Festival Review: All Points East // Tame Impala - Victoria Park, August 2022
All Points East Thursday – topped by the impeccable Tame Impala – felt like a day of contrasts, and it was all the better for it.
House of Women started proceedings on the main East Stage, and the five-piece did what any opening act should do – make you forget the world outside Victoria Park, and get you amped for the day to come. It was a set of 90s noise rock, from the opening bars, with the vocal line “Don’t lie, don’t lie”, weaving through instrumentals and songs with lyrics screamed from the heart, to ‘Few Too Many Times’. As frontwoman Kyla said, in homage to their massive digital backdrop, “the band with the cool cake”, but they had cool songs too. It felt like a first opportunity for most to see House of Women – and it definitely won’t be the last.
In the North Stage tent, Sudan Archives fused two seemingly opposite vibes – rap and violin – to create something that felt wholly modern and on trend. Brittney Parks and her multi-talented backing musician brought a sense of fun to the crowd, getting them to clap along, and sing along with tracks new and old. She said: “This song is about titties”, before playing ‘NBPQ (Topless)’ from her incoming album. I don’t know much about the great classical players of yesteryear, but I expect even Vivaldi did not yell “titties out, titties out” before tackling a violin solo. The contradiction played off perfectly.
Back on the East Stage, singer Q (surname Marsden) asked the crowd for reassurance that he was doing a good job. There was no need for concern, as his impressive vocal carried well across the park through songs like ‘Garage Rooftop’ and ‘Stereo Driver’. Straight after on the BMW Play Next Stage, Q’s tour support Montell Fish brought a singsong to his set for ‘And I’d go a thousand miles’. He controlled the stage, but it stepped up a gear when he got off it. He revealed he had something “wild” up his sleeve; that turned out to be an understatement, as he performed new song 'When I Die’ in the middle of the crowd, and teaching them the catchy lines. It was a very real moment.
You sense Dry Cleaning have been doing this forever. It’s tough to believe they have released just one album so far, and the strong set was built around ‘New Long Leg’. In ‘Strong Feelings’, vocalist Florence Shaw sang “just an emo dead stuff collector” with the confidence of a veteran. The largely monochrome four-piece band were only let down by guitarist Tom Dowse’s vintage green Arsenal jersey. Dry Cleaning aired new song ‘Gary Ashby’, a new song about an eponymous turtle. For a band with a song called ‘Her Hippo’, it felt like a natural turn. Meanwhile, festival anthem ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ felt like a supernova, and, despite being only a couple of years old, the song is eternal.
The East Stage saw bedroom-pop maestro Omar Apollo perform. He had some vocals, some guitar, and boy, did he have some moves. He apologised for not being able to get around as much as normal because, in his words, “sciatica, bitch”. I don’t know what kind of miles the 25-year-old normally clocks. He had the energy levels and arena-style dance moves of a newly solo Justin Timberlake, but it worked nicely alongside the guitar-driven slower track ‘Petrified’, and the song ‘Killing Me’, performed in both English and Spanish. Omar wore a coat with the hood up, and a cap, like he was trying to hide. I’m not sure he pulled it off. If he stays this good, he might be inescapable.
Caroline Polachek feels like a true pop star, her dreamy electronica adding to the smorgasbord of styles across the day. Her 50 minutes started in the best way with ‘Pang’, Caroline waving her arms like magic wands to ignite the light show under the gloomy grey skies. Following on from Omar’s multilingual lyrics, there was Spanish-infused guitar on Caroline’s new song ‘Sunset’, backed by Matt on guitar and Chloe on drums. The seductive pop came to the fore with new love song ‘Smoke’, while her electronic take on ‘Breathless’ by The Corrs was a personal highlight, shining through while getting the crowd singing along in full voice beside her. The crowd loved her already, and finale ‘So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings’ was pure gold, firmly setting out Caroline’s stall as an act primed to make that jump from the second line of the billing to the top.
Fans plunged themselves into darkness to watch FKJ in a rammed North Arena tent, performing beautiful soundscapes in front of visuals to match. Outside, dusk fell across the park, perfect for Tame Impala’s full-scale light show to hit the main stage just before 9pm.
The show started with a short satirical pharmaceutical video about a made-up drug called ‘Rushium’ which plays with time and space. If anything, the only real pushers were Kevin Parker and his associates – beginning straight off the bat with ‘One More Year’.
And maybe the contrasts were to be expected after all – this tour is a promotion of an album called ‘The Slow Rush’, released in February 2020, but with the way the world has changed, that may as well have been 1812 – the year impalas were introduced to a European audience for the first time. It was Tame Impala’s first London gig in three years. Kevin told the crowd: “We finally made it back to London. I never thought this day would come.” It’s a stupid cliché, but it rings true - it was worth the wait.
So that record made up most of the first half of the show. ‘Breathe Deeper’ saw the introduction of their impressive laser light show for the first time, while ‘Lost In Yesterday’ jumped from being a good album track to a spectacular live performance, and one most likely to impose itself in the brains of the thousands of attendees for days to come.
But as with any festival show, the older hits are where it’s at. “Shall we get a bit rowdy? Shall we get a bit loose? Fuck yeah, let’s do it.” This was Kevin’s introduction to ‘Elephant’, an insanity with a life of its own away from stages, but still a splendour to enjoy in a park. Meanwhile, ‘Let It Happen’ had a slow, teasing intro, hinting that it was coming, but when it finally dropped for real, the crowd were rabid for it, embracing every second.
Kevin and his band were often showcased on the big screens through typically psychedelic imagery, and a haze of colours. Any hint of monochrome, or grey clouds, in anyone’s mind or sky were washed away in the technicolour encore. First ‘The Less I Know The Better’ saw Kevin roaming the stage and singing with the crowd. Then 'New Person, Same Old Mistakes’ came with confetti, of course. It’s a 90-minute showcase of the best of Tame Impala – and letting us put aside the chaos of the world to love it all while we can.
“You guys are pretty fucking beautiful,” Kevin said. Right back at you, dude. Balancing contradictions is an act, but there’s no one you want in the lead role than an in-form Kevin Parker. It makes him feel larger than life, and brings him to size with his best, his boldest, his brightest, songs. Whatever contrasts happen around us – slow and rush in tandem - good music shines through. Eventually.
Words by Samuel Draper
Photography by Sam Strutt
