THE STROKES + YEAH YEAH YEAHS + GIRL IN RED + AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS + ANGEL OLSEN + PICTURE PARLOUR + BE YOUR OWN PET + JULIE + HOTWAX – VICTORIA PARK, EAST LONDON 25.8.23
It was a day out up to the capital for ‘All Points East’, the festival of music and entertainment in East London’s Victoria Park. This year it was held over two weekends. This report is for Friday 25th August of ‘All Points East’.
Victoria Park or “Vicky Park” as it’s known locally, is Britain’s oldest public park. Opened in 1845 for the benefit of the East End working class, “The People’s Park” has a long and rich history spanning over 170 years. At 86 hectares, Victoria Park is the largest park in Tower Hamlets. It receives over 9 million visitors each year who enjoy a range of community activities, events, sports and live music events such as ‘All Points East’.
The Friday of the Bank Holiday weekend was headlined by two giants of the alternative rock scene at the start of the millennium, The Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The varied line up also included other established artists such as Angel Olsen, Norway’s girl in red and Aussie band Amyl and the Sniffers. The festival also gave a platform for up-and-coming UK bands such as Picture Parlour and HotWax.
As well as the big stages at either end of Victoria Park, there were other smaller stages and even a fairground. There were plenty of choices to keep the festival goers entertained.
HOTWAX
WEST STAGE 3:35pm
Rather than the well-known headliners over from the USA, we’ll start at the beginning of the day with a local Sussex garage rock band, HotWax. The Hastings trio, Tallulah Sim-Savage (guitar and vocals), Lola Sam (bass and vocals) and Alfie Sayers (drums), were opening on the main stage.
Their set kicked off with the angry anti-misogynistic ‘Barbie (Not Yours)’, (which was written well before the current blockbuster movie). The raw power and fast pace set the tone for their set.
Having seen HotWax on smaller stages around Brighton, they easily adapted to a bigger festival stage. Tallulah and Lola still came together to play face to face, feeding off each other’s energy. Lola in particular made the most of the space, covering the whole stage playing bass. So much so that the lead of her bass became unplugged for a few moments in the set. Unfazed, she plugged back in and finished the song. There were loud-quiet sections of some songs, which showed a development in HotWax’s sound and live performances. This worked well and added variety to their set.
By the time that HotWax closed their powerful, energetic 8 song set with ‘Rip It Out’, I’m sure they had further expanded their fanbase well beyond their home county. It’s exciting times for this Sussex band.
JULIE
WEST STAGE 4:25pm
Following on the West Stage was Julie (stylized as ‘julie’), an indie rock band from Los Angeles. They are Alex Brady (bass and vocals), Keyan Zand (guitar and vocals), and Dillon Lee (drums).
Before the band appeared, it was noticeable that the stage layout was different with the drum kit at the front of the stage rather than at the back. From the start it was clear why, as Dillon’s drumming was as key to julie’s sound as the guitars. In fact their set began with a drum solo.
The trio created a wall of sound with a mix of shoegaze, art rock and grunge. There were similarities with My Bloody Valentine. Alex and Keyan shared vocals, with Alex’s voice having a haunting quality which fitted the band’s sound perfectly.
There was no banter from the band. At times there was no clear distinction between songs, but experimental guitar feedback filling the space, which was reminiscent of Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain. This did mean the audience wasn’t sure when to applaud between songs. But it was obvious that many were engrossed by juile’s sound and their very interesting and impressive performance.
BE YOUR OWN PET
EAST STAGE 5:00pm
Second up on the other main stage at the far end of Victoria Park were Be Your Own Pet (also known as BYOP). This a punk/garage rock band from Nashville, Tennessee, reformed in 2021 following a 14 year hiatus.
Singer Jemina Pearl wore a Frankie Says style t-shirt with the words “Worship the Whip”, which is the opening track of their new album ‘Mommy’. There was a big cheer when Jemina plugged the album saying “Win win. Trump arrested on the day our album came out”.
Be Your Own Pet played an energetic grungy set with fast guitars. Jemina shouted out the lyrics, while jumping and high kicking around the stage. They soon got the crowd moving with several pockets of dancing and singing along as early as their second song.
