It’s a Saturday in London; the grey clouds are out but one incredible line-up is here to save the day

Here comes the first proper weekend back to live music with festivals up and down the country kicking off across the August bank holiday weekend — better late than never, right?

One festival close by and right in the heart of East London is All Points East. Its Saturday lineup was by far the most star-studded lineup of the whole weekend with the likes of Arlo Parks, Tom Misch, Little Simz, Slowthai, Kano and Jamie xx. 

It was a real heart healer to stand in a field again with a load of strangers and sing unapologetically back at acts who hadn’t taken to the stage in eighteen months, but their absence from performing, you wouldn’t have noticed.

By far the most energetic and crowd-pleasing set of the day was East End rapper Kano. For someone who incorporated gospel, rap, tributes to Marcus Rashford and a Gucci tracksuit, it was both refreshing to the eye as it was to the ear for a restless All Points East crowd. The beauty in this set was its patriotic nature with songs like This Is England really bringing it home, a track that featured on his 2016 album Made In The Manor. 

The rappers of the weekend really took the stage by storm and lightened up what was a rather gloomy day in Bethnal Green. Little Simz performed alongside Cleo Sol and got a great reception with tracks off of her new record Sometimes I Might Be Introvert.

slowthai was no different to the energy of the weekend, with his erratic stage presence and style, road-testing tunes he’s worked on with the likes of Mura Masa and Gorillaz before heading off to perform at Reading and Leeds respectively. 

For me, by far the best set was Arlo Parks — without a doubt. Having just been nominated for the mercury prize with her new album Collapsed In Sun Beams, she brought a chill to the festival environment. Floral vibes, hushed vocals but cutting melodies warmed her to a hyped-up crowd that were ready for anything. It was her ability to transfer the subtlety of the songs from what we hear on the record to a live setting; delivering them as intimately as when we first heard them through our earphones.

This was followed by Tom Misch’s “first gig back” (as he explained to the audience): he didn’t pull any punches, bringing out the likes of Loyle Carner — a fellow weekend headliner — and entertaining drummer Yussef Dayes. It felt like a reunion of musicians that were just itching to perform. 

Main stage acts certainly took the majority of the spotlight, but the energy of the weekend was thriving elsewhere. BBC Radio 6 Music’s stage had a plethora of DJ’s curated by Mary Anne Hobbs for what was called an ‘All Queens’ Showcase. This was all topped off with an appearance from Shy FX whose impressive hype drew a huge crowd to listen in on their beats. 

It was a light at the end of the tunnel for festivals and brought back all those feelings we’d come to love before the start of the last eight months.