Joe GallopAEG Presents CEO of European Festivals Jim King discusses the new production elements and steadfast partnerships at All Points East Festival (cap. 50,000), along with AEG’s pivotal summer season that also includes the upcoming Rock en Seine (40,000) in Paris and Forwards (60,000) in Bristol.
How is the preparation going for All Points East?
The team is on-site now, and we’re in the early days of the build, so far, so good. Victoria Park is a wonderful site to work in, it’s one of London’s best parks for events. It has a natural layout and landscape, with wooded areas that soften the space, making it more than just one large open area. It’s a beautiful, natural space for us to bring an event into. What we do there works really well with the space we have.
Are there any new production elements at this year’s event?
We have some great partners and sponsors this year, and there will be surprises for attendees with the stages. The supporting stages play an integral role throughout the day, allowing fans to see a lot of emerging talent. We’ve made significant production uplifts to the main stages and the North Arena. We aim to offer artists a headline experience on both the East and West stages, allowing them to bring their full production to the event. We’ve also been working on audio and acoustic updates, especially around the East stage.
Beyond All Points East, how has this summer gone for AEG so far?
This summer is really important for us. It’s been a challenging summer in terms of international headliners coming into Europe. There’s no necessarily unknown reason for that—it’s just a cycle thing. But across our business, especially when we’re doing multiple days of events, you need the biggest, broadest options for talent, especially from the US. That’s thrown some challenges up for the whole market.
If you look at BST, for instance, it was one of our top three in the 11 years or so of running the event. In a tough market, delivering that was a real achievement. I was really pleased with the team. We had strong investment from our partners and sponsors, and the acts performed brilliantly. We had some real highlights, some of the best shows we’ve ever had in Hyde Park. Stevie Nicks was one of those special moments, it is hard to articulate how powerful that was. And Kylie delivered one of the best sets we’ve seen in the park.
The development of K-pop in outdoor spaces was great to see off the back of Blackpink’s success, and seeing Stray Kids perform equally well. That diversification of music in Hyde Park has been great to see. All Points East continues to grow, with high-quality artists booked this year. People see Victoria Park as a premium destination when playing in London. Having artists that can sell 50,000 tickets in London is incredible. Mitski is going to be an unbelievable success, and Loyle Carner is playing one of his largest shows ever. There’s a great vibe about the show generally.
Further afield, we’ve seen great success at Forwards in Bristol, we’ve got Loyle and LCD Soundsystem playing there. The one-off show we’re doing with Massive Attack, Act 1.5, carries a very important [environmental sustainability] message. We’re happy to help the band deliver that event and proud of our role in supporting them.
Rock en Seine will have its strongest year ever. After some tough years, it has reimagined itself as one of the premium events in mainland Europe. This year, it’s our strongest ever, with the most tickets sold and five nights all going to sell out. Even in a year when they had the Olympics there, which can impact events, we’re very pleased with how 2024 has gone. There’s even more to look forward to in 2025, with some new activity announcements coming in the next few months.
For All Points East, are you working with the same suppliers as in previous years?
Yes, we prefer not to change suppliers unless necessary. We’ve built a great team within our supply chain, none more so than in audio. We’ve worked with Capital since the first edition of BST in 2013, along with Vanguardia, our acoustic consultants, who are among the best in the world. We brought them in to help us resolve and improve the challenges of working in Hyde Park, and then we brought that same team into All Points East. They’ve helped us improve the audio experience at Victoria Park, which is an ongoing process as technology and artist requirements evolve.
How important is the free community programme that you run?
‘In the Neighbourhood’ is the backbone of our community programme, which ensures that the park is free to access and open on days when we’re not holding major events. This concept allows park users to enjoy the space with enhancements and offerings like free cinema, health and well-being sessions, and opportunities for young people to engage with the event infrastructure. We take this very seriously and are proud of our work in this area.