At the main East Stage, a sign language service was provided on the large screens. The people signing did a very good air guitar to Nathan Vasquez’s bass and Jonas Stein’s guitar.
PICTURE PARLOUR
CUPRA NORTH ARENA 5:35pm
It was the big top tent of the Cupra North Arena for new indie sensation Picture Parlour. The London-based band are fast becoming one of the country’s most talked-about new acts, and impressed the Brighton & Hove News music team on their Brighton outings at The Great Escape and supporting Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds earlier this year.
Picture Parlour are Katherine Parlour (vocals and guitar), Ella Risi (lead guitar), Sian Lynch (bass) and Michael Nash (drums), and they were joined for their live set at ‘All Points East’ by a keyboard player.
Katherine Parlour is a very powerful lead vocalist with a distinctive sometimes husky voice, which reminded me of Amy Winehouse and St Vincent. When she wasn’t singing, she allowed guitarists Ella Risi and Sian Lynch to take the spotlight by standing to the side or back of the stage. Picture Parlour were musically very tight, creating a beautifully layered fresh indie sound. The cinematic elements to their music gave them a uniqueness compared to many other contemporary new bands.
Based on their performance at ‘All Points East’, these darlings of the music press more than lived up to their early publicity. I was very impressed, and think this band could have a very promising future. By the reaction to their set, many of those watching in the Cupra North Arena tent probably agreed.
ANGEL OLSEN
EAST STAGE 6:10pm
American singer-songwriter Angel Olsen was joined on the East Stage by a full band including a violin and cello. She played guitar and keyboards during her set.
Angel Olsen’s opening song, ‘Dream Thing’ was sung virtually as a solo with a simply understated musical accompaniment. It was a mellow start to her performance. Most of her set was made up of songs from her latest 2022 ‘Big Time’ album. She also played ‘All Mirrors’ the title track of her 2019 album and ‘Lark’ from the same album.
Her music bridged both folk and indie, with a softer sound than the other bands I saw at ‘All Points East’, (which was no bad thing). Angel Olsen captivated the large crowd gathered at the main stage with her quality and heartfelt delivery. Once described as “the queen of gloom” because of her sad songs, there was nothing gloomy about her performance (if you ignored the rain clouds gathering over East London). With songs about love, loss and anxiety, Angel Olsen portrayed a lot of emotion in her voice. Her beautiful alternative-country singing style was one of the best vocal performances of the day.
It was a very different performance from Angel Olsen compared to the brasher louder bands at ‘All Points East’ on Friday. This variety added to the overall enjoyment of the day’s entertainment.
AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS
WEST STAGE 6:50pm
I arrived just after the start of the next band, Amyl and the Sniffers, who had already created a buzz at the West Stage. It was another feisty, energetic set that people have come to expect from this Australian punk outfit. Talking of outfits, lead singer Amy Taylor was dressed in her trademark bikini top with a matching wraparound light blue skirt.
Amy Taylor is one of the most dynamic live performers around, and ‘All Points East’ was no different from other times I’ve seen the band. Not just running and jumping around the stage, she writhed around on the stage floor and rode the monitors at the front of the stage. (There was a carousel at ‘All Points East’, but I doubt anybody rode its horses like Amy rode the monitors.) Her onstage antics didn’t distract her from singing and shouting out the songs.
During this set, the dark clouds unleashed a downpour onto Victoria Park. Quickly Amyl and the Sniffers improvised and added ‘Monsoon Rock’ from their self-titled second album to their setlist.
Amyl and the Sniffers were one of the liveliest bands of the day. Their strong full pace performance was matched by a large enthusiastic mosh pit, who didn’t run for shelter during the brief rainstorm. For many people I spoke to Amyl and the Sniffers was their highlight of Friday at ‘All Points East’.
GIRL IN RED
EAST STAGE 7:25pm
With the rain easing off, it was back across to the other main stage to see Girl In Red (stylized as ‘girl in red’) who is a Norwegian born singer-songwriter (Marie Ulven Ringheim). I last saw girl in red on a much smaller stage, Brighton’s Komedia during The Great Escape 2019. She’s now gone on to become a major international star.
