Matt Wellham
After years of photographing and filming the London music scene, Matt’s now based in Sydney, Australia. A lover of the post-punk and alternative movement, he can usually be found in the grassroots venues, camera in one hand and a beer in the other.
Despite dust and some sound issues, Barry Can’t Swim confidently headlined All Points East for his biggest show to date
All Points East has become the essential London day festival since its inception six years ago. Each year, the quality of artists and line-ups is a standout for the city, with past headliners including LCD Soundsystem, Loyle Carner and Justice. Spread across two weekends, each day is curated with a sound and genre in mind, truly offering something for everyone.
After the dust settled from week one (more on that later), All Points East festival returned for its second weekend, headlined by Barry Can’t Swim, RAYE and The Maccabees. On the Friday night, it was Barry’s turn to take the reins.
On arrival at Victoria Park, we flew through the entrance, with no queue and a speedy security check. Points for APE here, as in the past I had experienced some delays at this stage. But it wasn’t long before we became aware of the dust. With no rain in a month, and the festival spread across two weekends, this inevitably led to a lot of loose soil on the ground, meaning the air was a constant haze. Luckily, APE had sent a warning notification at the start of the day, so, prepared with sunglasses and a mask, it wasn’t too bad. But for anyone with difficulty breathing, it may have been a challenging afternoon.
Onto the music: after grabbing a beer, we headed to the Cupra North Arena in time to catch Chloé Caillet. The Parisian DJ/producer soon had us dancing as she spun house tracks that thumped under the cover of the tent. It was a little too early in the day to appreciate the light show, but from what I could tell, it would have perfectly suited one of the late-night clubs down the road in Hackney Wick.
From here, it was over to The West Stage, the festival’s second-largest, to watch The Blessed Madonna. On stage, Stamper danced and screamed along to tracks behind the decks, transmitting pure good-time energy into the late-afternoon crowd that stood soaking up the rays. While she was an absolute treat to watch, unfortunately I have to mention the audio issues that have plagued a few acts at APE this year.
No matter where we stood at that stage – centre, off to the side, directly in front of a speaker, it was very, very quiet, to the point where I could speak to my partner at a completely normal level and still comfortably hear her. Not ideal for a stage of this size, but it didn’t stop Stamper as she spun an array of dance tracks.
Traversing across the site, we made our way to The East Stage just in time to watch Shygirl. As she stepped onto the stage and took her place behind the decks, a troupe of dancers surrounded her and the atmosphere instantly shifted up a gear. With a background of glitchy electronica beats, Shygirl took the mic and brought a sensuality to the stage as she moved around, flexing her moves alongside the dancers, who strutted and posed on either flank. It was a polished, visually impressive set and I’m happy to say it sounded great. The sound issues that affected The West Stage seemed isolated, and Shygirl was loud and clear all the way through.
It was then Confidence Man’s turn to throw the party of the year. Setting the scene by going straight into ‘Now U Do’, Janet Planet and Sugar Bones worked their way through a fun, quirky and complex dance routine that only got more energetic the longer the set went on.
High-energy hits followed with the likes of ‘I Can’t Lose You’ and ‘Feels Like A Different Thing’, before diving into the Confidence Man classic ‘C.O.O.L Party’. The crowd loved every second, eating up the dance moves, climbing on each other’s shoulders and screaming the chant back to Janet.
When you thought Confidence Man couldn’t get any more confident, they brought out JADE for a special guest appearance to perform their recent single ‘Gossip’. The pop banger oozed swagger as the now-trio strutted around the stage, throwing out dance moves at every opportunity while the crowd lapped it up. You can’t help yourself with Confidence Man; they’re an act that make you want to sing, dance and ultimately have fun. They were the perfect party starter for Barry’s biggest show to date.
Finally, as the sun set and the lights dimmed, Barry Can’t Swim took his place centre stage to celebrate his first major festival headline. It was a performance that felt emotive, personal and uplifting. Living in East London, I’ve seen Barry perform at an array of venues over the years and he’s only getting bigger and better each time. He said it himself: “Two years ago I played Hoxton Hall and didn’t know if anyone would turn up – there were, like, 400 people. And doing this two years later on this stage, in front of this many people, is crazy.”
It was an adventurous outing with a live band, plus horn and string sections backing up the dance grooves and big-screen visuals. Barry worked his way through some serious dance bangers early on, including ‘Woman’, ‘Kimbara’ and ‘Different’, all in the first half of the show. The live instrumentation added a whole other layer, creating progressive-jazz-like sounds over thick dance beats. The colourful visuals beamed across the large screens as lasers pulsed and fanned over the crowd’s heads. Long gone were thoughts of dust or sound issues, this was one big party and APE at its best.
For me, ‘Loner’ is a brilliant album from Barry Can’t Swim. It has a diversity and complexity that I personally felt was missing from his previous record ‘When Will We Land?’. Tracks like ‘All My Friends’ bring this newfound depth to the forefront. The soulful sounding track builds into an emotive crescendo, as the crowd, hands outstretched, sing along in harmony. It’s a moment of elation, a moment for everyone to be together, a moment that I don’t think Barry will forget anytime soon.
By the time the blissed-out ‘Sunsleeper’ drew to a close, the park had been transformed into London’s biggest dancefloor.
“I’m buzzing,” Barry told the crowd. “Big up yourselves.”
It’s nights like tonight that have me coming back to APE every single year. It’s the vibe, the party and the unison the event creates for its audience. Carefully curated days built around the biggest and most exciting talent always leaves me at the end of the festival thinking “well, fuck… I wonder how they’ll top that next year?“
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