Festival Review: LCD Soundsystem - All Points East // Victoria Park - August 2024
LCD Soundsystem brought a sombre party to Tower Hamlets on their return to headlining All Points East festival on Friday night.
The celebratory occasion came tinged with sadness as James Murphy mourned the recent death of his friend and business partner Justin Chearno. However, the band’s professionalism helped them deliver a stunning set for a party crowd.
Like many day festivals, it swerves between debutants and dab hands - LCD Soundsystem returning to headline APE six years after being the first act to top the bill at the Victoria Park event, and Pixies, who have nearly 40 years of experience on the road.
Opening the curtain on the West Stage, Parisian quartet Astral Bakers played their first show in the UK, kicking off aptly with ‘Something New’: “I’m waiting for something new, I really want to be with you.” Sage, Nicolas, Theodora and Zoé came together with an intricate mech of vocals, guitars and drums to create a calm soundscape to start a breezy day. They sang four-part harmonies on ‘I Don’t Remember’, and encouraged the growing crowd to sing along to ‘Why’. A personal highlight was ‘Beautiful Everything’, which had a catchy driving rock vibe as they sang: “It’s a beautiful life, it’s a beautiful.” Their first album ‘The Whole Story’ came out earlier in the year, and it is guaranteed there will be a flurry of new listeners as a result of their set.
Nick Ward and his band came from Sydney to impress the crowd on the Amex Unsigned Stage. They started the last gig of this international run with ‘Gimme’, before the fun bleeps in ‘Alien’ as he sings: “Sometimes it’s like I’m cut in two, you know I’d give both parts to you.” The twenty-something was largely tied to his guitar for his brand of 00s-style pop-rock, but dropped the instrument for ‘Shooting Star’ and ‘Closer’, the latter of which was released the day before, and has a strong backing vocal game from Nick’s colleagues. Debut full-length ‘House With The Blue Door’ comes out in October, and he’s opening for Troye Sivan in his native Australia, so it feels like the last time he’ll play in a half-full canopy. During closer ‘All Your Life’, Ward said “Goodbye England”, and it feels like they’ll come back bigger.
From New York, Monobloc were playing their second ever UK show, and the quintet delivered in their post-punk delivery. Last month’s ‘Where Is My Garden’ is a little LCD Soundsystem-coded, with the title line followed up by “Where are my friends?” They crammed as much as possible into their allocated 30 minutes, including ‘I’m Just Trying to Love You’, their only other song released so far. Their dark room Interpol-esque vibes contrasted with the blazing sun behind the L’Oreal Paris stage, but as their set built to a frenzy, in front of a decent crowd, you could sense their promise will deliver on many levels.
Back on the Unsigned Stage, Aziya, who has been tipped by BBC Introducing and Dazed, started her set by drumming, before roaming around the stage while her drummer and guitarist had strong backing vocal duties. The Londoner’s set included a wave of new material, while she encouraged the crowd to sing along: “pick me, choose me, love me, don’t need to pick me, choose me, love me.” It’s fun chaotic largely guitar-driven pop, with a nod to the future, with acknowledgement of the past too. ‘Crush’ was an ode on an untalented Tom Verlaine lookalike, as she informed the crowd who were not aware of him that Television are a “good band”. It’s a promising beginning, and instils hope that maybe Aziya’s pop will also be inspirational 45 years from now, like ‘Marquee Moon’ has been.
Or 35 years plus later, like the next act on the main stage. Pixies are legends who have played more festivals than all the aforementioned new acts combined, and they pulled a big crowd to the East Stage. In their typical style, they barely said a word, just drilling through songs as quickly and as passionately as possible, starting with ‘Gouge Away’, and weaving their way through classics like ‘Wave of Mutilation’ and ‘Monkey Gone to Heaven’. The four-piece played it all out in front of a simple ‘P’ logo on their electronic backdrop screen. Singer Black Francis commanded attention, and his bandmates, as their classic dingy sound captivated the audience. There was room for unreleased track ‘The Vegas Suite’, set to close out October’s ‘The Night the Zombies Came’ album, which showed off the vocals of Emma Richardson on bass, before coming back into more recognised territory with the poppy ‘Here Comes Your Man’. Guitarist Joey Santiago - in a green baseball cap - made wild sounds during ‘Vamos’, ahead of the UK surf version of ‘Wave of Mutilation’. The stage was coated in dry ice for ‘Where Is My Mind?’, another of those big festival anthems that audiences cannot get enough of, creating one of the sing-alongs of the whole day. They closed with their cover of Neil Young’s ‘Winterlong’, before coming to the front of the stage, including drummer David Lovering, as they waved goodbye and took their farewell bows.
LCD Soundsystem hit the stage at five to nine, with a measured opening through ‘Us v Them’. The band are spread out across the stage, while a mirrorball high above them perks up halfway through the track, beaming disco rays across East London. There are expressive vocals from James Murphy, 54, during ‘tonite’, and orange lights and psych visuals for another ‘american dream’ cut, album opener ‘oh baby’, which showed a band swirling with energy.
While the APE headliner set back in 2018 focused on the previous year’s ‘american dream’ record, those were the only two songs from the album featured on Friday. Instead, they chose to revel in the group’s rich history, including a glorious version of 2010’s ‘I Can Change’, followed by band introductions, and then ‘Yr City’s a Sucker’ from the self-titled debut of 2005, complete with more glitterball.
But it’s a tough gig, with Murphy informing the crowd about the sad loss of Justin Chearno, his friend and business partner in their Brooklyn restaurant The Four Horsemen. The frontman admitted: “We’re all fucking destroyed. We’re trying our best. We love him and miss him. This sucks.” He had gratitude for the audience for sticking with them, before bursting into, what else, but ‘Someone Else’. The ‘Sound of Silver’ cut creates a raucous sing-along: “When someone great is gone”.
‘Losing My Edge’ was another highlight, melded together with tight electronics, and a sharp burst of the sound of Daft Punk’s ‘Robot Rock’, as well as bits of Suicide and Yazoo. Indeed, the music was sometimes a little too powerful, losing James’s vocals to the night sky. Still certain bits cut through - “You don’t know what you really want” from that song, or the crowd singing along to ‘Home’ next up.
Another shift in momentum came with their Harry Nilsson cover ‘Jump into the Fire’ and 2010’s ‘Dance Yrself Clean’, which ended with Murphy having a sweet intimate moment with keyboardist Nancy Whang.
‘New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down’ has always been sentimental, but the dedication to Justin made it doubly so. It began mournful, a grief-driven tribute, and went chaotic, and set the crowd up for the big finale.
It feels unfair to bill LCD Soundsystem as one-hit wonders, but many acts would kill for a party anthem like the one song that James Murphy and co carry as a single calling card. ‘All My Friends’. “That’s how it starts.” That’s how it ends, a perfect song for a Friday night opening up into the bank holiday weekend. It’s crowded, and at this moment, it’s all the better for it. The piano motif set off the audience with its sprawling wonder full of sonic noise, as a parting shot to their first show in the capital for two years.
The band left the stage to ‘Shout’, by Tears For Fears, an antidote to the “There’s a ton of the twist, but we’re fresh out of shout” line from ‘New York…’. There’s real credit for the group spreading their own slice of joy despite the obvious grief playing on their minds and bodies. And the crowd are grateful for every second of it, and will return for whatever’s next from James Murphy and the LCD Soundsystem team. We’re all friends anyway, until the very end.
Words by Samuel Draper
