All Points East 2024: HarleighBlu On The Festival

All Points East festival - Photography by @khaliphotography

All Points East sees its 6th year, held in Victoria Park. With 6 main festival days ending Sunday 25th August, also scheduled is In The Neighbourhood, a fun and free festival for all the family 19th-22nd August. The roster also boasts a literature day and film screenings, further engaging the community and travelling festival-goers with more than just music. 

Acts include a well curated spectrum of talents, from legendary to the up-and-coming, giving relatability for its audience. Notably, LCD sound system who featured in All Points East first installment is part of 2024’s lineup. BLK Brit attended the opening day Friday 16th August, spectating the brilliance of UK and international talents; from the beautiful vocals of Nia Smith to the highly anticipated Kaytranada closing the highly charged evening.

BLK Brit attended the opening day Friday 16th August, spectating the brilliance of UK and international talents; from the beautiful vocals of Nia Smith to the highly anticipated Kaytranada closing the highly charged evening. We caught up with Nottingham talent Harleighblu, whose bold, soulful performance excited existing fans and undoubtedly garnered new ones experiencing her music for the first time.

Harleighblu - photography by @Sarahsamira

Are you looking forward to your All Points East experience?

“I just had one, like a little cheeky vibe or two. It’s like a pre-party set, so I’m gonna go all in tomorrow - I’ve got my DJ, going to play piano and do a few different bits so yeah I caught a vibe today and it was wicked. I can’t believe that literally tomorrow I’ll be able to say that I supported Kaytranada so I’m very gassed about that.”

And the track that you’ve got, it goes along with it -

“Oh my gosh, that was like a new thing. I literally just started doing a few more dancing type of tunes and I was like the Kaytranada support would be the perfect place to test these out. What I’m doing at the moment is, I’m writing songs, I’ll write like 50 songs and like two so I’m like, I want to test it out on a real live audience and get a real live feedback. Vibe check it!”

I’m looking forward to the experience, it’s so nice seeing more UK artists being represented in these spaces. I know you’ve done a lot of collaborations with international acts; Germany and the states. How did those come about?

“It’s interesting because I’m independent. I get all of my opportunities myself, so if I like an artist or a producer, I’d just approach them. So I heard Bluestaeb for the first time on a night out at Jazz Cafe and I hit his manager up, and then we’ve got an album together. Illa J, we’ve played Colours within a week of each other and our Colors came out at the same time. So I fucked with his Colors so much and he fucked with mine. Then when I went to LA, I hit him up like ‘yo bro, we need to work together, what you saying’ and he was like ‘yo I’ve been a fan for years, so let’s do it’. Now we’re working on my solo rap, we’ve done two projects together as well, I’ve just been on tour with him in Germany. Illa believing in me definitely has made people’s eyes open a bit more to me because I think he’s such a respected, amazing artist.

I had to go internationally for a lot of my opportunities. But now, London’s eyes and ears are opening to neo-soul, hip-hop, new jazz, UK rave - like we’re just flourishing now. All these amazing artists, amazing festivals and we’re killing it. I’m so proud of where I’m from, this place, this country but I’ve been doing this a long time. I don’t want to tell the next amazing UK artist that’s coming up now that I had to go internationally to get the notice and now I can come home, and catch a vibe too.”

Last question, who are you looking forward to seeing? I know sometimes it’s manic and hectic when you’re performing, but who are you excited to see?

“Kaytranada! I am the biggest Kaytranada fan, I’ve got his record on vinyl - I’m that guy! I’m going to be at the front and I don’t even care. I’ll be at the front going mental”