All Points East Festival 2020

[Dancers Stand Very Still]

I got plenty of freebies last year, but have taken a punt on buying a ticket for the Kraftwerk day this time around. The Tame Impala day really appeals too, but for my money looks less likely to sell out.

At least that way if I'm wrong, I'm wrong in the right way for me personally as Kraftwerk and Iggy are two of my must sees for 2020 and I've caught most of the TI day acts in the past few years (and tickets will no doubt come up for resale if nothing else).

Why don't people think the Kraftwerk day will sell out? Have they played London a fair bit recently?

[Guy Incognito]

2 minutes ago, the wonderwhy said:

I'm not sure most of the general public know about the free ticket thing anyway, or at least remember it. Its only really us obsessives who keep that kinda thing in our head. 

Generally I'd agree, but the APE one seemed to be different. People I know who normally only go to one festival a year and don't normally attend day festival (including APE 2018) found themselves going to multiple days, all because of the low/free prices. The social media coverage of the free tickets was relatively huge for a festival of All Point East's notoriety.

[Dales]

44 minutes ago, JHad said:

Why don't people think the Kraftwerk day will sell out? Have they played London a fair bit recently?

I just don't think they are that much of a draw. Lots of people like them and admire their stuff (I got tickets for them) but they do not have mass appeal. APE don't seem to go all in and book huge acts but do put together strong overall lineups for the day.This most likely back fires on them a bit on the Fridays. Many people will go after work and so miss most of the good acts on during the day. They are effectivly really just buying a ticket to see the headliner and maybe one or two of the other bigger names on in the evening 

if Kwarftwerk was a Saturday or Sunday, I think they would shift more tickets with people weighing up the whole day and going to see more of the under card. You might also get people from out of London attending without needing to use annual leave.

I know others dont agree but I also think that the GNR concert on the same day will take a few sales away as its the same side of London. For APE it might have been better if the GNR gigs were at Wembley or Twickenham. APE do seem to draw a decent amount of its crowd from East/North London.

Transport is not great either, a nice tube station next to the park would be good.

As mentioned already the freebies/ticket deals will encourage a few to hold off. Some may also be waiting to see if the other days are better before commiting too buy.

All  these various reasons and other that I have not heard of will chip away at ticket sales.

The Fridays are always going to be more difficult to sell out than the weekend days.

[Matt42]

8 minutes ago, Dales said:

Transport is not great either, a nice tube station next to the park would be good.

I live walking distance from the site and it’s not connected okay? Unless you are completely opposed to doing any walking.

@the wonderwhy  I’m not sure I agree. Tickets were being given away by some pretty major and well known distributions. I do think (in line with @dentalplan ‘s) point, they are doing the right thing by booking three exclusives. It just seems sometimes APE’s bookings are too heady and a bit too niche. Is the capacity 40k? Seems like a lot for Kraftwerk. With £75 a ticket I can see where the issue does lie.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Matt42

[Dales]

Just now, Matt42 said:

I live walking distance from the site and it’s not connected okay? Unless you are completely opposed to doing any walking.

I love walking, I walk to work, I walk to APE. I'm a Hackney resident and work in Hackney, so I know its not on the tube.

My work colleagues constantly moan about the lack of tube and I have friends who have been to APE and moaned about the poor transport to get to it, which is why I listed it as it does put some people of going. I'm not sure Victoria Park is the right place forthis event due to the poor transport conections. However, its good for me other then screwing up the local roads.

I agree with you and DR OK the prices are a bit steep for some of the acts.

 

[roughbloke]

26 minutes ago, DR OK said:

I would be surprised if it goes tits up. It's run by a huge company and in previous years have paid very good money to bands. 

I actually think the biggest challenge for APE is the crap sound at the strokes last year. Absolutely packed and it was a mess, that will have put off more than free tickets. The day also seemed oversold which probably helped to cover costs for the quieter nights.

Last year was reasonably successful, the only real cock up was booking BMTH to headline off the back of an arena / ally pally tour on an album that bombed. Run the Jewels was also a very strange / weak booking to sub.

The rest of the shows also probably sold enough to cover costs / profit.

