Written by: Kai Eldridge, Music Discovery Editor, OnesToWatch | Last updated: July 8, 2026
Key Takeaways
- All Points East has become a defining London festival since 2018, consistently showcasing both emerging and established artists across indie, electronic, hip-hop, and pop.
- The standout sets highlighted in this article are assessed on energy, production quality, emotional impact, and career significance.
- Breakthrough festival performances often lead to streaming spikes, press coverage, and accelerated international touring opportunities for artists.
- Artists like The xx, Björk, Jorja Smith, and Barry Can’t Swim used All Points East to show distinct artistic identities and move their careers forward.
- Stay ahead of the next wave of festival standouts by discovering emerging talent on OnesToWatch.
Quick Preview: The 11 Sets
- The xx – 2018
- Björk – 2018
- Christine and the Queens – 2019
- Bon Iver – 2019
- Jorja Smith – 2021
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – 2022
- Bicep – 2022
- Disclosure – 2022
- Jungle – 2023
- RAYE – 2025
- Barry Can’t Swim – 2025
1. The xx – 2018
The xx opened the first edition of All Points East with a headline set that felt like a hometown statement. Their performance leaned into the atmospheric minimalism of their three albums, with sparse guitar lines and Jamie xx’s production creating intimacy across Victoria Park. The crowd’s near-silence during quieter passages became one of the night’s most discussed details, a rare shared stillness at an outdoor festival.
Setlist.fm archives show a career-spanning selection from xx, Coexist, and I See You. Fan-shot footage on YouTube captures the geometric lighting design that echoed the band’s visual identity. The set often appears in discussions of how stripped-back production, used with intent, can hit as hard as full spectacle.
2. Björk – 2018
Björk’s 2018 appearance brought her Utopia tour to Victoria Park with a flute ensemble and intricate staging. The show felt closer to an art installation than a standard festival set. Critics highlighted the ambition of the production as a sharp contrast to the weekend’s more conventional bookings.
The performance reinforced Björk’s status as an artist who treats live shows as standalone creative works, not just promotion for records. This approach proved both bold and effective. The set generated sustained media coverage well beyond the festival weekend, showing emerging artists that unconventional staging and arrangements can double as powerful promotional tools.
3. Christine and the Queens – 2019
Héloïse Letissier’s 2019 performance as Christine and the Queens stood out for its choreographic precision and physical intensity. The set drew from Chaleur Humaine and the then-recent Chris, with Letissier and her dancers translating themes of identity and movement into clear, physical storytelling onstage.
This performance shows how a mid-bill festival slot can cement a visual identity that carries into later, larger bookings. Fan accounts consistently describe the energy as one of the weekend’s high points, even though Christine and the Queens did not headline.
4. Bon Iver – 2019
Bon Iver’s 2019 headline set landed during a period of rapid evolution for Justin Vernon’s project. The performance mixed material from i,i, released later that year, with established favorites, giving the crowd an early live preview of new work. Layered vocal processing and a large ensemble created a sound that critics described as orchestral in scope.
Setlist.fm records show a balance between accessibility and experimentation that appealed to long-time fans and newer listeners. Commentators often cite this set as an example of how a festival show can double as an album preview that builds anticipation without relying on traditional promo cycles.
Transition: From Headline Statements to Breakthrough Moments
The first four sets highlight artists using All Points East to present fully formed creative worlds, not just greatest-hits runs. Production restraint, conceptual staging, choreography, and ensemble scale each offer different answers to the same challenge. The next group of performances shifts focus toward artists using the festival to lock in or expand breakthrough moments.
5. Jorja Smith – 2021
Jorja Smith’s 2021 All Points East performance marked a key consolidation point in her rise. Her debut album Lost & Found arrived in 2018, and the festival slot showed that its emotional range could hold a large outdoor stage.
Reviewers and attendees praised Smith’s vocal control, especially during slower, stripped-back songs that demanded focus. The set offers a clear example of how an early-career artist can use a major festival appearance to build trust with listeners beyond the core fanbase.
6. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – 2022
All Points East returned in 2022 after a pandemic break, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds delivered one of the festival’s most talked-about headline sets. Cave moved through the crowd, took requests, and spoke directly to the thousands in front of him. Reviewers described an atmosphere that felt unlike a typical festival headline experience.
The set pulled from across the Bad Seeds’ catalog, with particular focus on Ghosteen and Carnage. Fans can revisit the night through setlist.fm records and extensive fan footage, which together map the show’s emotional arc from quiet reflection to cathartic release.
7. Bicep – 2022
Bicep’s 2022 set showed how electronic acts can use festival production to create something far larger than their studio recordings suggest. The Belfast duo’s visuals and sound design turned the Victoria Park stage into an immersive environment, drawing heavily from Bicep and Isles.
