The sound of thudding bass beats could be heard all the way across Victoria Park on Saturday as London’s rave faithful headed to their annual place of pilgrimage: Field Day.
This hallowed event occupies an odd place in the All Points East lineup, in that it actually predates it: starting in 2007, Field Day has delivered heavy-hitting electronic sets to thousands of adoring fans every year since, becoming part of the wider festival in 2021 (All Points East only started in 2018).
It is also – as evidenced by the tremendous entrance queues – very popular, and for good reason. This year offered plenty of food for alternative music fans: think Bonobo, Arca, Fever Ray and, rounding things off, the legendary Aphex Twin.
First things first, though: as the afternoon kicked off, Sudan Archives was tasked with the daunting challenge of getting the crowd moving. She rose to the challenge magnificently. Clad in strips of purple spiked leather, she stalked across the stage, alternating between screaming her lyrics at a jubilant crowd, twerking and performing Lizzo-esque solos on her violin.
This was followed in short order by Canadian DJ and producer Jayda G, who took to the East Stage to deliver a euphoric, funk-infused set that gelled perfectly with the late-summer sunshine. Clad all in sparkling green, she looked to be having a one-woman party of her own behind the DJ decks: not hard, when songs like Both Of Us and When She Dance were thundering from the speakers.
Hot on its heels came up-and-coming artist yunè pinku’s blistering DJ set at the BBC 6 Music Stage. This has to be one of the best venues at All Points East – a huge dancefloor with two arches crossing overhead to make an X shape – and pinku took full advantage of it: the venue was packed and bouncing along to her high-energy music as lights strobed overhead.
At times, it felt as though there was an embarrassment of riches to choose from: certainly, there was too much going on to pause and soak in the ambience. Those enjoying pinku’s set – or, indeed, the ethereal Fever Ray – then had to run to catch mega-artist Jon Hopkins perform a marathon set at the West Stage.
The last time Hopkins played Field Day was 2017, and it was clear that the crowd had missed him: the space in front of the stage was so packed there was barely room to dance. Over the course of an hour, he delivered a masterclass in electronica, delivering old favourites, debuting some unreleased new music and finishing with tunes that replaced your heartbeat with bass lines.
As night approached, most festival-goers headed over to the East Stage to watch festival headliner Bonobo spin the decks alongside his backing band. Starting off slow, he gradually segued into pieces from his excellent 2022 album Fragments, including the gorgeously layered Shadows. Who knew that a saxophone could be a perfect accompaniment to mellow techno?
Bonobo brought the calm, but over in the huge tent that was the Cupra North Arena, German dance supergroup Moderat (a joint project between music acts Modeselektor and Apparat) brought the Berghain. “Every single fucking show we have in London is an awesome show,” Apparat’s Sascha Ring told the crowd, before performing a thundering, strobe-ridden rendition of A New Error, one of the highlights of an uneven set.
As the other stages closed, all that was left to see was the headline act at the East Stage: electronic music titan Aphex Twin. One of the godfathers of electronica, his shows are as much an art installation as they are a musical experience – as kaleidoscopic visuals flickered across the stage’s massive screens, his screeching, twisting music pounded the eardrums.
It was a difficult listen: arguably too difficult for a lot of the crowd, especially given that there was no alternative option. Indeed, many headed home before the set ended. For the faithful, though, it was the perfect way to close out an event that feels like a shot of adrenaline to London’s struggling rave scene. Long may it continue.
