Live: Bring Me The Horizon, Run The Jewels, Idles and more @ All Points East

Punk rock, families, and a mosh pit mix of sunshine abandon at All Points East.

London’s Victoria Park welcomes a brand new set of bands and fans alike to kickstart the second weekend of music in the capital at All Points East. 

All Points East is a 10 day festival of music & entertainment in East London's Victoria Park featuring 6 headline shows & 4 days of free activities during the week. May 31st marked the start of the second weekend of headline acts including, Bring Me The Horizon, Idles, Architects and Run the Jewels to name just a few. All Points East attracted a large crowd for a Friday afternoon, with the doors opening from 2 PM attendance grew larger as the sunny day in London wore on. Whereas once a predominately metal lineup would attract a sea of men with long hair and black t-shirts, the crowd could boast a wide age range, families, groups of teenagers, as well as the typical London summer festival goers, all made the day feel like a fun affair. 

However, don’t let that take away from that the fact that this day of loud music, knew exactly what it wanted to be, extremely loud and with plenty hard rock attitude. All Points East scheduled the day’s lineup across 4 different stages, the East and North stages hosting the bigger acts of the day as well as the sponsored Firestone and Jagerhaus stages. Bring Me To The Horizon headlined the East Stage and was billed as the main act of the day, receiving the longest time slot and closing out the festival till the curfew allowed. 

One of the acts to take the North stage early on the day were the impressively loud and exuberant, Employed to Serve, the heavy rock band from Woking performed a number of songs from their latest album, The Warmth of A Dying Sun. Soon after, Brighton’s pseudo-punk metal band Yonaka took to the North stage. Led by Theresa Jarvis on lead vocals, Yonaka was an exhilarating performance in the middle of the day. Breeding many different hard rock styles that have helped the band to craft an original yet powerful sound with a message, something that became very apparent throughout the day. These bands all have something to say. The East Stage, taking the traditional position of the main stage for any festival hosted in Victoria Park, was the home for some of the biggest a well-known acts to perform. When Alice Glass took the stage, the sound system of the event was truly tested as you could hear the incredible sound of the former Crystal Castles frontwoman wherever you were. Idles, one of the longest running acts on the lineup received a huge crowd reaction when they took to the East Stage. The Bristolian rock band in true fashion put on a classic rock show, making a great effort to energize a lamenting crowd after a few hours of British sunshine. A band often described as punk rock (a descriptor they, in fact, hate), performed true to form, diving into the crowd, performing in their underwear and aggressively telling the audience to boycott The Sun newspaper due to health reasons. Frontman Joe Talbot phrased this using much more colourful language, however. 

A sense of defiance continued throughout the day. By the time American Hip-Hop duo, Run the Jewels hit the stage, the crowd was completely alive and mosh pits were raving all over. Killer Mike ran the show like he was the festival conductor. The duo seemed happier than anyone to be playing in front of the London crowd, talking as much as they could between performing their greatest tracks to date. It’s tough to say what got the bigger pop from the crowd, the intro beat to 'Close Your Eyes' or when Killer Mike and EI-P talked about respecting women, as well as suicide and mental health. The energy of the later hours of All Points East felt like a race to the headline act Bring Me The Horizon. The population of Victoria Park seemingly doubled as the band were preparing their set to close out the festival. It was very clear this was a moment many had waited all day for and the feeling in the air was electric as the sun began to set on the capital and another day of All Points East began its defiant yet incredible end. On a day where it felt that every band had something to say and strived to make their mark, Bring Me The Horizon was a true celebration as the band managed to ignite the crowd one last time. Mosh pits grew tenfold, as people were carried to safety due to the raw excitement on display. In only its second year All Points East feels very much at home in Victoria Park, supplying a wildly eclectic lineup over its 10 days has allowed the blossoming festival to give a little something to almost every music lover in the land.