it wasn’t all all about the headliners and the big bands, five unexpected things from our time at All Points East. There were six gigs in all, we made it to two of them (can’t be too greedy), we sat in the park and listened to bits of the others as well as going in and exploring some of the “In The Neighbourhood” free days in between the two weekends of big gigs. We were mostly there for Idles at the start of it all and that glorious ending from Nick Cave, both days covered have been covered in depth on these pages already – ORGAN THING: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, All Points East, Victoria Park, London, Just breathe, just breathe, just breathe, just breathe, just wow! Oh and those Sleaford Mods and The Smile and… The thing is, a good music festival should kick a few surprises, you might have known about Willow Kayne already but we didn’t, or about that Mutt called Macca or or how good Knucks was going to be live. Here then are five unexpected things before we move on from All Points East 2022

1: Willow Kayne and her latest release White City, caught her on the first day on a small stage, we were just passing, heading from one of the main stages to the other, she kind of made us turn around and head her way instead, only just caught her but it made us investigate a little more when we got home, White City has been stuck in my head ever since.

And she isn’t some kind of one song wonder either, here’s another and that latest release Rat Race is rather tasty as well. more on that in a moment…

2: Knucks was in the big blue tent in the middle of the afternoon on the first day, his latest album is Alpha Place,, here’s a bit from the review from All Points East – Knucks was pretty damn good from where we were standing, up there with his flowing London rap in the giant blue tent, he’s even got that old festival smell hanging in the air, he said something about London burning as well, it all comes around, Knucks with a massive crowd right there where The Clash once sung of London’s Burning. And what was all that about the price of ice cream and he does have a fine way with words, with the flow of his words, not going to pretend to know a thing about Knucks, seems his mum’s being praying about him but there’s not enough beads on her Rosary? Hey don’t ask me, this is the good thing about a festival like this, I’m back home here now learning about Knucks and Tom and Jerry and coming out his hole for some cheddar – here’s the whole review of that first day of All Points East – ORGAN THING: Idles take the park, London’s burning in the best possible way, the first day of All Points East is a triumph…

3: The Dinner Party were on one of the small stages on the last day, the Nick Cave day, they’ve been turning up in all kinds of intersting places this Summer, here they are, live footage from earlier this year. Doesn’t look like they’ve released anything yet, they appear to have played more festivals than anyone this Summer. We shall see what develops, don’t they sound posh, shall we stay say here on the fence and see what evolves?

4: Amrit Kaur – We did head over to the Park a time or two for the “In The Neighbourhood” free days, didn’t see that much in terms of the live music that was promised that really grabbed us and well, it mostly seemed to be people on the big stage playing to just a handful of people, felt like lots more could have been done with the “free” time. There was a great African drum band walking around on one of the days, n oidea who they were or how we could find out. Amrit Kaur sounded interesting on the big stage on the Sunday, she talks of Sarangi, Soul & Panjabi Folk, shame there wasn’t more people there, those free days really needed more information with them. Can’t really find that much about her, she does have an Instagram and here’s an interview she did that will tell you a little about her and here she is…

And there was somebody who could have been called Numbi? A singer from Hackney, one again he was good but once again information isn’t really flowing. Mostly the free days were rather empty, we’re based in the neighbourhood, nobody here really know about it and that you could just walk in on the off chance and that entry was free and dare we say some of it smelt a little bit of tokenism? of box ticking? The organisers could maybe have connected a bit more with the creatives the artists and the bands in the area (yes we did try) and when people like the rater excellent Amrit Kaur were playing, maybe a link and a bit of advance info on the website? The Neighbourhood thing is a good idea, we locals put up with a lot during the Summer, we lose a big chunk of our park, there’s a lot of noise, good that the “In The Neighbourhood” was done but it could have been done in so many better ways, there was one or two good things happening but very few knew about it….

5: Party Dozen – Now by far the best thing in terms of bands or people we knew nothing about before the week-long set of gigs happened were a couple of glorious noise makers called Party Dozen and that Mutt called Macca…

And here’s some more, it isn’t just about that Mutt! How have we missed out on this? Aren’t we supposed to be on top of everything ever? They’re a two piece from Sydney, Australia, “A sonic partnering of saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and percussionist Jonathan Boulet, Party Dozen is a project loosely based around improvisation”.

And here’s their latest album on Bandcamp, “Party Dozen are a duo from Sydney made up of Kirsty Tickle (saxophone) and Jonathan Boulet (percussion and sampler). Since forming in 2017, they have become renowned in Australia for their incendiary live shows, touring and playing with acts such as LIARS, Tropical Fuck Storm and Viagra Boys. Exactly what Party Dozen are is completely up to the listener. Doom. Jazz. Hardcore. Psychedelic. No-wave. Industrial. Although largely instrumental, their sets are punctuated by Kirsty’s unique “singing” style, screaming into the bell of her saxophone which itself goes through a bevy of effects pedals. Intensely independent in everything they do, the duo write, perform and record everything themselves. 2022 will see the return of Party Dozen, first in April with the 7” release, Fat Hans Gone Mad, for the Sub Pop Singles Club, and then in July with their third album, The Real Work, with a new label partner in New York’s Temporary Residence Ltd. The Real Work succeeds in exploring new directions but also features some familiar Party Dozen touches. Perhaps most notable is the first-ever appearance of a guest other than Kirsty or Jonathan on a Party Dozen track, with Nick Cave ad-libbing a very memorable contribution to the album’s second track, “Macca The Mutt.”

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Got to love what Party Dozen are doing, real Nik Turner Inner City Unit vibe to some of it, or maybe Spannerman, maybe we’re being too obscure there? Need more Party Dozen. Nah, that Inner City Unit mention was lazy, sorry, she has got certain Nik Turner way of doing things though and they are so damn good….

Is that five? We did alrady know about Hurray for the Riff Raff and somehow missed them on the final Sunday

And we maybe really should mention Starcrawer although we did actually know about them before hand as well and….

And a quick mention for that excellent pint or two of Two Swans from the East London Bewing Company and the almost hidden proper beer bar was rather good, most people were happy to be fobbed off with an very overpriced can of Red Strip from the big bars scattered all over the site. At the big bars they were insisting there was no decent draught beer on site, there was! On the first day almost no one had discovered the draught beer at the small bar in the corner, by the final day the line for beer was longer and we only just got the last of the Two Swans just before the Smile came on…

Previously…

ORGAN THING: Idles take the park, London’s burning in the best possible way, the first day of All Points East is a triumph…

ORGAN THING: Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, All Points East, Victoria Park, London, Just breathe, just breathe, just breathe, just breathe, just wow! Oh and those Sleaford Mods and The Smile and…