Jorja Smith shines as All Points East offers a celebration of music across the diaspora
Co-headlined by Tems and Jorja Smith, here was a celebration of music across the diaspora in all its glory.
Year on year, All Points East provides Londoners with a final dose of music before summers end. In the absence of fellow festivals like Wireless this year, the pressure was on to deliver. Its inaugural edition for the year was for R&B, amapiano and afrobeats lovers, an amalgamation of some of the leading artists in each genre from around the world descending on East London’s Victoria Park.
Uncle Waffles hit All Point East’s North Arena. Electrifying as she stomped her way from DJ booth to front of stage, she flexed her duality as DJ and artist performing crowd favourites like ‘UYAH!’ and ‘ASAMBE’. At parts of the performance, you wanted her behind the booth, demonstrating her tenacity and ear as a DJ, but watching her control a crowd front-of-house, the heaving tented area filled with sweat, anticipation, and adrenaline, you realised just how potent, resonant and immersive music from the diaspora become in Britain. It showcased a cross pollination in culture and sound that’s come to define contemporary London. The bounce of the log-drum, conga or marimbas the backdrop of a car ride through Shoreditch or Dalston now the norm.
Elsewhere, co-headliner Tems was able to court and charm an audience, who by that point of the evening, were cold due to London’s bipolar weather across the day. Her beauty was met with the groove that defined her set-list, which served as ideal for the accompanying sunset — songs that have come to define her career urging each and every audience member to croon back to her across her hour airing. The warmth of ‘Love Me Jeje’ met the charisma of ‘Raindance’. As Dave appeared for the latter — something everyone in the crowd anticipated — a euphoria erupted across Victoria Park’s water-deprived weeds, a well received concluding performance.
Jorja Smith served as the evening’s pinnacle, her endearing performance a marker in just how far ten-years can take an artist. She also shared her headline slot, showcasing the power of Britain on a global stage. Kyla graced the stage, her renditions of the verses across ‘One Dance’ and ‘Do You Mind’ a reminder of the quirk that UK funky, funky house, and house inherently provides the nation, but also the world. Wizkid also hit the stage, the pair performing their latest collaboration on Jorja’s third album, ‘Alive’. Smith more than proved her worth as a headliner in this capacity, but also reminded audiences of her might as one of England’s hallmarks in modern music.
For the most part, All Points East delivered, but perhaps the only critique comes in programming that left festival-lovers so spoiled for choice, that they weren’t able to catch every performer they wanted to see. A Kwn and Uncle Waffles, for example, victims of the dreaded time-clash. A more expertly crafted programming would’ve allowed for a globalised generation to dibble-and-dabble in the variety of sounds across Victoria Park this weekend.