And she'll tease you, she'll unease you

 A first for me!

Cheap tickets often pop up to various All Points East events through work, but it often coincides with holiday time - and the one time I did make an effort to go a train strike prevented me from making out into the wilds of East London. Until now when, for no obvious reason, I went to a day when I had no great interest in the headlining act.

It's based in Victoria Park in Hackney and it's a BIG site. The set-up is similar to Reading Festival with two main stages which alternate between acts, involving a lot of audience migration across the site. The distance between the stages might even be bigger than at Reading, but there's also a sizeable tented stage about halfway between so you can always stop off if you're feeling tired - and I did, on several occasions! Also, unlike both Reading and BST Hyde Park, there is a lot of shaded area on site which was also much used throughout the day whilst a LOT of music was being enjoyed, because I saw...

Liana Flores

Perfect acoustic jazz for a sunny Sunday afternoon and she had a lovely voice - she looked to be about twelve but was nerveless throughout a very smooth set.

Good Neighbours

Decent indie pop which attracted a decent crowd - perfectly enjoyable whilst being completely forgettable.

Strawberry Guy

Some decent enough piano/string balladry accompanied by some VERY awkward banter between songs. Not that the mostly female crowd cared - “well hello!” was the immediate comment from the woman stood next to me when he appeared!

Sir Chloe

Very appreciative crowd, which just got bigger and bigger. She was kinda an American Siouxsie 

and I also got Thorowng Moses vibes, so it was quite up my street (Dry Cleaning is a more up-to-date reference for the kids!).

Infinity Song

Well they were a bit odd - a bit like The Beautiful South, but young, black and American. They were fine, but I’m not sure the crowd knew what to do with them - I certainly didn’t!

Lucius

Another US offering with incredible vocal control offering up very high harmonies - they made some nice sounds but I’d struggle to describe them any better than that. I did like the sounds though!

Wasia Project

Not an unpleasant sound but I’d struggle to describe it - orchestral jazzy Julie Cruise anyone?

Ethel Cain

The first act I actually knew - well done me! If you’re not aware she’s very US Deep South Gothic so I was disappointed she wasn’t wearing a black ballgown or a funeral dress - jeans and a sweatshirt just didn’t seem to fit the bill! She’s got a GREAT voice though - it just rang round the park and her cover of “Bette Davis Eyes” was exactly as good as you’d expect. She was also very aware of her audience and asked if help was required on several occasions, which was nice to see. All in all, a great set.

Suki Waterhouse

The large crowd loved her but she didn’t push any buttons for me - and there's never any reason to cover "Don't Look Back In Anger".

Men I Trust

A funky sound which worked well as the sun went down - the lead singer sounded quite like Sabrina Carpenter.

Beabadoobee

For a change, I wandered down the front to experience the crowd atmosphere but the sound was so terrible I headed straight back so I learned not to do that again (it was nice to bump into Harry though!). When I could hear here, I enjoyed it - there was a lot more shredding of guitars than I was expecting. There was also quite the exodus halfway through to go and see Arlo Parks and TV Girl - but maybe that will teach her to turn up on time in future!

Arlo Parks

Another act who was rocker than I was expecting - she’s got a nice voice but none of it really cut through for me. She had a relatively small crowd compared to some others I'd seen in the tent but they were VERY noisy!

TV Girl
Kinda US New Order-ish - I didn't mind them but they did get a bit samey for me. They had a big crowd though and they were loving it.

Mitski
I very nearly left before the headliner came on because I didn't really care about seeing her, but I was glad I did because it was nice to see all the crowd in the one place - there were a lot of people there! She's got a nice voice and a good sense of showmanship, but the material just didn't really work for me - I'm quite happy to accept I was in the minority though. I was definitely glad to beat the rush home though - I imagine the 15 minute walk to Mile End station takes considerably longer at chucking out time!

All in all, it was a great day - it had much more of a festival feel to me than BST and I got to see a load of artists I'd never even heard of, some of whom I really liked. The crowd was very young, tattooed and pierced (so obviously I fit right in) - all in all there was quite a caring and relaxed vibe to the whole thing with all the acts being shown a lot of appreciation. Ethel Cain easily won the day for me though - it was a great set and a very mature performance from a 26 year old.

As with BST, the food and drink offerings are plentiful and decent, if not exactly cheap. I would say that If I’m spending £3.20 on a can of Tango, it would be nice if it had at least been sat in some cold water rather than on the shelf in the sunshine - that was the last time I was foolish enough to have a soft drink, I can tell you. The craft beer bar was slightly misleadingly name as Madri and Doom Bar were very prominently displayed but it did at least sell a couple of different offerings from the usual festival fare. I was also surprised to see the queues at the Jinro stand were massive - and yes, I had to Google what Jinro was.

Hopefully, I'll be back next weekend - provided I recover from tonight's gig which might prove to be pretty full-on...