All Points East returned to Victoria Park on the 1st of June, for APE Presents, where the festival grounds received thousands of revellers for a day of fun, sun and rock; and while the majority of the attendees were definitely teenagers, we were happy to see that the crowd was composed of people of all ages, from the middle-aged, how-is-he-cooler-than-me dad to the second-generation toddler rocker.
Among all the great bands we managed to catch on the day, we’ll surely remember the energetic performance of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, marked by the curiously charming rude/friendly dichotomy of the frontman.
While there was a large percentage of Catfish & The Bottlemen fans, a lot of festival-goers we spoke to came to see The Hunna, The Neighbourhood and The Amazons (nice chaps, who we got the chance to meet briefly). Honourable mention goes to Fire Fences, who we were introduced to by their impeccably dressed partners, who were anxiously awaiting the band, after their banging performance on the fire station-themed Firestone stage.
A very well-received addition to all days of All Points East was JägerHaus — a pop-up venue that provided both a nice sunny backyard and really fun, intimate gigs (we had seen Benin City there last week and became instant fans!). This weekend we saw the room fire up again to Lady Bird, Yowl and The Big Moon.
We ended up spending a lot of time between the closed-off sunny outdoors area and the pumping club room, and we got to try a few of the exquisite Jägermeister cocktails (my personal favourite being the Jägermeister Mule, given I’m a big fan of everything-ginger), which got us thinking that there’s a lot more to the herby beverage than the popular bombs!
Style-wise, we saw a bit of everything, from the orange-is-the-new-black inspired jumpsuit, to punk-chic pastel colours. The 1st of June saw a particular, oddly harmonious clash between grungy looks, retro sporty and 90s rave scene. Big, coloured shades are an all-time festival essential and were spotted all around the grounds, providing real-life instagram filters to the wearers.
Words & Photos: Paulo Ricca