Girl in red came through the dry ice, starting to play ‘You Stupid Bitch’ as the smoke cleared. The band stopped the next song ‘Body And Mind’ part way through out of concern for somebody in the crowd. Drama over they carried on with the song, where they left off.
Marie had been suffering from a cold. This didn’t seem to affect her performance. Putting down her box of tissues, she picked up her guitar for the song ‘girls’. She introduced her next song ‘we fell in love in october’ as “about that lesbian shit, but in a pure way” recalling introducing it that way recently in Budapest due to that country’s attitude to gay and lesbian sexuality. This track was a slower emotional song, after which she switched to what she described as her “festival songs”, picking up the tempo and volume.
Although several people left before the end of girl in red set, this was no reflection of her notable performance. It was simply to allow time to get across the park for Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It was a good well received show which had slightly more of a pop feel about it.
YEAH YEAH YEAHS
WEST STAGE 8:15pm
Headlining on the West Stage were New York indie rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The band of vocalist Karen O, guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner and drummer Brian Chase, were joined for their live performance by a second guitarist. Karen O, wearing a sparkly cloak with a large sun motif, announced “Hello London, we’re the Yeah Yeah Yeahs”. They started their set with ‘Spitting Off The Edge Of The World’ the lead single from their 2022 ‘Cool It Down’ album. This was followed by the more electronic sounds of ‘Rich’ and the thumping drums and guitars of ‘Rockers To Swallow’.
The stage was darkly lit for the opening tracks, but the backdrop appropriately changed to fire imagery for ‘Burning’ a relatively moodier new song. There was a change of pace mid-set with some atmospheric numbers such as ‘Sacrilege’ and ‘Lovebomb’, while ‘Gold Lion’ was played on an acoustic guitar. Karen O recalled that ‘Y Control’ was 20 years old, as was the next song ‘Maps’ both from the 2003 ‘Fever To Tell’ debut album.
With the huge screens either side of the stage going blank between songs, some people may have mistakenly thought the set had finished and started to rush over to the East Stage ready for The Strokes. Whatever the reason, they missed one of the highlights, not only of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs set, but the whole festival. The unmistakable introduction to their penultimate song ‘Heads Will Roll’ was one of those special exciting moments at live music events, that give you goosebumps. It was absolutely brilliant.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs closed an outstanding and varied set with ‘Date With The Night’. Musically the band was so tight. Brian Chase’s drumming was superb, and from the images on the big screens, he made it look effortless. Karen O gave one of the great lead performances, full of energy jumping around the stage from start to the close while captivating the packed crowd.
THE STROKES
EAST STAGE 9:25pm
Over on the East Stage, Friday’s headliners The Strokes were a few minutes late starting, which meant those of us who saw the finale of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the West Stage caught the start of their set. The Strokes, along with fellow New Yorkers Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Detroit’s The White Stripes, were a leading group of the early 2000s indie rock and garage rock revival.
The Strokes opened their set with ‘What Ever Happened?’. This was followed by two tracks from their critically acclaimed debut album ‘Is This It’, ‘Alone, Together’ and ‘Last Nite’. From the start, it was clear that there was an issue with the sound for The Strokes. Frontman Julian Casablancas’s voice was difficult to make out when he sang and spoke to the crowd. Although not near the front, I was near the speakers in the crowd, yet around me many people were shouting “Turn it up”. You could hear the band playing their instruments, but even that seemed muted and lacking sharpness.
This was puzzling as there were no sound issues on the East Stage earlier for other bands. In fact, on the same stage, Angel Olsen gave arguably the best vocal performance of the day. Whatever the reason, this did result in many dissatisfied festival goers leaving early during The Strokes set. (I doubt the following day’s rail strike would have meant so many people leaving early to get their last train home.)
The Strokes’ early material marked them out as one the defining and most influential alternative bands so far this century. It was a real shame we didn’t get to hear it properly. Based on band T-shirts worn, this was the band so many people had come to see. This meant it was a particularly disappointing end to an otherwise wonderful day of music at ‘All Points East’.
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