All Points East Festival 2021

[Homer]

Maybe I was just too pissed to notice but I had a great time yesterday! Missed WMC annoyingly but got in for Arlo Parks. Not particularly a fan but enjoyed. Although it was a reintroduction to London festivals - everyone standing around talking over her.

Then spent the rest of the afternoon at the 6music stage, which was (slightly surprisingly) a big rave basically. Afrodeutsche was very good.

Saw most of BBC (enjoyed, somehow not seen before) and then Foals was basically me moving forward constantly trying to get a decent spot. Got a lot of crap from people, even though I was on my own so not a huge disturbance!

Just found out it's free all this week. Might pop up later with the wife - I've got the week off!

[Mackem]

I had a great day checking out lots of the more minor bands (Ora Violet, Swim School, Noisy) on the smaller stages and the lesser acts on the big ones. After Ghostpoet I felt as though I'd done a full day and was shot, so despite having originally booked because of Foals I decided to leave early. I've seen them 3 times before so didn't feel too bad about it - and sounds like I made the right decision as the other 3 times they (and their sound) were amazing. My daughter's friend left after half an hour with the same complaint as most of you - couldn't really hear them.

 

[jannybruck]

Tonnes of complaints about the Foals sound all over socials today. Really no idea what happened there unless they got a telling off from environmental health about the sound levels.

[Huckleberry Finn]

Great to get back to a festival and soak up that vibe again. Was probably the highlight of the day.

Saw several acts for the first time all of which pulled it out the bag. Arlo Parks (despite the absurd amount of talking from virtually everyone around me wherever I stood), Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Gang of Youths and Nadine Shah were excellent.

Sound issues for Foals were reminiscent of other APE days down the years. It needs addressing but their hands might be tied.

The site felt extremely busy from early in the afternoon. Strangely, bar The Magic Gang no act felt packed though and the new lay-out of the site I felt worked well. The bars, particularly the one selling draft (which I’m pretty convinced people didn’t know was there) rarely had a queue outside which was great. I didn’t eat but the queues for the paltry amount of food stalls were ridiculous.

Pretty much always dictated by the line-up, but I won’t hesitate to return.

[scatteredscreens]

1 hour ago, jannybruck said:

Tonnes of complaints about the Foals sound all over socials today. Really no idea what happened there unless they got a telling off from environmental health about the sound levels.

hopefully wasnt as abysmal as strokes a couple years back, that was some of the worst sound I'd ever heard! 

[Homer]

So much for going to the free event tonight. Was having a few drinks and getting ready to go when I failed two LFTs! Was looking forward to that too!

[D-Low]

Really enjoyed that. Didn't notice any issues with the sound to be honest from where we stood. Echoing others though toilet queues were shockingly bad in some places. Not sure how hard it is to get adequate toilets in place. Forgot how expensive festival food was, £5 for chips, mind boggling.

Not sure anyone else had issues entering with festiticket? We got held up a bit as the scanners wouldn't work.

Otherwise great day out. First time in a while I've been to a festival with so little time hanging about for acts, felt like it was back to back all day on Monday.

[FloorFiller]

Had a good time, although not gonna lie that the lack of Roisin Murphy, Tune-Yards and Whitney took some of the shine off my initial excitement of the lineup, and it was a shame to miss Caribou but BBC were excellent so I soon forgot all about the shitty clash. Got there for Liz Lawrence first on and everybody I saw was pretty great so can’t complain really! No sound complains for me for Foals although it seemed they lost a massive chunk of their crowd before the end with people leaving early to beat the crowds, or possibly because of sound issues elsewhere. First London festival and it lived right up to the reputation of people just talking all the way through the acts; had to make several shifts in crowd position throughout the day to get away from people just shouting over the music. 

[TiZuff]

what an odd festival, never been to one in london before but HOLY SHIT why the hell does everyone fucking talk THROUGH EVERYTHING?!?! wtf . It didnt help the jamie xx set was possibly the worst headline set ive ever been to and ive seen him headline stages before and be brilliant, but other than weird fishes and 1 or 2 other moments it was boring AF and i was near the front where nobody was dancing at all. 

Also which genius decided to hide the water points in some maze like structure so you can never find them?

Bicep was good visuals and decent enough atmosphere , i was in the first barrier for foals and had a good time. caribou were awesome too. My highlighht was Fred Again in the northeast tent. really enjoyed that (especially playing frank ocean - channel).

but i dont think ill ever do a london festival again if thats what its like.