Commentary on the festival often points to this performance when discussing electronic music’s role on big lineups. The show helped shift some audience perceptions of the genre from background listening to a full-body, foreground experience.
Transition: Intimacy, Scale, and Live Craft
The middle run of sets highlights artists who treat live performance as a craft in its own right. Jorja Smith’s vocal focus, Nick Cave’s crowd intimacy, and Bicep’s sensory production all tackle the same question of scale. Each act found a way to make a large outdoor space feel personal and specific to that night.
8. Disclosure – 2022
Disclosure performed at All Points East in 2022 during a period of renewed momentum for the Lawrence brothers. The set pulled from across their catalog while weaving in newer tracks. Production design highlighted their roots in UK garage and house alongside their more pop-leaning material.
Fan reports describe one of the most sustained crowd reactions of the 2022 edition. The closing run of songs drew particular attention in post-festival coverage for its energy and pacing.
9. Jungle – 2023
Jungle’s 2023 appearance arrived on the back of Loving in Stereo and Volcano, at a clear career peak. The London collective brought a large ensemble and blended live instrumentation with electronic elements. Reviewers noted an unusually warm sound for a festival main stage.
The performance strengthened Jungle’s reputation as one of the UK’s most dependable live acts. It also showed how a band can turn a festival slot into a bridge from critical acclaim to broader public recognition.
10. RAYE – 2025
RAYE’s 2025 All Points East set followed her landmark 2024 BRIT Awards sweep and the ongoing success of My 21st Century Blues. Many reviews framed it as one of the most emotionally charged performances in the festival’s history. Her vocal power and command of the stage drew comparisons to classic soul and R&B traditions.
The show demonstrated how a festival headline slot can shift an artist’s story. RAYE moved from the narrative of industry outsider to confirmed arena-level force while keeping the emotional directness that fueled her breakthrough. Her 2026 positioning now serves as a benchmark for what sustained investment in live performance can deliver.
11. Barry Can’t Swim – 2025
Barry Can’t Swim’s 2025 set offers a clear example of an emerging artist using All Points East to signal a new career phase. The Scottish producer and DJ translated the textural detail of his studio work into a live show that reviewers called one of the year’s most distinctive electronic performances.
The set drove notable post-festival press and streaming growth. Commentators often point to it as evidence that a single, well-executed festival appearance can outperform a standard release cycle in shaping momentum. Barry Can’t Swim enters 2026 as one of the UK’s most closely watched electronic names, with this performance cited as the turning point.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I find recordings of All Points East sets?
Setlist.fm hosts crowd-sourced setlists for most All Points East performances from 2018 onward, which helps with tracking songs and running order. Fan-shot videos on YouTube cover many of the key sets, though official recordings vary by artist. Some performers have also released live albums or official festival recordings on major streaming platforms.
Which years produced the strongest emerging-artist performances at All Points East?
2021 and 2025 stand out for emerging-artist impact. In 2021, Jorja Smith’s performance showed how a debut-album artist could use a major festival slot to build international credibility. In 2025, Barry Can’t Swim’s set created post-festival momentum usually reserved for the most successful new-artist appearances at major UK events.
How does live festival energy differ from what an artist delivers on recorded work?
Live festival sets introduce variables such as crowd response, production scale, physical performance, and real-time decisions that studio recordings cannot fully capture. Artists like Nick Cave have built reputations on creating emotional experiences in person that feel distinct from their recorded output. For fans, this difference makes festival attendance a separate and often deeper way to connect with the music.
What makes All Points East different from other major UK festivals?
All Points East’s Victoria Park setting, occasional single-stage-focused programming, and booking approach give it a different feel from Glastonbury or Reading. Lineups often place electronic, indie, and pop acts alongside more experimental artists. The festival also tends to book performers at key career moments rather than relying only on current chart position.
How do platforms like OnesToWatch connect festival discoveries to ongoing artist tracking?
Curated discovery platforms provide context that helps fans move from one standout set to a deeper understanding of an artist’s catalog and trajectory. Instead of mirroring existing listening habits, these platforms highlight artists for qualities like live potential and distinctive vision, the same traits that often define memorable festival performances.
Conclusion
From 2018 through 2025, All Points East has consistently signaled which artists are ready to step up a level. Each performance in this list features an artist arriving at Victoria Park with something specific to prove or solidify, then using the festival’s platform to do exactly that. The path from The xx’s restrained 2018 headline to Barry Can’t Swim’s 2025 breakthrough underlines how central the live set remains to modern artist development.
For listeners who want to spot the next wave of festival-defining acts early, curated discovery remains a reliable shortcut. Check out OnesToWatch’s Top Artists To Watch in 2026.