The annual London festival came to a close with an emotional day full of the past, present and future of the U.K. indie scene.
Phil Sharp
Indie-rockers The Maccabees called it quits at an inopportune moment.
The indie band – made up of Orlando Weeks (vocals), Hugo and Felix White (guitars), Rupert Jarvis (bass) and Sam Doyle (drums) – split in 2017 following the release of their sole U.K. No. 1 record, 2015’s Marks to Prove It. The band split on good terms, rather feeling that it was time to pursue something new. Total bummer.
But where they waved goodbye with an emotional U.K. farewell tour, other bands from that time stuck it out and met new audiences on streamers and festivals: The Kooks, The Wombats and Bloc Party have spent the past decade growing their audiences and hitting commercial highs. Felix White has spoken of seeing these bands and his contemporaries headline festivals like Reading & Leeds and All Points East and wondering… what if?
After a run of solo projects, in late 2024 the group seized the moment for a return and announced a comeback at All Points East, held in east London’s Victoria Park. No new music, just giving their devoted fans the good times all over again. An all-star support bill was amassed with Bombay Bicycle Club, CMAT, The Cribs and more giving Sunday’s bill (Aug. 24) the feel of a gleeful school reunion after years different adventures. After spots at APE for dance (Barry Can’t Swim, Chase & Status) and pop (Raye), the festival gave indieheads a day out to remember and wrap up this summer’s festival run.
These were the best moments from The Maccabees emotional return concert at All Points East.
A New Wave Soar
All Points East’s lineup blended the past, present and future of British indie music, with the latter putting on a strong showing for the current scene. Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Westside Cowboy, Man/Woman/Chainsaw drew strong crowds for their mid-afternoon sets, particularly up against more-recognized names. Divorce, the Nottingham alt-country group who released their debut album Drive to Goldenhammer earlier this year, brought lively enthusiasm in their mid-afternoon set. “Hangman,” a song about devotion and care, is something of an anthem already.
Everything Everything’s Prescient Predictions
Manchester group Everything Everything have always pushed themselves – and their audiences – to never rely on past glories: 2022’s Raw Data Feel enlisted artificial intelligence as a writing tool; 2024’s follow-up Mountainhead removed the excess and plug-ins for something visceral. 2015 LP Get to Heaven, however, is where they found the balance between the avant-garde and the mainstream. “Distant Past” thrummed with house energy, and the steady build of “No Reptiles” speaks on the alienation of watching a country tear itself to shreds amidst misinformation campaigns and conspiracy theories. Sound familiar?
Exit Planet Dust
The Wakefield-born trio – brothers Gary, Ryan and Ross Jarman – are one of the most well-established bands on Sunday’s lineup. That said, their punky energy still feels raw and visceral, despite being decades down the line from LPs The Cribs (2004) and The New Fellas (2005), a double-whammy dose of personality and fun. 2007 cult hit “Be Safe,” an esoteric reflection on modern living narrated by Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, sparked mass singalong and the first of many crowd actions to send waves of dust up from Victoria Park’s barren ground to hang in the air.
CMAT Sees Out Her Huge Summer
The Irish singer-songwriter’s summer has been sensational. Following the announcement of her third album Euro-Country (due Aug. 29) CMAT – real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – has toured heavily at a slate of European festivals for the past three months, including a rapturously-received Glastonbury set. Now on the eve of her album’s release, the crowds are bigger and firmly under the spell of a ridiculously charismatic and talented performer. She already has a handful of undeniable bangers – “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” and “Stay For Something” – and her sunset slot on the East Stage felt like the pitch of an artist ready to headline shows of a similar capacity in the coming years.
Bombay’s Big Day Out
London group Bombay Bicycle Club have been a firm U.K. festival favourite in the U.K. since 2008’s scorching debut I Had The Blues But Shook Them Loose. While they never reached the top rung of festival bills, they’ve been dependable booking with broad appeal. It remains a fitting descriptor, with a huge throng of people showing up to sway along to hits like “Shuffle” and “Always Like This.” That afternoon’s hero CMAT hot-footed it across the site to join them for “Rural Radio Predicts the Rapture” from 2023’s My Big Day.
A Rapturous Return
For a certain era of indie fan, The Maccabees encapsulated what was memorable about the late ‘00s indie scene: music that cared little about what the outside world thought of it, and favored intimate moments over commercial clout. Songs from 2007 debut Colour It In such as “Latchmere” still retain their spunky, goofy energy, and “X-Ray” and “Lego” showcased the band’s knack for packing zippy riffs and choruses into every nook and cranny of a song. Guitarist Felix White reminded the crowd that these songs were written as teenagers with no audience, and now the 50,000-strong audience who’ve descended on east London were now a part of something special.
One Ticket to Indie Heaven
Despite some minor glitches – the sound cuts out twice in inopportune moments – and a missed high-note or two (blame the dust, not the effort), it’s a celebratory moment. 2015’s Marks to Prove It saw the band finish on an unexpected high before their shock split, but its mature ambition (“Kamakura” and “Spit it Out”) gave fans a strong farewell record. Those songs soared on Sunday, and there’s clearly hope that the band could return to the studio for another stab at it. Jamie T – a fellow scene hero in his own right – joined for the LP’s title track and his own 2009 classic “Sticks ‘N’ Stones.” To see characters from this tight-knit scene back onstage together after all this time was sheer indie heaven.
