In partnership with AEG
Each summer, Uber One Presents All Points East takes over London’s Victoria Park, bringing with it stellar line-ups of some of the best acts alternative music has to offer. The shows are opportunities to watch bona fide legends supported by an undercard of established greats and rising stars – and 2024’s festival line-up is no different.
Among this year’s headliners are some artists who’ve made seismic waves in music over the last two decades. On August 23, New York dance-punks LCD Soundsystem will return to the capital, arsenal of acerbic bangers in tow, while August 25 sees a Ben Gibbard double whammy, with The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie sharing headline duties. Both bands will perform iconic albums – ‘Give Up’ and ‘Transatlanticism’ – in full, as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of those records. As the indie sleaze revival continues, both shows will immerse fans in some of the best tunes from that era.
To get you geared up for the big days, NME has chosen some of the sexiest noughties bangers you’ll be able to hear in Vicky Park this August, from the bill-toppers to their support acts.
LCD Soundsystem – ‘All My Friends’ (2007)
The quintessential LCD Soundsystem set closer, ‘All My Friends’ has become the emotional heart of any performance by the New Yorkers. It’s got an incredibly infectious hook in its rippling, stumbling piano riff and lyrics that speak to the existential concerns of getting older, it all ending with James Murphy clinging to the one thing that makes everything OK – your closest pals.
The bit everyone will scream: “If I could see all my friends tonight”, probably while embracing any mates around them.
The Postal Service – ‘Such Great Heights’ (2003)
If you only know one song by The Postal Service, it’s likely this one. ‘Such Great Heights’ is easily the band’s most famous song and for good reason – it merges crunchy electronic beats with a glittering synth melody and Ben Gibbard’s unpolished, emotive vocals. As he sings, the frontman encapsulates the rush of a great relationship that feels like it’s never going to falter.
The bit everyone will scream: The beautiful chorus that boasts, “They will see us waving from such great heights.”
Death Cab For Cutie – ‘The Sound Of Settling’ (2003)
‘The Sound Of Settling’ almost didn’t make it onto Death Cab For Cutie’s seminal album, ‘Transatlanticism’. One of the band’s most buoyant cuts, it flew in the face of Ben Gibbard’s tastes – strictly not upbeat. Thankfully, it made the final cut, giving us a bitesize indie-rock anthem that sounds as joyous now as it did when it was first released.
The bit everyone will scream: The deceptively bright “bop-ba” chants in the chorus.
LCD Soundsystem – ‘Losing My Edge’ (2002)
Keeping up with the kids is an anxiety that plagues each generation as they leave their youth behind and James Murphy captured that feeling perfectly on LCD’s debut single. The track is essentially one long list aiming to prove the musician’s cool, his evidence becoming more and more far-fetched as the song builds, insisting he “was there” for everything from playing Daft Punk “to the rock kids” at CBGBs to being in the room when Captain Beefheart started his first band.
The bit everyone will scream: When Murphy punctuates a list of his record collection with yelps of “Gil! Scott! Heron!”
The Postal Service – ‘We Will Become Silhouettes’ (2003)
Despite the upbeat, bright atmosphere of ‘We Will Become Silhouettes’, the song isn’t actually as positive as it might sound. The lyrics detail living in a post-apocalyptic world, Ben Gibbard’s lyrics depicting cupboards of canned food and air polluted with toxins that “will make our cells divide at an alarming rate”.
The bit everyone will scream: The doom-laden line “We’ll become / Silhouettes when our bodies finally go.”
Death Cab For Cutie – ‘The New Year’
The opening track of Death Cab’s 2003 album ‘Transatlanticism’, ‘The New Year’ puts us on the cusp – as one year ends and another begins. Within its grungy guitars and gloomy atmospherics, it captures the dissatisfaction with what’s come to pass and the resilience of hoping for the next spin through the calendar to be better.
The bit everyone will scream: The ultra-relatable opening lines: “So this is the new year / And I don’t feel any different.”
The Kills – ‘No Wow’ (2005)
In 2005, The Kills – aka Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince – cast a spell with minimalism and ‘No Wow’ was a masterclass in that. A large part of the track features just a ticking beat and the occasional interruption of a revving guitar as Mosshart delivers her seductive vocals. Midway through, though, it skyrockets, transforming into a forceful rocker.
The bit everyone will scream: The ferociously repeated “There aren’t no wow now” that brings everything to a thundering close.
LCD Soundsystem – ‘Tribulations’ (2005)
A fidgety highlight of LCD’s self-titled debut album, ‘Tribulations’ is built on a dark, doomy synth progression, but its the moments that falls away that create magic. At various points, that riff fades out in favour of clattering guitars or an ominous sparseness that centres James Murphy’s weary vocals, before everything comes back together in one urgent explosion.
The bit everyone will scream: The chorus line of “Get your payments from the nation / For your trials and tribulations”, with increasing intensity each go round.
Phoenix – ‘1901’
Phoenix’s ‘1901’ isn’t just one of the French band’s best songs, but perhaps one of the biggest indie bangers in the modern era. It’s got everything needed to get a crowd going – propulsive, stop-start riffs, a tumbling chorus, and air-punching “hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey” refrains, all wrapped up in one burst of exuberant indie glory.
The bit everyone will scream: Expect the volume in the field to skyrocket come every “hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey”.
Gossip – ‘Standing In The Way Of Control’ (2006)
‘Standing In The Way Of Control’ might be a modern indie disco classic, but its roots aren’t in parties but protest. The track was originally written by Beth Ditto in response to the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed bill that would have outlawed same-sex marriage in the US. No wonder, then, the song is driven by a sense of fierce urgency that makes you want to get up and move.
The bit everyone will scream: The defiant chorus in which Ditto roars: “Standing in the way of control / You live your life / Survive the only way that you know.”
Death Cab For Cutie – ‘We Looked Like Giants’ (2003)
‘We Looked Like Giants’ might not sound like its going to be a banger when it first kicks in, comprised of just a plodding drum beat. But when it explodes into life, it’s undeniable – and continues to ebb and flow in a way that only builds excitement throughout.
The bit everyone will scream: The closing verse that helps the song come to a drifting crescendo.
Sleater-Kinney – ‘Entertain’ (2005)
‘Entertain’ is classic Sleater-Kinney, from its buzzsaw guitars that swoop and loop through the track to Janet Weiss’ battering-ram drums, and the insistent yelped vocals that make you feel like you’re on a knife edge. In any live set from the band, its a cathartic opportunity to get stuck in the mosh pit and exorcise any negative energy.
The bit everyone will scream: The resilient backing vocals become prominent here, leading a chant of: “Don’t drag me down / I’m not running down.”
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