The Big Moon, Superfood, Yowl and more bring the noise for Jager Curtain Call at All Points East

Last year, DIY teamed up with Jager Curtain Call to curate a full day of musical treats on the Jagerhaus stage at Bestival. This year, it’s the turn of new East London weekender All Points East, and as hordes of lads mill around to the sounds of Catfish and the Bottlemen outside, we’ve got a little pocket of, if not solace, then at least a decent whack of raucous good times to be found by way of an antidote. Unsurprisingly, it’s packed all day.

Kicking off proceedings with the flamboyance and theatricality of a Glastonbury headliner rather than a 2pm opener, Sports Team are a gloriously grandiose proposition from start to finish. Spinning witty yarns of quintessentially British surburbia, they’re part Pulp faded glamour, part Pavement slackerisms, all served up in a playfully tongue-in-cheek package. In frontman Alex Rice, they’ve got a natural born show off and he’s all the better for it; prancing and posturing around the stage, regularly splaying his arms in a fully Christ-like crucifix manner, he’s an obvious proponent of the ‘dance like someone’s definitely watching’ school of thought. They are, and they bloody love it.

Glasgow’s Sweaty Palms (one of this year’s Curtain Call focus bands – watch this space) follow, with a set that channels the murkier end of South London’s finest. Like a deliciously scummy Fat Whites from the north, their particular family’s clearly been raised on a diet of Buckfast and cigarettes; by the end, they’re all fully tops off (or should that be taaaps aahf), and howling into the night.

Kent boys Lady Bird might only be one EP into their still fledgling careers but, judging by today’s ravenous crowd, there’s already a mighty appetite for their short, sharp stabs of social commentary. With a circle pit throughout and the crowd even singing back as-yet-unreleased tracks, the trio return the energy with gusto, spitting out cuts from said EP ‘Social Potions’ with vein-popping intensity. “They’re like The Streets on speed,” we overhear one excitable crowd member yell. It’s not far off.

LIFE are next, and though singer Mez Green’s references to hometown Hull
might be a fair way away from their origins, the quartet’s politically conscious punk resonates as strongly in the capital as in the North. Now gearing up towards the beginnings of LP2, they’ve got a couple of newies in their arsenal to pepper debut ‘Popular Music”s wired blasts. Recent single ‘Grown Up’ is a rallying battle cry, while another fresh offering hints that they’ve got the darker side of the indie dancefloor in mind.