Kaytranada / All Points East
The opening day of All Points East—East London’s multi-genre festival in Victoria Park—might have achieved the near-impossible feat of a line-up full of must-sees.
Today (Friday) is evidently the “Black” day of the festival, or so it seems; judging by crowd and the billed performers, it’s a diaspora-spanning mix of R&B, Afrobeats, alt-rap and neo-soul, scheduled to be even more so, if not for earlier drop-outs from Amaarae and Bloody Civilian. In-line with programming, the day’s energy is feel-good; it’s a mixed crowd not untypical of its East London settings, all young couples and maybe soon-to-be ones in sunglasses, screaming groups of friends, and festival-goers mixing under the sunshine.
Over on the East Stage, Channel Tres breaks out as a spirited performer, jumping in and out of the crowd’s reach with hits like “Topdown” flanked with whirling backup dancers. He is then followed by fellow LA native Thundercat: known for rapid-fire bass solos and Beach Boys-esque harmonies, he is fabulous on stage, equally impassioned in playing as he is with his quips and gags. “Time to start singing some weird shit,” he says, launching into funk-and-soul classics like “Dragonball Durag” and crowd-favourite “Funny Thing”, interspersed with anecdotes about firing his therapist.
The day does have its faults, though: All Points East may have a case of underselling its talent, such is the case for Ohio-born vocalist Durand Bernarr, who is criminally placed on the tiny L’Oreal Paris stage. The artist’s vocal runs and stage presence suggest he could command something at least twice the size. An artist whose placing cannot be faulted, however, is the thundering R&B talent Victoria Monet, who commands the East stage as undeniably one of the strongest performers of the day.
Opening with newest smash “Alright”, her setlist shows a foresight to up the ante of her already-excellent live shows. It’s full of heritage-harking interpolations and dance breaks: “Some Cut” by Trillville, GloRilla’s “TGIF”, even “Stop In The Name of Love” by Diana Ross. Her dance breaks visibly enliven her screaming audience and the festival grounds swell for her, drawing possibly half the festival over to her stage.
Later on, crowds are faced with a ferocious split between Amapiano and lilting Afrobeats over on the West side of the grounds, with the arrival of Tems and South Africa’s Felo Le Tee—two incredibly strong live performers.
Tems opens her set with “Crazy Things”, dancing and swaying amongst a flora-and-fauna background, lit by the now-setting sun. “I’m getting ready to whine,” she announces to her crowd, performing a healthy mix of throwback hits like “Damages” and soon-to-be classics like “Burning”—it openly speaks to her talent that as a relatively new artist, she has enough hits to avoid saving them till the end. On the BBC Radio 6 Music Stage, Felo is electric. He has summoned Amapiano lovers as if by trance, and with shouts in Zulu returning as easily as his MC gives them out, it’s possibly the most crowd interaction to be seen venue-wide.
But in the end, it all comes back to Kaytranada. It’s admittedly a bold choice of headliner—DJs and producers are usually reserved for the festival’s electronic line-ups, such as Field Day—but it speaks to his prowess headlining across various venues, both Stateside and overseas, in recent years. Here, the crowd is visibly hyped with the anticipation of an incredible live show, in a city where Kaytra is so loved and adored. Decked out in Martine Rose and his trademark glasses, he opens with the title single from his new album, TIMELESS. Exploding in a haze of blue lighting, it’s the first of many exquisite changes to stage setup: hazy photo camera images, rainfall, pyrotechnics, and often reflecting the effervescent crowd staring back at him.
It’s a career encompassing set. Kaytra chooses to forgo many of the tracks from his newest release, instead pointing to select throwback hits like “Meditation” with GoldLink and Jazmin Sullivan, “Waitin” with Kelela, and much-loved tracks like the classic “Be Your Girl”. But there still remains glaringly missed opportunities. For a bill packed with so many of his collaborators (the producer has worked with a record six-plus others performing at the event), one could only assume several would join him on stage. Bar Channel Tres, who is a vision performing “Drip Sweat” on stage, that was unfortunately it. A snippet play of Monet’s “Alright” audibly begs for the singer to rejoin, and it’s a wonder whether energy would be able to match that earlier accompanying moment.
But the crowd is unfazed by the lack of support. Kaytra doesn’t really need it—his warm reception is reflected back in hordes of festival-goers locked in warm embraces, singing and dancing to every word. It’s clear those early morning expectations have been more than met—they have been exceeded.
“We just be doing shit,” he says. “Sometimes I do a couple songs, sometimes I only do one song. Sometimes I do five songs. I work every day though, so I make a boundless amount.” Hopefully, the new artists around him are taking notes.
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