Year after year, All Points East festival has firmly established itself as a vibrant and diverse celebration of music, culture and community. The Mic's Alex Cavanagh soaked up the festival's atmosphere on the Sunday night, where Dermot Kennedy headlined.
With last year’s headliners consisting of the likes of Tame Impala and Gorillaz, you’d probably expect a decline in excitement but if anything, it only grew the anticipation for this harmonious festival of creativity. With headliners like The Strokes, Jungle and HAIM, this 40,000-capacity party in East London once again resonates with goers as a genuine and trendy alternative to the likes of Reading/Leeds and Creamfields on the same weekend.
Despite volunteering in extremely haphazard conditions for Saturday and Monday of the festival (rain, sunburn-inducing, flustering weather!), and on the wake of a front-seat view of one of my all-time favourite electronic acts Jungle, it was my responsibility to explore what the Dermot Kennedy day on Sunday had in store. When you enter the site in Victoria Park, the very immediate feeling you get is, “wow, how have they managed to pack so much into one place?” It feels like an explosion of thought-provoking statements all around you, from the inviting Radio 6 Music Stage to the electrifyingly blue Amex Express stall (where there’s a free photo booth, pina-colada flavoured candy floss, and a claw machine where you can win fun prizes!). In a city that typically has a mixed rep for the environment it creates, the organisers made sure that I, and every music-lover here, could feel at one and connected with the atmosphere in this place.
"...you could really grasp what Nick was trying to do with the audience – ordering them to pay complete attention to the principles of his experimental and euphonious assortment of beats."
Amidst all the tempting, exhilarating, yet slightly less important distractions the site had to offer, there of course came the music. One of the first acts of the day I saw on the Victoria Park East Stage was Nick Mulvey. He first gained prominence as a member of the band Portico Quartet where he played the hang drum, but now is known for his status in the folk and alternative music scene. With an all-black simplistic look from the 38-year-old musician from Cambridge, you could really grasp what Nick was trying to do with the audience – ordering them to pay complete attention to the principles of his experimental and euphonious assortment of beats. As an act I hadn’t heard of before the festival, I was pleasantly surprised by the overall performance, and the eccentrically named Cucurucu was a personal highlight of mine to listen to. It was Nick’s heartfelt message and connection to the song that made it extra powerful, with the song being a lullaby that his mother used to sing to him and his brothers and sisters – decoding the oddity and mystery behind the song title.
Next up was quirky Norwegian singer-songwriter AURORA, an artist I admire and had explored in my Norway edition of my international music radio show at URN, “Globe Trot”. Situated in front of me in the VIP Pit centred-left of the main stage were a cluster of people in black-and-red downed AURORA merchandise, eagerly anticipating their favourite act of the day. Their enthusiasm for her distinctive voice and ethereal appearance and sound - rather reminiscent of Queen Elsa from Frozen – really transmitted through me, and I felt that helped the lyrics pack an extra punch with her atmospheric and pleasantly sounding harmonies. She availed herself of an LGBT flag on stage to reinforce her impactful themes that went even deeper than her music, which received cosmic support and championing from the crowd. This set had a lot to offer, with the last two songs really contrasting – Running with the Wolves and Cure for Me, both resonating with feelings of acceptance and freedom but in different melodic ways, really expressing the depth of self-expression she possesses.
Having heard of Canadian duo Chromeo beforehand, I knew they were not just renowned for their electro-funky and disco-sounding beats, but their remixes and collaborations with artists such as Lorde for Green Light, Maroon 5 for Wait, and Iceland Eurovision 2021 act Daði Freyr for 10 Years. I made it a priority to dash to the Cupra North Arena in anticipation of a guest appearance, and boy was I spot on. Brixton-based La-Roux came on for a disco-version of her 2009 hit Bulletproof (adequately named Discoproof), drawing crowds who had left early to refill their water bottles and go to the loo rapidly back into the tent, and sparking interest of those who had not known of Chromeo and their work beforehand to stay for the rest of their interactive and funky set.
After this surprise, it was a snap back to the Victoria Park East Stage for Olivia Dean’s chirpy performance. A lovely performer, she would always explain the deep meaning behind writing each track and her appreciation for her fans which enabled her to grow. She expressed gratitude for being the support act for the main stage - after being one of the early first acts at APE 2022. Her rendition of Kelis’ Millionaire was a live exclusive, with her cover not being on Spotify. Her voice suited the song terrifically well and you could really eclipse her own emotional ties to the song through her stage presence and strong vocal performance. The crowd engagement was superb, even during her more stripped-back guitar-based melodies like Messy - you could tell that this artist who initially began her career working in collaboration with Rudimental had become her own distinctive act, with her stories inspiring prospective future artists who had come from similar backgrounds to propel their own lives.
Just after Olivia Dean’s concluding and hoppy pop-soul track Dive, it was my mission to catch the last of SG Lewis’ performance. With 2021-release Chemicals being one of my personal favourite psychedelic summer tracks of the past couple years, it was a surreal feeling to experience a song like this live. The graphics on the LED and the constant changing, colour-bursting lights really fitted with the hallucinatory vibe of the song. In some oddly satisfying way, the whole stage was like a portal where the listeners got transported to the nightlife of the city of Amsterdam, which really resonated with me and made my brief last trip of the day to the Cupra North Arena a nose-bleedingly-exciting and worthwhile experience.
Last up was the eagerly-anticipated headline act of the day Dermot Kennedy, for his headline debut gig in the UK. Having only known him myself previously for his collaborations with dance-music producer Fred Again, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this seemingly normal-looking lad from Ireland. But the fact I wasn’t sure what to expect gave the act some ethereal kind of enchantment to it. The first feeling you get is, “wow, what a voice!” - Kennedy had by far the most powerful and moving voice of the whole festival – enchanting enough to evoke tears of overwhelming emotion from some members of the audience. The harmonies of the London Community Gospel Choir in addition to his fantastic piano-playing for some of his massively love-fuelled hits really evoked a feeling of community among the emotionally-attached listeners too, with touching ballads such as Outnumbered and Power Over Me really touching the hearts of many members of the audience – with beautiful lyrics interweaved with themes of heartbreak, grief and loss.
There were moments in the set where the abundantly talented Irish singer-songwriter would take a minute to reflect on these themes. One time in the performance, he expressed that he didn’t prepare what he wanted to say beforehand as he wanted the words to sound genuine and heartfelt, adding humanity and bringing the audience even closer to his vivid and introspective anecdotes. In one of the closing songs, he asked every crowd member to bring their flashlights out. The bright heavenly-white aura created by the phones in the sky matched the lights on the stage; you felt in a sense that each and every person there was transcendentally-connected to not just his stunning performance, but the underlying messages behind it. Dermot Kennedy created a lifelong memory for thousands of people, blew up my expectations, and welcomed the nightfall of Victoria Park to a bewitching and harmonious close.
Alex Cavanagh
Edited by Tabitha Smith
Featured Images courtesy of Alex Cavanagh
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