All Points East Festival, London, 28th August 2022

With a propensity for pulling in the biggest names, All Points East returned this year with another impressive run of weekend events that included headline slots from Disclosure, The National, Tame Impala, Gorillaz and culminating last Sunday with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

Cave’s last performance at APE in 2019 is still revered and doubtless this one will be talked about for a long time too. A captivating showman with a setlist spanning the career of The Bad Seeds, the two hours plus on stage was once again a showcase of how to hold a crowd in the palm of your red right hand.

Still, there were plenty of reasons to be there earlier in the day too with some excellent main stage sets from Chilli Jesson and Kae Tempest amongst others. Jesson seems to be more accomplished with each performance, and Tempest could easily have been much higher up the line-up and without doubt captured some new fans.

Over at the BMW #PlayNext stage, lots of new talent throughout the day with exciting sets from Attawalpa, Bonnie Kemplay and fast rising stars The Dinner Party.

The North stage played host to some great music with light shows to match from the likes of Jehnny Beth, Spiritualized and Sleaford Mods, while the Ray-Ban West stage had the pleasure of Michael Kiwanuka’s presence, always a flawless production.

An eclectic mix and an open opportunity to see some firmly established acts while discovering new breakthrough artists just around the corner. Looking forward to seeing who APE manage to sign up in 2023.

Words and photos by Siobhan

7th September 2022