All Points East Festival 2018

[Losing my hair]

And Cat Power, caught the 2nd half of her set and really enjoyed it.- how have I completely missed her for 20 years??

[gfa]

On 6/4/2018 at 12:23 AM, danz026 said:

 

The Blossoms flares thing is something to do with the fact that their big brother band Courteeners have an association with flares at their outside gigs. There’s always flares going off left, right and centre when either of those bands play a festival in the U.K. 

What associates them to Courteeners, label? or just they are both from the same area. I have seen they always have flares and a great atmosphere live which makes me excited for Reading really as otherwise they seem like a very mediocre band.

[Harry49]

Really enjoyed the weekend. Went to the Saturday and Sunday. Thought it was well organised, plenty of stewards, toilets, food and drink outlets and not prohibitively expensive. Weather helped of course and even a fair amount of shade could be found under the trees.

Highlights

Best performance - Nick Cave

Best Moment - Under Pressure TWOD (bouncing about at the front)

Honourable mentions - The National, Patti Smith & PSB

Didnt see a bad band all weekend and really enjoyed Shame who I had not heard of before and The Districts early on Saturday.

If they can keep the standard of bookings up I would definately go again.

 

[danz026]

1 hour ago, gfa said:

What associates them to Courteeners, label? or just they are both from the same area. I have seen they always have flares and a great atmosphere live which makes me excited for Reading really as otherwise they seem like a very mediocre band.

 

http://www.nme.com/news/music/courteeners-liam-fray-makes-blossoms-great-band-1822800

 

Liam Fray has played a big part in getting Blossoms where they are now, been a big supporter of the band for years. 

[Johndenis]

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2018 at 11:37 AM, Peanut butter vibes said:

I used the capri sun tactic and it was picked up by the metal detectors they scan you with! I denied I had anything and luckily the guy let me through, quite fortunate I wasn’t taken to be searched in the tent.

Whoops I didn't read this until now!  I too was "beeped" but just said it was my shorts button.  My friend just offered up his "capri sun" but was allowed to keep it.  I expected these gigs to be pretty efficient as they were being organised by The Man, and that's how it seemed.  Seemed odd that they decided to change all the Saturday timings on the hoof though.  Loved PSB.  Found TWOD pretty boring.  Thought The National were pretty good without ever being spectacular. Courtney Barnett seemed a bit knackered.  I don't really "get" St Vincent's stage show, there must be an article explainng what she is getting at?  The band, or the arrangements, seem to make a bit of a mess of anything that's not off the new album.  Patti Smith starting with the poem was excellent.  Nick Cave seems to be having a thoroughly deserved late-career flourish, and he was wonderful again on Sunday night.  Ever since first seeing him (Grinderman 2 in 2011) I have been hooked.  Think the APE setlist was slightly better than the one Primavera got too.  Did the Cave Day really sell 40k tickets?  That's amazing.  It felt noticeably busier than the Saturday.

[scatteredscreens]

Hoping for New Order for this next year. Reckon they could go down quite well with a good undercard.

[FakeEmpire]

I went to 4 of these (LCD, The XX, Bjork, The National) and had a really good time.  The weather was on our side throughout which helps.   I think overall they did a really good job - especially considering it was a London-based, non-camping festival in its first year.

In the opening weekend, the sound on all the stages really was excellent - especially in the West Arena.  Lighting and visuals really good as well.   Also a generally lovely, music-loving crowd.  Busy enough to generate an atmosphere but quiet enough to get a good spot and have room to dance without it ever being pushy.

It was good to see them make improvements as it went  on as well.  The urinals were not signposted properly and so were practically empty throughout the 1st weekend causing large portaloo queues.   They noticed this and rectified it for the second weekend which sorted out that problem.

Unfortunately, the sound was not so great for The National's day.  The North Stage in particular had clearly been turned down presumably due to complaints from residents after the first weekend.  There were a lot more casual attendees who just wanted to talk through the sets at The National which was a shame.   The War on Drugs was possibly the worst crowd I have ever experienced at a festival.   I could barely work out what song was playing because everyone's conversations were so much louder than the music.   I did politely ask a few people if they could be quiet only to be told thing like "we are at a festival, not a library".

The run of music on the Friday was exceptional for me: Confidence Man - Superorganism - Young Fathers - Glass Animals - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - LCD Soundsystem is about as fun as it gets!  Confidence Man should open up every festival!   That double header of LCD/YYY was magnificent.

The XX were good on the Saturday.  Lorde was exceptional.  

Bjork was a really magical experience.   It absolutely went off for Isobel and Human Behaviour so I do hope that one day she'll do a "Greatest Hits" type festival set as it would be something but I knew exactly what I was getting from the Utopia show and I thought it was beautifully put together.  I was lucky to be stood in a spot where everyone was very into it.

 

[kaanypooch]

The Lcd day was my favourite overall, just so many good acts on and the sound was great on every stage.

did anyone catch st vincent on sunday? guessing not many did as she had a v small crowd but.. WOW! might be my best set of the three days i went (lcd, xx & cave)

[Jon F]

4 minutes ago, kaanypooch said:

The Lcd day was my favourite overall, just so many good acts on and the sound was great on every stage.

did anyone catch st vincent on sunday? guessing not many did as she had a v small crowd but.. WOW! might be my best set of the three days i went (lcd, xx & cave)

Saw the first half hour before heading back for NCATBS and really enjoyed it.  Shame she clashed with Patti Smith and finished too close to NCATBS to make watching the whole thing and grabbing a decent spot impossible.

[sinivali]

St Vincent was way too theatrical for my taste but same, missed a lot of it to get a decent place for Nick Cave

[WeirdFishes290]

Really really enjoyed the fest. Very good for a debut. Maybe some more/diverse food stalls next year but otherwise no complaints.

Headliner-wise for me:

1st LCD, 2nd The XX, 3rd Bjork

First Friday was definitey the best for me, just insane booking

Best non-headliner/act of the entire fest: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

[Johndenis]

On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 2:28 PM, sinivali said:

St Vincent was way too theatrical for my taste but same, missed a lot of it to get a decent place for Nick Cave

Yes.  I genuinely don't undersatnd the message - how do the drummer and keyboardist agree to those horrible outfits.  She obviously looks great but I don't really understand her outfit either.  The neon guitars are amazing.