Five Hours Of Chaos For 45 Minutes Of Brilliance, And It Wasn’t Enough

All Points East: Cleo Sol, Sault, Chronixx Review

In the long-awaited anticipation of my Spotify Wrapped last year, for the first time in a long time, I had no idea who my Most Listened To Artist would be.

I had spent the whole year following my musical curiosity to wherever it led me, and as a result, I discovered a catalogue of amazing music from a variety of different artists. By the time Spotify Wrapped rolled around, there were far too many contenders for the top spot.

Cleo Sol’s emergence as the victor was deeply refreshing, because she didn’t release any new music or stage a concert I attended. I simply spent all that time listening to her because as a late addition to her fanbase, I had a whole discography to fall in love with, and fall in love I did.

That made the news that she would headline a day of the only festival I attend all the more exciting, especially alongside her Sault collaborators, who were another beautiful addition from my curiosity rabbit hole.

This adoration and anticipation made the subsequent disappointment at the organisation of the headline set at the opening day of All Points East Festival 2025 even more disheartening.

Sault

All Points East always has a stacked line up; in three years of attending at least one day of the festival, I have gotten accustomed to making hard choices between multiple artists I would like to see, so missing Nao to meet the start of the 5pm headline set was not a big sacrifice for me.

My instincts told me Sault would be the first ones up, despite no information from the All Points East schedule, which had brought the final performances an hour earlier last-minute and had the East Stage as the only option from 6pm onwards.

Unfortunately, I missed Nao for nothing and we waited a full hour for the performance to start in 30 degree heat.

This wait was worsened by the set starting with an endless procession of actors while an orchestra performed in the background, then the start of a play we would struggle to follow for the rest of the evening, and a performance by an African praise choir.

I was initially intrigued by the theatrics and impressed with the elaborate set design, which included a sand igloo and a massive pyramid. I had never witnessed anything like it in a festival setting, so the excitement of a new experience was exhilarating.

However, the length of each bit, coupled with the weather, and the fact that no (known) member of Sault was in sight for the first 30 minutes meant that excitement quickly dissipated.

It would have been so beautiful if Sault’s music was placed at the centre of the display, but instead they seemingly prioritised the fanfare of their clearly unlimited budget, and this sacrificed any clarity of message that could have surfaced.

The standout performances were Free, Let Me Go, Masterpiece and Pray For Me largely due Cleo Sol’s ethereal voice. However, those were a few of the very limited selection of songs she vocalised that she was actually on stage for, as each appearance was punctuated with unnecessary outfit changes and incongruous choreography from the burnt ochre cloak-clad dance crew.

Faith was another highlight as Chronixx shared his verse in his own desert-toned outfit, complete with a mask true to the many Dune nods we saw over the course of the day. I couldn’t help but yearn for Cleo Sol to be by his side for that one, but asking for more than one vocalist at a time during this set was clearly too greedy.

Rapper Mos Def also briefly appeared to seamlessly deliver his verse on Stop Dem, I wish I could say that was his only appearance of the evening.

For many of the songs, we were only entertained by the dancers I had grown to loathe despite their surprisingly dynamic moves for music that had no need for it.

It was obvious that Sault prioritised the execution of this unfortunate creative direction over giving the enthusiastic and gracious audience any opportunity to connect with the music that moved them to shell out upwards of £90.

Chronixx

After an hour of waiting in silence, and a further hour and 50 minutes of suffering through Sault’s chaotic set, our saving grace came in the form of Chronixx’s performance.

I wasn’t a Chronixx fan before the show, but after watching him somehow pull a day that many had written off back into a place of celebration, I can definitely say my status has changed.

His voice was rich and passionate, the set list was well-curated and the band complemented him perfectly, all with the backdrop of the setting sun.

I went from wailing from a lack of energy to dancing for at least 30 minutes straight, before the inevitable exhaustion caught up to me. Eventually, I found myself on the floor waiting for the set to end, because only the adrenaline of witnessing an artist you truly love can keep you going fully sober at a festival after hours of standing and walking around.

I hated to be a vibe-killer in the midst of true fans and I wished more than ever, that they had kept the other stages open and given us more casual listeners an opportunity to see another artist at a different stage to break up our evening and restore some energy.

Mos Def

Once Chronixx wrapped things up around 9pm, I was certain that Cleo Sol would be out within the next 30 minutes. I knew Victoria Park had an 11pm curfew and thought after all we had suffered, we would get at least over an hour of the first name on the bill.

Unfortunately not. We were revisited by our Sunday school theatre crew with the conclusion of their play of torment for another 20 minutes.

My feelings of defeat were amplified by Mos Def’s arrival on the stage. Perhaps showing my age and lack of knowledge, but I was entirely unaware of Mos Def before his first appearance during Sault’s set.

Thankfully, my friend was quick to educate me as a huge fan of his music. We were both blessed to see our previous Most Listened To Artists on the day, but she was far less impressed by hers.

I’m sure you’ve seen the spinning TikToks by now. That was just a glimpse of the wackiness we were subjected to for 30 minutes. Honourable mentions include his careful placement of red and blue rose petals on the stage and his rapping over robot sounds.

At this point, I entered delirium. All Points East definitely kicked me while I was down.

I will say, said friend sent some of his music to me afterwards, and I can’t believe the same person who made Umi Says is who was in front of me that fateful day.

Cleo Sol

At long last. The person I bought the tickets for, my Most Listened To Artist of 2024, the reason I had held out for so long. There she was, on stage, a vision.

I wish I could say I kept the rage I had held for the five hours I spent waiting for her, but that would be a lie.

As she started Rose in the Dark, I let all of that frustration roll off of me, and I basked in the beauty of her silky voice. I wish I could tattoo every note change on my skin and frame all her whispered affirmations that came in between belted bridges and heartful choruses.

In one fell swoop, I forgot it all, and I remembered how badly I wanted this moment in front of this incredible vocalist.

Her loyal crowd bonded over this switch up, I laughed with a fellow festivalgoer about crashing out for hours just to sing wholeheartedly as soon as I got what I came for.

When you listen to an artist and their music feels like magic, you wonder how on earth they’ve managed to bring all of those pieces together to create something so beautiful, and they’re rarely able to recreate it or transcend it live due to the beauty of production, but not Cleo Sol, every song was perfectly reconstructed and elevated with the help of her band, backing vocalists and orchestra.

My heart continuously returns to the unbelievable riffs and runs during There Will Be No Crying, show stopping vocals on the first verse of Sunshine, the way it felt like she sang only to me for Don’t Let Me Fall and the shared healing that gripped the entire park during Promises.

The beauty of each of those moments made it all the more painful when she said get home safe after serenading us from the top of the pyramid during Know That You Are Loved, we were at once soothed and betrayed and when our desperate plea for one more song swiftly changed to three more songs, and we danced to the encore Why Don’t You, while dreading her eminent departure as the lights came on.

Cleo Sol how could you enchant us so wholly and leave us so soon?

As I walked out of the festival, the length of her performance brought back the almost forgotten pain of the entire day, what could have been an easy fix became a bitter reminder.