Tame impala will sell well off the new record. No idea about Kraftwork's pull. I guess they'll then get another big name in then the likes of Royal Blood, Disclosure, vampire weekend? and probably a woman fronted band or two so Wolf Alice / FKA Twigs / Lana del Rey / Lorde / Florence?

I think they're a bit ambitious with the pricing as I'd say at around £50 a day they'd sell very well - but this is professionals costing it so no doubt they get enough through the door.

Imo they should be looking to repeat nights like LCD where it was a perfect lineup with a decent sized headliner. 

it was a number one album....

[Muppetmark]

2 hours ago, Matt42 said:

I live walking distance from the site and it’s not connected okay? Unless you are completely opposed to doing any walking.

To me the distance from public transport is an issue for a lot of the bigger catchment area as a 23.30 departure is the sweetspot for last travel to a few other cities such as birmingham and leeds so being unable to catch a full set and make it limits their sales. 

[xxialac]

6 hours ago, Muppetmark said:

To me the distance from public transport is an issue for a lot of the bigger catchment area as a 23.30 departure is the sweetspot for last travel to a few other cities such as birmingham and leeds so being unable to catch a full set and make it limits their sales. 

The festival has a 10.30 curfew on the Sundays so you can make it back on that night. 

On the other nights, you can either take a Boris bike which would take 25 mins to north london Terminals and mean you could stay the duration (or possibly miss the last song)  or more realistically leave 2 songs early and take the tube.

For me, given I've had a full day out and don't want to book a hotel, this is a fair compromise.

I don't think there's a problem with public transport. Getting out of every major festival involves a bit of walking. The walk from the festival exit to the tube is 10 minutes if you are in a hurry. And there are other parts of London with no tube stop such as vast swathes of South London and other places in the North like Alexandra Palace.

From Mile End tube you are very well connected (3 tube lines) including on the Hammersmith and City which is direct to Kings Cross in about 20 mins and even if you change at Liverpool Street it still should take about 20 mins.

[Dales]

If they love the headliner enough, some will crawl over broken glass or swim the Thames to get to APE. But there will always be some people who are put off by poor transport especially if you are not overly convinced by the headline act. What is and is not poor transport is debatable as is how far some one is willing to travel for a concert. I have friends who liked but did not love the lineup at Citadel last year even at 2 for 1 ticket promotion they could not be asked to traipse across London to go to Gunnerbury Park. Plenty of other options throughout the summer easier to get to.

This forum is for those who love music and attend events. I am a newbie poster to the site after looking in a bit last year and would describe myself as some one who goes to above average amount of gigs from tiny venues to big stadium/festival events and everything in between. The old stalwart festivals such as Glastonbury & Reading maybe full of regular gig/festival goers but the newer urban festivals will be attracting a mix of people including the occasional attendee. So I agree with dentalplan, APE have a strategy to grow the festival with the promotional tickets to get themselves to a place where they are a name you think of when you think of Festivals. I do think the 6 days is ambitious but nothing ventured nothing gained.

Most people will attend a lot less gigs then the posters on this forum and what might not be an issue to members here will effect the average punter. For most people if they buy tickets to one or two gigs that means they will not go to other events even if they do like the artist/event. Even looking at this part of London, if you wanted to go to just 1 indie orientated day next year Community at Finsbury park may well offer a better lineup, cheaper ticket £40 and better transport. All things being equal if you like Festival Day A and Festival Day B the same, then all those little niggles like transport come in to play. Whether you think Victoria Park is easy or difficult to get to, some of the wider public see the area as having bad transport links and that is an additional hurdle to get over. On the same theme, the early finishing of Finsbury Park events should work in APE's favour and maybe push a few punters its way.

APE faces the same problems that all new festivals will have but has the advantage of having millions of potential London attendees. How they translate that population in to regular paying customers will be the issue they need to resolve, as I don't really see it as an event that will attract many none Londoners other then maybe efestival members.

As a throw away comment and as a newbie I certainly don't want to antagonise anyone but I don't know anyone who enjoys the journey to Ally Pally its a real pain. I'm going to Gerry and Sam Fender next year and will no doubt end up getting an Addison Lee there and back. I did not go to Vampire Weekend this year and am giving Bauhaus a miss next year because its a pain to get to and back from.