[willd255]

Worst sound of any show i've ever been to in our spot (right hand side between sound desk and stage). I remember after The Strokes at APE reading everyones complaints and not having noticed any issues. I'm not one to complain about sound but it was an absolute waste of time - tried moving towards sound stage and improved slightly but still awful. Ended up essentially giving up and running straight into the pit for the last few songs to save the night

[Johndenis]

On 8/31/2021 at 10:26 PM, TiZuff said:

what an odd festival, never been to one in london before but HOLY SHIT why the hell does everyone fucking talk THROUGH EVERYTHING?!?! wtf . It didnt help the jamie xx set was possibly the worst headline set ive ever been to and ive seen him headline stages before and be brilliant, but other than weird fishes and 1 or 2 other moments it was boring AF and i was near the front where nobody was dancing at all. 

Also which genius decided to hide the water points in some maze like structure so you can never find them?

Bicep was good visuals and decent enough atmosphere , i was in the first barrier for foals and had a good time. caribou were awesome too. My highlighht was Fred Again in the northeast tent. really enjoyed that (especially playing frank ocean - channel).

but i dont think ill ever do a london festival again if thats what its like.

I have been to APE a few times, yes there is LOTS of talking.  Can be annoying if its someone you really want to listen to.  Memorably had the same problem at Primavera Sound during Brian Wilson though, in 2016.  So I don't think it's exclusive to London.  Saw a clip on twitter of Jamie XX mixing idontknow into Weird Fishes.  Bit mad but fun.  Apparently he also played stuff like Ripgroove.  I'm not sure a DJ Set on that big stage works.  A tent would have been better.

[MaxPower]

On 8/31/2021 at 12:15 AM, Diamond24 said:

I never normally moan about sound at festivals, but it wasn't great tonight. I had a pretty good position for foals but if someone was to have a normal speaking level conversation next to me, it would drown out the music 

It was shit to be honest, couldn’t hear Tom Misch on the Saturday over people talking which I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced before. 

[Dales]

1 hour ago, MaxPower said:

It was shit to be honest, couldn’t hear Tom Misch on the Saturday over people talking which I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced before. 

It does seem a general issue especially at London outdoor gigs. However, APE gigs seem particularly bad for talkers. I am fairly convinced that lots of people go to these events just to meet, drink and chat with friends with very little interst in who is actually playing.

I used to think that this was because of the giveaways that APE have done in the past but now I just think that they attract people who just dont have that much interst in the artists but is very odd when they do it through the headliners. In the last few years especially since all the TV coverage of Glastonbury going to festivals has become a thing to be seen to be dooing even if  you dont like the music. I think APE gets aits fair share of these types.

[FloorFiller]

41 minutes ago, Dales said:

It does seem a general issue especially at London outdoor gigs. However, APE gigs seem particularly bad for talkers. I am fairly convinced that lots of people go to these events just to meet, drink and chat with friends with very little interst in who is actually playing.

I used to think that this was because of the giveaways that APE have done in the past but now I just think that they attract people who just dont have that much interst in the artists but is very odd when they do it through the headliners. In the last few years especially since all the TV coverage of Glastonbury going to festivals has become a thing to be seen to be dooing even if  you dont like the music. I think APE gets aits fair share of these types.

Yeah, I think it’s the case of there not being much of a better place to just get shitfaced, fucked up and let loose with little to no authority stopping you from being a dickhead than at a festival, so a lot of people will buy tickets with a middling interest in some of the acts playing to do just that, and the addition of music happening in the background is a nice bonus. APE being in the centre of London presumably makes it a hot target for these kinds of people as it’s just a short journey back home/in to town afterwards.

[Mackem]

48 minutes ago, FloorFiller said:

Yeah, I think it’s the case of there not being much of a better place to just get shitfaced, fucked up and let loose with little to no authority stopping you from being a dickhead than at a festival, so a lot of people will buy tickets with a middling interest in some of the acts playing to do just that, and the addition of music happening in the background is a nice bonus. APE being in the centre of London presumably makes it a hot target for these kinds of people as it’s just a short journey back home/in to town afterwards.

Good analysis. Hadn't thought of it that way but makes sense. Maybe that's why they turned the sound down so that people could hear themselves speak 🙄