All Points East returned for a second year, and what a weekend it gave us. The Saturday of the festival gave us some incredible sets. Headlined by The Strokes mighty comeback, as well as the return of The Raconteurs, a cavalcade of classics from Johnny Marr, and some slacker rock genius from Courtney Barnett, it was the ultimate start to a summer of sweet music.
Check out our photos and select highlights from throughout Saturday May 25 at All Points East 2019 below…
Lovely day for it.
The sun shone down for a glorious day of indie magic at London’s Victoria Park.
Here’s Dream Wife
They smashed it at NME’s inaugural Girls To The Front gig earlier this year, and Dream Wife made for the perfect kickstart to festival season 2019 at APE.
“I’m gonna fuck you up, gonna cut you up, gonna fuck you up…”
Dream Wife mean business. They really will.
Hey, Heartbreaker!
Dream Wife won our hearts with their astounding self-titled debut. With boundless riot-grrrl energy on APE’s North Stage, we can’t help but sense that their best is yet to come.
It’s never too early to rave at All Points East
Dance, dance, dance, dance.
Meet Amyl & The Sniffers
They’re the stars of this week’s NME Big Read, and an undeniable highlight of this year’s All Points East.
“It’s rough, raw and anything can happen”
That’s the manifesto of new punk heroes Amyl & The Sniffers. Get them in your life at once.
This is what a future punk icon looks like.
Amyl & The Sniffers may have been on pretty early doors on the main East Stage, but we daresay they’ll be headlining in not too long.
Who doesn’t love The Nude Party?
Imagine The Velvet Underground if they escaped New York and got high by the beach. This is what a good time sounds like.
One of Turner’s top tips…
Last year, Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner named The Nude Party’s ‘Chevrolet Van’ as one of his favourite songs. He’s clearly a man of good taste. It certainly went off when they played it bring their blistering All Points East set to a close.
Catch The Nude Party at all costs
They’ll be playing Best Kept Secret Festival before hitting the road in the US.
Could Parquet Courts be the ultimate festival band?
Crikey, that was fun.
“I’M WIDE AWAKE!”
Smashing the teatime slot on the main East Stage, Parquet Courts got East London dancing with a short sharp set of volatile, quiet-LOUD-quiet-LOUD garage rock brilliance.
The party’s not over yet.
Make sure you catch Parquet Courts when they return to destroy End Of The Road Festival in August.
Temples are back.
A kaleidoscope of blissed-out psych rock through a modern prism, Temples blew off the cobwebs on the West Stage while fans await news of their imminent third album.
A Midsummer Dream.
Opening with ‘A Question Isn’t Answered’, Kettering’s Temples led APE through their mind-bending haze of sound with cuts from ‘Sun Structures’ and ‘Volcano’ as well as what appeared to be a mystery new number.
“Paradise is allowed in the conscious of the brave…”
Is there a more perfect Temples banger than set closer ‘Mesmerise’? We’ll wait…
Courtney Barnett representing.
Here is a real guitar hero.
“Oh what a wonder…”
Kicking off with ‘Avant Gardener’, Courtney Barnett stunned on the North Stage with a 13 song set of rousing and confessional grunge pop.
“Put me on a pedestal and I’ll only disappoint you…”
Not the case. As Courtney Barnett shreds through the explosive final bars of closer ‘Pedestrian At Best’, she stands resplendent as one of the finest songwriters of her generation. At the very least, she’s become an absolute festival line-up must-have.
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny fuckin’ Marr
Clearly in the highest of spirits, Johnny Marr led the first mass sing-along of All Points East with his iconic flowery guitar stylings and a career-spanning set.
“I would go out tonight…”
“Calm down you indie heads,” Johnny Marr told the crowd after teasing the opening riff to The Smiths’ classic ‘This Charming Man’ before tearing into a full rendition. It was just one of many rapturous highlights as he also treated us to ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, ‘How Soon Is Now’, ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’, as well as Electronic classic ‘Getting Away With It’ and solo favourites ‘The Tracers’, ‘Easy Money’ and new single ‘Armatopia’. This is a set that we won’t be forgetting any time soon.
“And if a double decker bus…”
NYC comes to London
Along with tonight’s headliners and fellow New Yorkers The Strokes, Interpol led the new rock revolution at the turn of the century. Tonight, they proved themselves to be just as vital as ever.
“We spies, we slow hands…”
A tour-de-force in crystalline post-punk, Interpol’s All Points East set was packed with crowd-pleasers and top-loaded with gems from early albums ‘Turn On The Bright Lights’ and ‘Antics’.
