Guest post by Simon Darnley
All Points East (APE) is a music festival held over two weekends in the lovely East London Victoria Park. In my view the line-ups at APE are often a cut above the regular music festival and definitely attract the younger Gen Z crowd. I attended on Friday 23rd August 2024 to catch the legendary Indie punk of The Pixies and electronic punk giants LCD Soundsystem.
Arriving early, I also managed to see Jockstrap and what a delightful surprise they were. I can see why the London-based duo were Mercury Prize nominated putting on a remarkable show combining Georgia Ellery's voice with strings and the electronic dance sounds of Taylor Skye. You can't pigeonhole Jockstrap, almost indefinable and unique in style and better for it. Finishing the set dressed in huge monster legs while cooing to their track “50/50” they leave you wanting more.
The Pixies are such a well-known alternative rock band that have influenced many over their 35+ years and always play a blistering, well-worn crowd-pleasing set. It was heartening to see so many young people dancing and raucously singing every word to the likes of “Monkey Gone to Heaven”, “Head On”, “Here comes your Man” and “Where is My Mind”. All songs written before many of them were born.
Headlining under a giant Disco ball LCD Sound System were just phenomenal. Kicking off with “Us v Them” and straight then into the so catchy “You Wanted a Hit” this was belting stuff with pounding bass and distinctive synths (sampling Kraftwerk's radioactivity at one point). An hour into the set singer James Murphy told us about the very recent loss of his good friend, fellow musician and business partner Justin Chearno and the effect this has had on the whole band. From that point the gig took another step up, the emotion was palpable with band members crying, hugging and supporting each other between songs. Dedicating “Someone Great” to Justin was a cathartic experience as James thanked us for being here and being part of it. “New York, I love you” never sounded so beautiful and a rousing finale of “All my friends” left me exhausted, feeling I had really witnessed something special.
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