparking discussions about step counts and weary feet in the toilet queue.
The Carl Barat / Gary Powell DJ set was kicking off as we arrived, the 6Music tent being closest to the entrance. Skipping between The Clash and Le Tigre, the DJs presided over a smiling indie-rock day rave, pulling in crowds from across the field – a joyful welcome.
Over at the West Stage The Walkmen were putting on a strong show, having returned to the stage this year after their “extreme hiatus” announced back in 2013. However, their short set – which of course included their critically acclaimed hit The Rat, as much of a masterpiece in 2023 – gave early warnings about issues with sound. You had to wade right into the crowd to be able to hear over the excitable chatter and with no screens or speakers in the middle of the field, the sound was lost towards the back.
Given the distance between stages, many lingered at the back to get a headstart to the next act on their personal schedule. We sought welcome refuge in the KOKO backstage area as the heavens opened to a deluge, the WA Collective DJs playing sunny beats to keep up the spirits of those sheltering under their canopy, while scrambling to protect their decks with canvas.
Emerging from the rain and regrettably too far to catch the rest of the Amyl and the Sniffers set, we opted for Norway’s Girl In Red, a charming, cheeky presence, whose inter-song ramblings went from querying if the male dominated crowd were on a bar crawl (she said she’s more used to playing to a female crowd) and to launching into a brief rap about the bourgeoisie on spotting the VIP area, before bashfully admitting that she didn’t actually know what the term meant.
Her dreamy pop lesbian love song We Fell In Love In October quickly won the sodden crowd over, soon chanting the “my girl, my girl, my girl” chorus back and sticking around for more of her disarmingly awkward observations.
While the choice of acts was faultless, the setting left room for improvement – but these things are fixable. Set across Victoria Park, APE fits in multiple stages to accommodate its multi-header event. Organisers have clearly considered the potential for sound clashes, spreading stages apart, orientating them in different directions, staggering timetables and keeping PA systems close to the stage – no doubt also to reduce noise disturbance to neighbours.
However, these measures seemed to achieve two contradictory effects – weak sound complaints at points, and, at the same time, multiple cacophony hotspots of competing music. These were made worse by unnecessary music blasting from fairground rides, not an issue unique to APE, but seemingly endemic to modern day festivals.
Perhaps banning recorded music from rides which inevitably benefit from the live music people have already paid so much to see and reducing the number of stages so PA systems can be placed further through the field could combat the sound issues so the festival can be fully appreciated to the max of its ambition.
Still, the caliber of talent outweighed the gripes so bring on next year.