“Come and see me and maybe you’ll die”
New numbers from 2018’s ‘Marauder’ and recent EP ‘A Fine Mess’ bristled among Interpol’s set, giving them a newfound raucous and frenetic sense or urgency and energy.
“You and me, we’re a fine mess…”
“This one’s about taking the party by the horns,” Interpol’s Paul Banks recently told NME about their new material. They were certainly in control of the beast at All Points East 2019.
Turn On The Bright Lights.
The crowd enjoys some sunset rock from Interpol.
There can be only one.
Look at that iconic frame. It can only be Jarvis Cocker.
Do you remember the first time?
Giving his new project ‘JARV IS’ its UK festival debut, Jarvis Cocker aired his idiosyncratic new numbers ‘Am I Missing Something?’, ‘House Music’, ‘Must I Evolve?’ and ‘Sometimes I Am Pharoah’.
“I’ve got the time, and you got the space…”
Of course Jarv couldn’t leave without dropping a Pulp track, and this time it was the understated banger ‘His N’ Hers’.
The anthem we need.
In these desparate times, can you think of a more perfect set closer than Jarvis Cocker’s ‘Cunts Are Still Running The World?’ Right on.
Here’s Jack White.
Making their first UK Festival appearance in eight long years, The Raconteurs showcased their new album ‘Help Us Stranger’ on All Points East’s main stage.
Salute Your Solution.
With 14 firecracker rock n’ roll bangers from rock’s last great supergroup, The Raconteurs pulled off a set worthy of headliners.
School’s out.
Giving a nod to their heroes, The Raconteurs mixed their set up with a cover of Donovan’s ‘Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness)’ and the riff from Alice Cooper’s ‘School’s Out’
Steady As She Goes.
The Raconteurs’ third album ‘Help Me Stranger’ arrives in June. Here’s hoping it won’t be so long until they come back again.
This Is It.
The moment you’ve been waiting for. The Strokes return to London.
“Oh, the heart beats in its cage”
Opening with ‘Heart In A Cage’, ‘You Only Live Once’ and ‘Ize Of The World’, The Strokes kept it old school with a set of classics from their first three records.
Nikolai in red.
Has there been a cooler bassist in the last 20 years?
On fighting form.
Despite sound complaints from sections of the crowd, The Strokes still performed with as much fire as ever – with the hollering crowd still deafening, regardless.
The archer.
Julian Casablancas there: forever the legend.
Albert Hammond Jr
Still shredding, still stylish, Albert Hammond Jr seemed to be loving each minute of their APE headline set, even taking the time to get up close and personal by invading the crowd.
No new stuff, just the faves.
While earlier this month the band debuted brand new song ‘The Adults Are Talking’, All Points East took things right back to basics.
Nick Valensi Jr
We’d forgotten about the automatic ecstasy that comes from that ‘Reptillia’ riff. Can we do it again?
Room On Fire.
The Strokes also brought back ‘Under Control’, playing it for the first time in four years, which was pretty brilliant.
“A global comeback”.
Described by the band as “a global comeback”, tonight’s show left us open and ready for The Strokes to take on the world once again.
“But leavin’ it ain’t easy…”
The pit that ‘New York City Cops’ inspired is a memory that will still with us for a while.
No fuss, just fun.
“For a band who had a phase of phoning in live shows, tonight they’re on whip-smart form,” wrote NME in our review, “rattling through their hits with zero fuss and – blimey – actually seeming to enjoy themselves.”
Effortless cool.
The Strokes showcased that easy-going cool and natural flair that earned them their place in history.
Catch them while you can
The Strokes’ summer continues with shows including The Governor’s Ball in New York, Open’Er in Polan, Bilbao BBK in Spain, Lollapolooza in France, and Electric Picnic in Ireland.
“Talk to me now I’m older…”
You know it’s a classic riff when the crowd can scream back every note. ’12:51′ is one of those riffs. London took it to another level.
What. an. encore.
The slacker rock lullaby of ‘Is This It’ into the runaway train of ‘Juicebox’ into the feral joy of ‘Last Nite’. What a way to end.
The Strokes at All Points East 2019
Reviewing the show, NME concluded: “It’s now 18 years since the New Yorkers released their game-changing debut, ‘Is This It’, and their DNA can be found in artists throughout the line-up. If the band themselves have aged well, looking pretty much the same as they ever did, minus a few of Albert Hammond Jr’s curly locks, their music is still as fresh as the day it was born.”
Thank you, All Points East
Until next year…
