The Strokes battle through sound issues to close the day at All Points East
Despite encountering sound problems and a crowd full of people chanting “turn it up”, the rock band continued through their set of classics.
Photo: Sharon Lopez
If you’ve been to Victoria Park in the summertime, then All Points East is probably a staple in your festival diet too. In fact, it’s the only festival I’ll enjoy — the idea of camping in a muddy field is not for me. The line-up would have to be very tempting, and even this year’s Reading and Leeds line-up didn’t instil any willingness in me. Day festivals are the best; there’s nothing greater than getting into a proper bed after standing up all day.
The Strokes day at All Points East particularly piqued my interest, having Aussie psychedelic-rockers The Lazy Eyes on the line-up, whom we previously missed out the opportunity to see in London last time they visited. Due to a fairly long queue to get in, we did miss the first song (or songs?) by the band, which I can only assume was my favourite, Nobody Taught Me. Their energy was undeniable, it’s hard to comprehend they’d just travelled some twenty-two hours to be there. Where’s My Brain??? was a highlight, if only there wasn’t a group talking their way through the set in front of us the entire time. Have we forgotten all gig etiquette in 2023? Possibly. Besides the continuous talking during sets that occurred throughout the day, the festival still managed to be a hit.
We caught the last song from youngsters L’objectif before Picture Parlour were due to take the stage, having stirred the pot with the release of their debut single Norwegian Wood earlier in the year. Thanks to word of mouth and putting a shift in on the live circuit, the band landed themselves an NME, causing a ruckus from the incels of the internet who refused to accept people could become popular due to talent and not knowing someone at a record label. I wanted to make sure I supported the band on Friday but I wasn’t needed — the tent, which later played host to black midi, was packed and proves Picture Parlour cannot be defined by internet trolls.
I missed a song or two by one of my favourites, Angel Olsen, to hear Picture Parlour play their debut single — alas, it was worth it, especially when they threw Ode to the Mets by The Strokes into the mix, and the American soldiered through her set despite the guitar strap breaking and things seemingly going wrong at every corner. Ethereal as always, Angel captivated the crowd with her soft and calm vocals, supported by a violinist and a fantastic backing band.
Taking a much needed break to grab some vegan fried chicken (get the ‘chicken’ bites) and be torrentially rained on whilst watching well-organised festival-goers don their raincoats, we caught a good portion of the girl in red set, namely we fell in love in october, seratonin and bad idea!. Ignoring the weather, Marie playfully teased the VIP area, hilariously calling them the “bourgeoise”, despite admitting she only knew the word thanks to boygenius. Towards the end of her set, she took a brave dive into the crowd to surf the soaking wet front row, truly showing her festival spirit and making it a set to remember.
As with most festivals, whoever you’re watching you’ll notice a few people start to leave, meaning there’s someone else starting soon who they can’t miss, most likely meaning you can’t miss them either. In this instance, we sadly walked away from girl in red to catch black midi’s 8pm set. Of course, in true black midi style, they were 10 minutes late and walked onto their classic boxing announcement intro, the same as when I saw them at Wide Awake’s first festival in 2021.
If you’ve been to see the Londoners, then you’re aware that the mosh pits are lethal. Luckily, we were just on the cusp of one, refusing to get involved (we like to leave festivals in one piece). If there’s one thing about a black midi crowd, it’s that they’re respectful of people who would rather just have a boogie and not be dragged into a sweaty circle of bodies. In front of us throughout the entire set was someone telling their friend repeatedly that they couldn’t believe they were “seeing black midi” because they “love them so much”. I kid you not, this went on for the full set. I wish I was over-exaggerating. If there’s one thing live music has taught me, it is that people can be insufferable. And tall people are the enemy.
For me, Cameron’s vocals were a standout, but Geordie Greep’s effortless commandeering of the stage and Morgan Simpson making playing drums look easy made the whole band ones to watch as they revel in the success of their 3 albums. Eat Men Eat was a personal highlight — it’s just a shame they couldn’t perform their full set. This is a band demanding your attention — and you should give them it.
Much to our dismay, we went to the wrong stage and coincidentally missed Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing their hit Heads Will Roll, but thankfully the sound travelled far enough for us to hear it almost crystal clear on the opposite end of the festival. It’s a shame the East stage didn’t have that sound too. We also missed Amyl and The Sniffers and, by the sounds of the audience, we missed out on a good one.
Last year it felt like hours passed before Tame Impala took to the stage, but this time around The Strokes entered in a timely manner, which was swiftly followed by them exiting the stage after one song and saying goodbye to the crowd. Unfortunately for them, Americans can’t really do the British banter, so not a single laugh was heard — at least they tried, I suppose. The sound problems didn’t help their case.
Opening with What Ever Happened? might’ve been a stroke (ha) of genius as it set the pace for the night, creating a laidback atmosphere despite the crowd asking the festival to “turn it up” (ironic, really). You would’ve thought after last year’s sound issues they might’ve sorted something out, but we’re still battling the same issues one year on — it’s a shame that such a fantastic line-up could be clouded with complaints.
The Strokes played euphorically through their popular tracks, seemingly feeding the British crowd exactly what they wanted and, despite the upsets, they seemed to win back the audience when breaking into Last Nite, a song you had to be living under a rock to have not heard at least once. It’s the staple of every ‘indie’ playlist and the beginning of every good night out.
They made their way through fan favourites Juicebox and You Only Live Once, and opted to perform only two songs off their latest album, The New Abnormal: The Adults Are Talking and Ode to the Mets. With a jam-packed setlist that they somehow managed to get through, I didn’t expect them to perform my favourite and, quite frankly, their best song Welcome to Japan. Having done some research and seen that they’d not performed it recently, it was the last track I was expecting them to jump into. It came after frontman Julian Casablancas decided to draft up a song on the spot including the word “fallacy”, making the eager crowd wait for the last four songs.
Closing off the night, Reptilia filled Victoria Park as the band finally got to play the festival (they were previously booked but covid had other plans) and were on top form, as expected. The crowd started slowly departing as if encores don’t exist, and it wasn’t long until they aptly turned around as the band came back to perform Hard to Explain before rightly finishing the night on Is This It, a certified indie classic, if you will.
Everyone must see The Strokes live once, at least, and while they’re at peak performance and playing a set-list this good.