 

[Dales]

On a who might play theme. Does anyone think that The Libertines are in with a shout? They are playing Sunday Sessions at Earlham Park-Norwich on the 24th May. So they are active around the time of APE, maybe second weekend headliner? Might be a good fit with the London connection, they could front a more indie day. I guess you could say the same as a Community headliner.

I have no intel about them playing, just throwing a name out there as maybe as possable.

[jannybruck]

1 hour ago, Dales said:

On a who might play theme. Does anyone think that The Libertines are in with a shout? They are playing Sunday Sessions at Earlham Park-Norwich on the 24th May. So they are active around the time of APE, maybe second weekend headliner? Might be a good fit with the London connection, they could front a more indie day. I guess you could say the same as a Community headliner.

I have no intel about them playing, just throwing a name out there as maybe as possable.

Nah, they've fallen into regional-festival-headliner market over the past couple of years. Which is probably an easy way to make a regular amount of money for them, but that plus a lack of any new material means they just don't have high enough stock for headlining festivals like All Points East anymore.

[Gilgamesh69]

What about The Streets? They seem to be doing fests and outdoor shows next year. Headlining, but not the main stage perhaps?

Edited December 23, 2019 by Gilgamesh69

[Dales]

6 minutes ago, Gilgamesh69 said:

What about The Streets? They seem to be doing fests and outdoor shows next year. Headlining, but not the main stage perhaps?

I did think of them, when I saw they were also playing Earlham Park on 22nd May, similar to The Libertines out and about at the right time.

[gfa]

2 hours ago, jannybruck said:

Nah, they've fallen into regional-festival-headliner market over the past couple of years. Which is probably an easy way to make a regular amount of money for them, but that plus a lack of any new material means they just don't have high enough stock for headlining festivals like All Points East anymore.

On the Community thread everyone agreed they could play there. I think they could do APE too if it wasn't in exam time as with a community style day and a strong sub it would probably sell well.

[Guy Incognito]

[Dales]

29 minutes ago, Guy Incognito said:

That would really shack things up if they were to tour Funeral.

[dentalplan]

15 years was 2019 tho

[Hannah990]

Bit out of the loop here - but what are the arcade fire rumors coming from?

[dentalplan]

19 minutes ago, Hannah990 said:

Bit out of the loop here - but what are the arcade fire rumors coming from?

Here is the first rumour for this.

[Matt42]

I’m gonna throw my hat in the ring and say it’s happening.

[xxialac]

I can believe it too but they won’t play Funeral. 

[The Martini Police]

1 hour ago, xxialac said:

I can believe it too but they won’t play Funeral. 

I’d hope not too tbh. It’s a fantastic album but their best tunes are spread across all their albums. We’d miss out on too much. 

[xxialac]

2 hours ago, The Martini Police said:

I’d hope not too tbh. It’s a fantastic album but their best tunes are spread across all their albums. We’d miss out on too much. 

Agreed.

They won’t do it because it’s the equivalent of acknowledging that you can’t make another great album and I believe they have more great albums in them (even though the last one was a flop).

[Dales]

If they have new material then I doubt the Funeral thing will happen but if they don't it would give them a purpose or banner to tour under. Otherwise a new tour with no new material would just be an extention of the Everything Now Tour. They would not necessarily have to play the full album in its entirity as has become the vogue.

I saw The Cult recently and that tour was billed as " A Sonic Temple" and they played most of the album, 8 songs but left 3 off. Arcade Fire could do the same and celebrate Funeral by building a set around it rather then the borrowing habit of playing the whole album in chronological order. I saw Arcade Fire at York Hall in 2017 and Wembley Arena in 2018 and pretty sure they played five or six tracks from Funeral anyway at both gigs. So is it to much of a stretch to think they could add one or two more songs or even the full album and bill it as a celebration of Funeral. It would only mean leaving out a few other tracks if they dont have any new tracks to share.

[DomDom1984]

The Wombats did a similar celebration of their debut as well. I like that way of doing it. Did Enter Shikari not do the same?