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It’s yet another stunner of a day in this obscenely lovely summer we’re having and one of 2025’s very best lineups has saved itself for the arse end of the UK festival season.
Today’s Friday edition of All Points East has drawn thousands to Victoria Park to dive into the most stacked edm bill this place has seen since…erm…well, last weekend’s All Points East Saturday lineup, actually, which saw Chase And Status, Overmono and Nia Archives drop bangers over Tower Hamlets.
Much like the weather this year, pretty much everyone Louder catches today delivers, Leon Vynehall’s throbbing beats warming us up nicely before The Blessed Madonna turns everything technicoloured with her uplifting, celebratory brand of house (special shout-out has to be given for the Outkast drop).
Really, though, the afternoon kicks up a gear for the arrival of Confidence Man on the festival’s East Stage. They draw the first genuinely massive crowd of the day and with good reason - their high-energy dance-pop delirium-meets-Eurovision daftness is one of the most effortlessly joyous things in all of electronic music right now, and they absolutely smash it.
A raucously received cameo from Jade for a playful runthrough of recent collab Gossip is a highlight, but when you’re packing irresistible, shape-throwing-magnets like I Can’t Lose You and Feels Like A Different Thing, there are no misses.
Orbital feel a little out of place here - much of today’s buzzy, zoomer-friendly lineup wouldn’t exist without the influential 90s big beat innovators, but the relatively small crowd they pull is evidence that their pop culture footprint isn’t quite what it was.
It doesn’t matter, of course: from their gorgeous light show to their bulletproof catalogue, it’s still a warmly euphoric hour of dance classics, a surprise (re)appearance from Confidence Man for a Holiday/Kinetic mash-up a welcome union of eras for rave culture.
Joshua Mainnie’s rise from hotly-tipped underground producer to bona fide festival headliner is astonishing, but he hasn’t wasted this opportunity: this is comfortably Barry Can’t Swim’s biggest ever show, and it’s an absolute triumph.
From more propulsive numbers like the Chemical Brothers-indebted About To Begin and carnival-esque Kimbara to floaty, emotionally-charged anthem Kimpton, everything sounds and looks amazing, sonically bolstered by a live band and string section, visually levelled up courtesy of a retina-singeing laser show.
By the time Sunsleeper sends everyone home with a drizzling of rubbery beats and twinkling piano, it’s clear dance music’s new prince has just held his own coronation ceremony. The only question remaining: where the hell does he go from here?
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