24 August 2026
All Points East returned to Victoria Park on Friday 21 August, bringing thousands of music lovers together for a day that moved between R&B, Afrobeats, dance and everything in between.
With multiple stages running simultaneously, the beauty of All Points East is that no two people necessarily experience the same festival. While one crowd gathered for KWN, another was losing themselves to Uncle Waffles elsewhere in the park. Friends separated for different sets, reunited for drinks and disappeared again in pursuit of the next artist.
Amongst a packed line-up, KWN, Tems and Jorja Smith became three of the day’s defining performances, each bringing a completely different energy to Victoria Park.
KWN commanded the stage
For anyone who has been watching KWN’s rise, her All Points East performance demonstrated exactly why the excitement surrounding her continues to grow.
Her crowd was filled with true R&B lovers who knew the music and were ready to give back every bit of energy she brought to the stage. There was a genuine appreciation for her sound, and the love being poured towards her was visibly reciprocated throughout the performance.
KWN performed with the confidence of an artist completely comfortable in her own world. There was no sense of being swallowed by the scale of a festival stage; she took control of it.
Tracks including Do What I Say, Touch Myself and All Fours landed effortlessly, while Good Girl was a particular highlight.
Live, her music carried a completely different weight. The bass, production and vocals through a festival sound system made familiar songs feel bigger without losing the intimacy that makes her R&B so easy to connect with.
For newer fans, it was the kind of performance capable of turning casual listening into genuine fandom.
Tems sounded almost otherworldly
If KWN brought confidence and contemporary R&B energy, Tems brought something entirely different.
The size of the crowd gathering ahead of her performance gave an indication of what was coming. People could be seen making their way towards the stage from across the festival grounds, and by the time she appeared, the space was packed.
Then came the voice.
Hearing Tems through headphones is one thing. Hearing that voice carry across Victoria Park is another.
Mystical is perhaps the best description. At times, there is an almost siren-like quality to her vocals, particularly when heard live against the scale of an outdoor festival.
Rain Dance drew a huge reaction from the crowd, while Damages provided another standout moment.
What elevated the performance, however, was the space Tems created between the songs.
Rather than simply moving through a setlist, she spoke to the audience. Sometimes she would paint a scenario that naturally led into the next track; at other points she took a moment to offer uplifting words to the women and wider crowd.
It gave the performance an intimacy that should have been difficult to achieve in front of thousands of people.
Across the audience, strangers danced together, phones remained firmly in the air and the entire set seemed to place Victoria Park inside its own little bubble of happiness.
Vocally, Tems was one of the strongest performances of the day.
Jorja Smith slowed things down
Jorja Smith approached the festival stage differently again.
Her introduction immediately showed the level of craft that had gone into the production of her set, before she settled into the softer, more soothing sound that has become synonymous with much of her music.
Vocally, there was little to question. Jorja sounded amazing live, and her performance carried a calmness that contrasted nicely with some of the higher-energy sets throughout the day.
The pacing, however, leaned heavily towards her slower catalogue. It created a beautiful atmosphere, but towards the end of a long festival day, a few more upbeat records could perhaps have pushed the crowd into one final burst of energy.
Then came On My Mind.
And suddenly, Victoria Park had exactly that.
The opening of the track sparked an immediate reaction, with people who had already started making their way out of the park quite literally turning around and running back towards the music.
It was one of those festival moments that demonstrates the power of a song people have attached years of memories to.
The crowd sang along, phones went up and a relatively soothing set suddenly became nostalgic and euphoric.
For some, On My Mind will always be associated with a particular year, job, friendship or chapter of life. Hearing thousands of people reconnect with those memories simultaneously made it one of the most memorable few minutes of the evening.
One festival, several completely different experiences
Beyond the main performances, All Points East worked particularly well because music was never confined to one stage.
The Red Bull area became an attraction in its own right, complete with a mini dance-off and a stage inviting people to become part of the entertainment. At moments, it felt less like a brand activation and more like stepping into a music video from 2015.
Elsewhere, Uncle Waffles was creating an entirely different atmosphere. Videos from her set compared with KWN’s made it difficult to believe both crowds were standing in the same park at the same time.
That ability to move between sounds, artists and audiences is arguably one of the festival’s greatest strengths.
Victoria Park also lends itself well to an event of this scale. Despite thousands of people being present, stages, tents, bars and facilities were spaced well enough that the grounds rarely felt overwhelmingly cramped.
Moving between performances was straightforward, helped by maps around the grounds and the festival app, while large screens and strong sound meant standing further back didn’t require sacrificing the experience.
For those who would rather dance with some breathing room than fight their way towards the front, that matters.
The music made the day
Ultimately, Friday belonged to the performances.
KWN demonstrated why her momentum continues to build, delivering the strongest stage presence of the three and a set made for people who genuinely love R&B.
Tems provided the vocal performance of the day. Her ability to make such a huge audience feel connected to both her and the music was something special.
Jorja Smith offered the softer chapter of the evening before On My Mind provided a final rush of nostalgia and one of those rare moments capable of making people who were already leaving turn around and run back.
Three women. Three very different approaches to performing. Three completely different relationships with their audiences.
And that variety captured what All Points East does particularly well.
People arrived knowing the artists they absolutely had to see, separated from their friends to chase different stages and eventually reunited with completely different stories of the same festival.
For this particular Friday, KWN won the day, Tems delivered the vocal masterclass, and Jorja Smith provided the moment worth running back for.
★★★★★ — 5/5
All Points East is the kind of festival where you arrive knowing exactly who you came to see and leave having discovered just how much more there was to experience.
Words by Jada Macauley
Photography by Bethan Miller Carey