My thoughts on the festival, the musicians’ performances, and a tangent on why I get bored at electronic gigs but only just discovered why.
All Points East is a festival quite like no other at the moment. Running for two weeks straight with a different line-up every day, it’s fair to say that if this was in a field in the rural countryside for one whole weekend, with big names like LCD Soundsystem, JUSTICE, and Loyle Carner it would compete with festivals such as Reading, Leeds, and Boardmasters.
Now perhaps I’ve been majorly spoilt this year as I went to Glastonbury for the first time. Never had I felt such a love of music and authenticity as I did on the hills of Worthy Farm. I look back on it now and think that there is a reason that place can only exist for five days in this world because it is just too special. My luck was especially apparent when I walked through the gates of All Points East and was somewhat brought back to reality regarding what most festivals are like. They’re marketable. I was bombarded with wheels of fortune by Levi’s, lucky dips from Madri, and even a free soft serve from Oatly (the latter I wasn’t too upset about truthfully). If I’m honest, at first it was all rather exciting, as I won free tickets to the Uber One VIP garden in a raffle, only to discover that all that differed inside was posh loos. I was then hit by a realisation that I had spent so long trying to fix a free drink that I hadn’t actually seen any music. I had succumbed to the corporations, and they had me under their thumb. Capitalism 1. Tallulah 0.
Once I had a reality check I waltzed my way over to Jockstrap and eagerly waited. The duo walked on as if they were siblings and had just had a bickering argument. It felt as though they were trying something new, that being promoting their recent remix album I<3UQTINVU, which resulted in Georgia Ellery dancing awkwardly on stage instead of interacting with other instruments. It was also a shame that a lot of her vocals were pre-recorded. I felt that they lacked the animated stage presence I had seen from them before. “Glasgow” was a highlight, which got the crowd going a bit, but I left shortly after to catch Floating Points.
The electric Floating Points brought a lot of fun to the Cupra stage. His music is joyous, and he knows how to get a crowd going. I was blown away by his accompanied visuals, bringing artwork similar to his album covers to life as they melted across the screen. One, in particular, was a spiralled video of his modular synth setup which made me realise why at times I found myself ever so slightly bored at his gig but couldn’t work out why until then.
I realised that at electronic concerts the audience rarely gets to see what the artist doing. As a non-musician myself, when I see a bass guitar being played, I can connect the bass sound to it, I see how that noise has been brought to life. I think that electronic gigs should be treated like any other gig, so the audience can see what the artist is doing, what song they are playing. I feel that because of the nature of a lot of electronic music being powered by a dancing audience, musicians might feel compelled to treat their music as a DJ set. This was also apparent with Taylor Skye at the Jockstrap show.
Then there was LCD Soundsystem. I don’t quite know how I put this two-hour experience into words. I loved it all. I love the way they drink champagne at every concert and have their own personal disco ball. Every song I felt a different emotion. “Oh baby” made the crowd feel like innocent yet vulnerable children. In “New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down” brought a feeling of nostalgia for my country bumpkin days as a teen. “All My Friends” hit the crowd the hardest because of the young demographic; a genuine song about still growing up as an adult with your friends. All in all, witnessing so many people on stage creating a melting pot of emotions and sounds was truly ebullient. I exactly felt as though I was there in 2005.
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