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All Points East: Barry Can’t Swim | Orbital | Confidence Man
Victoria Park, London
22nd August 2025
Tom Parry sees a new generation of dance acts attracting the biggest crowds at All Points East in London, but it’s the veterans who make the most unruly noise.
In front of the East Stage at the far corner of the All Points East festival, the audience for one of the most long-established groups in British dance music was gathering, but slowly. Having traipsed across the Victoria Park site, I was surprised by the size of the crowd for Orbital’s arrival, but then I realised that most of the people around me were not even born when the Hartnoll brothers’ seminal early ’90s beats and loops burst from festivals and outdoor raves. With Barry Can’t Swim, whose first album came out just two years ago, as the main headliner, this was a line-up with youth very much at its forefront.
Dominated by cutting-edge electronic acts, Friday at All Points East positioned emerging artists at the top of the bill. First up for me was Prospa, a duo very much inspired by some of the acts that brought dance music into the mainstream like The Chemical Brothers, whom they have referenced as a major influence. I stayed somewhere around the back for a while, but it felt very much like this was music you needed to be close to the action to appreciate, ideally in a club without the many distractions around me. All Points East manages to contain multiple stages, a few fairground rides, and many bars and outlets in a relatively small space, so there is always a lot of traffic between destinations.
After checking out a few smaller acts, including the admirably energetic but not quite emphatic enough Wiz The MC, at some of the lesser stages, I made it to the main West Stage for Confidence Man. The last time I saw this incredibly enthused and carefully choreographed group on stage was in a much more intimate space. But with an immense crowd in front of them, much of the raw, fun energy they perpetuate was slightly lost. Not to say they didn’t give it their all though. Confidence Man captured something and – I think – are happy to poke fun at themselves and the people staring at them. The sultry poses seemed like a pastiche of today’s influencers and stadium-filling sensuality. Or maybe not. If I’m honest, I’m not entirely sure what their message is, but they pump out driving tunes which occasionally climb to giddy heights.
For me, Orbital was the only must-see of the day. Tellingly, as I looked around me down the front, it was like all of the people old enough to remember those seminal Orbital moments from 30 years ago had unconsciously agreed to congregate, leaving everyone else to catch the end of Confidence Man’s set. Orbital started with Dirty Rat, their collaboration with Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson, from their last album, and then focused on the familiar – which was no bad thing. Whereas so much of what I had seen earlier in the day was stylised, contrived even at some points, this was just two guys who’ve been making euphoric, pulsating dance music since the early days of the rave scene, and are still just as good now. The projections on the screen behind the brothers at their console at the front of the stage were incredible. For about an hour myself and everyone around me was completely lost in these forceful, transcendent anthems.
There was an interesting moment towards the end when the crowd suddenly swelled, incorporating thousands who had moved across the site. The giddiness of the mood dipped slightly, and the dancing was noticeably more self-conscious. Not that anyone cared. This was a perfect set, although the arrival of Confidence Man’s front duo on stage for the last tune didn’t quite work for me. Phil Hartnoll remarked how he had seen The Clash at this same location for the Rock Against Racism gig in 1978 before leaving the stage – a different era altogether.
The day ended with Barry Can’t Swim drawing in pretty much everyone on site, although quite a few people did seem to be slipping away early to beat the rush, some coughing from the noxious dust cloud kicked up by so many footsteps.
Again, this was dance music much more delicately put-together than the onslaught of Orbital. For every impetuous crescendo and drop, there seemed to be too much time occupied by fiddling about which – for me – didn’t really seem to be propelling the music forward with the relentless direction that an act like Orbital has. With a live drummer and string players, there was plenty to look at. The laser show was spectacular too, but I couldn’t help but feel that was making up for music that was, in between some absolute bangers, slightly too careful and self-aware for a gig on this scale.
The bouncing at the front told a different story though, of people who were far, far too young to remember Orbital absolutely loving it.
~
Words by Tom Parry, you can find his author’s archive here plus on Twitter and his website
Official photos supplied, as credited
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