It was a glorious sunny Saturday afternoon in Victoria Park and thousands (including Charlotte
Foulkes) flooded to the All Points East festival arena for a day of jazz, hip-hop and funk, led by Loyle Carner.
All Points East is in its 6th year, and hosts 6 day festivals spanning across two weekends. 2024’s
lineup is one of the biggest they’ve ever hosted - with headline days of LCD Soundsystem, Mitski,
Kaytranada, and of course Loyle Carner, Britain’s most cherished rap/hip-hop artist. What’s special
about his day is that Carner curated his own lineup - and it really shone, with brilliant contemporary
jazz artists such as Nubya Garcia and Ezra Collective, alongside hip-hop giants such as André 3000
and Nas - who he often quotes as a personal inspiration. This was bound to be a big day.
First on the list was catching a bit of Donna Leake’s dub and reggae inspired all-vinyl DJ set - I’ve
been checking out her NTS sessions for a while so it was great to see her in full force warming up the
day with some chill beats and excellent selections.
After exploring the arena a little more we headed into Navy Blue - a big name in the US underground
hip-hop scene. Having just released his 4th LP, he seems to have really matured his craft from
bedroom beats into impressive self-production. He played some slower soulful beats - the whole
crowd bopping their heads in the late afternoon, and then would take us by surprise with a
westside-gunn-style dissonant one with sirens and crashes. The Californian embraced the London
crowd, saying he “gets the most love here”, and would occasionally check the Arsenal match in
between songs, as he is apparently a big fan.
We moved onto the absolute funk legends Cymande on the West Stage, having released their
self-titled debut over 50 years ago, it's natural to wonder if they've still got it. I can confirm with
confidence, they've still got it. One of my personal highlights of the whole day was seeing them
perform Bra - a song I’ve loved for years. The two sax players and trumpeter really came into full force and made this performance one to remember, alongside a mind-blowing drum solo - it's obvious that they have simply spent the last 50 years mastering their instruments even more.
Ran to Joe James for a bit of UK rap - the first song was a familiar one, his feature on a Kwollem track I used to listen to years ago. I wish I could’ve stayed for longer but the timetabling gods (APE app) were telling me to run to the East stage for London’s own, Nubya Garcia. She is a saxophonist I have admired for years - especially as one myself. Her music is always so exciting and unique, with the sax acting almost as a vocalist. She also has an impressive set of lungs, absolutely tearing up that big tenor saxophone. She has a new album coming out soon and teased us with some new tracks, so I’m absolutely looking forward to hearing what she comes out with. Her and her band were in full jazzy synchronicity and really brought the vibes to sunny Vic Park.
The next act was my wildcard surprise favourite. Playing a very humble sized stage was Bricknasty
from Dublin. I’d heard of these guys before but had yet to check them out so thought this was a
perfect time to, and I’m so glad I did. I was not expecting a voice that soulful to come from an Irish lad called Fatboy in a bally and a cap. Their energy was incredible, and the crowd were loving it, full of movement - they even covered Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers, which was quite literally bonkers. They were enjoying the set so much that they refused to let it end even as the stage manager was shouting and signalling stop at them, a truly entertaining debacle and none of us wanted them to stop either!
After a dinner break we ran to the Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective, one of the hottest things
coming out of the UK right now. This jazz quintet amassed a huge crowd on the West stage, vibrant
and energetic. They hit us with some of the classics including Victory Dance and You Can’t Steal My
Joy, and teased us with some new tracks from their upcoming album Dance, No One's Watching out
on the 27th September. They made a very powerful speech which Loyle Carner re-emphasised during
his set too, about how our society is currently being “fed the gospel of division”, inspiring hatred and
violence - but that its moments like this, all of us together in one crowd, dancing with each other,
sharing joy that really show us how connected we are.
Nas was next up on the East stage, bringing some classic US hip-hop to London - playing to a huge,
huge crowd. It was lovely to see people young and old all sing along to tracks from Illmatic, released
30 years ago, the whole crowd engaging in call and response in The World is Yours. A true hip-hop
legend rapping alongside brilliant live drums. He said London is home to him, that the people here feel like his cousins, and the reception just proves how much London loves him back!
André 3000’s set was my most anticipated of the festival, having made a very unique 180 degree turn
from Outkast Hip-Hop to releasing an hour-and-a-half long ambient flute album - with very interesting song titles including Dreams Once Buried Beneath The Dungeon Floor Slowly Sprout Into Undying Gardens. It was slightly disappointing to see how much of the crowd dissipated after the first song or two, once they realised they weren’t going to be hearing Roses, or Hey Ya - but the ones who stayed were still in for a treat. The set was all completely improvisational and you could tell how synchronised and connected the whole band were, and it’s a special feeling to know that no other crowd had heard this stuff before. He had about 20 different flutes on stage, and would switch between different ones for the performance. Its clear he was engaging a spiritual side, which fed into the music. He also spoke between pieces in a ‘made-up language’, as he always wanted to learn other languages but could never find the time or effort - so he made this one, adding "I just completely made up what I said there" after quite a long unintelligible ramble. Only he could get away with that, but he does. My only gripe was that it needed to be far louder, perhaps an artistic choice however too many disinterested people in the crowd were talking over the gentle flute melodies to really catch them!!
The man of the moment Loyle Carner commanded the East stage for the last performance of the
night. With many special guests, including John Agard, Tom Misch, and Jordan Rakei - he played his
hits and closed off the big day with a bang. He seemed truly humbled by the amount of people there
to see him, singing back to him at his specially curated day festival. Overall it was a smashing day full
of so many artists that I did not expect to see over a lifetime nevermind one day!
Charlotte Foulkes
Edited by Alice Beard, Images courtesy of All Points East on Facebook
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