Welcome To Karma! Magazine

Words by Charlotte Pickthall
Photo by Khali Ackford

When I visited Victoria Park for All Points East, I was first greeted by the tube gates of Hackney Wick, a familiar and exciting sign for this northerner that I was in London, the city of all culture, music and possibilities. What I didn’t expect was to see that same tube line transformed into the centrepiece of a Victoria Park stage that evening: bright lights, graffiti and a man in red leather head-to-toe standing on top – I am of course talking about Tyler, The Creator’s performance. 

The first thing that struck me about Tyler’s first night headlining All Points East was his magnificent stage setup. It felt quintessentially London without becoming cliché, creating a sense of community and togetherness that I feel has been missing from crowds as of late. His stage was a life-size, perhaps even larger, recreation of a tube station, complete with a traditional Underground roundel reading ‘Victoria Park’, white tiles, and a huge tube covered in bright graffiti reading ‘Don’t Tap the Glass’ – a nod to his most recent album. A light at the top of the stage flashed between ‘Victoria Park’ and ‘Hackney Wick’, providing a sense of pride to the Londoners in the crowd.

Some music performances can feel as though they could happen anywhere, at any time – easily repeatable and packaged up to be copy and pasted across the globe. Tyler’s headline set felt very different. This was a bespoke performance for All Points East 2026 in Victoria Park, and every detail felt intentional. It was his first night headline performance, and the crowd savoured every moment, buzzing with joy and attention throughout the entirety of his set. Even as people began leaving the venue at 11PM, they were still dancing and singing, filled with Tyler’s infectious energy.

That intentional and intimate feeling, despite the size of the crowd, was one of the most engaging elements of the night. Tyler managed to make a huge festival performance feel surprisingly personal, and that sense of occasion set this night apart from a regular performance that could simply be transplanted to any other city.

Anyone who is a fan of Tyler, the Creator, or has even seen clips of him online, will likely be familiar with his funny, outspoken and often provocative personality. He couldn’t resist showing this side of himself during the set, particularly when he spoke about ‘that bitch Theresa May’ (his own words), and his experience of being banned from the UK in 2015 over concerns surrounding lyrics that could ‘foster hate and public disorder’.

During his speech about that period, the crowd at APE did what UK crowds do best: started a chant. As the crowd chanted ‘wanker’, Tyler seemed surprised but, most importantly, slightly amused. That reaction created a sense of reward within the crowd for provoking a positive response from an artist who is famous for giving as much disapproval as he pleases.

As the sun set, Tyler began his set with high-energy songs from CHROMAKOPIA, including ‘Darling, I’, ‘Thought I Was Dead’, and ‘Noid’. Although his first night of headlining didn’t include guests like the following two nights, the crowd had no trouble filling in for Sexxy Red’s verse on ‘Sticky’, furthering the sense of crowd community that made the location feel more like a club dance floor than a park.

After an emotional performance of ‘Like Him’, accompanied by the transition into the dusky evening sky, Tyler moved into some of his older material from ‘Goblin’ and ‘Cherry Bomb’, such as ‘She’ and ‘Smuckers’. He then finished with songs from ‘Igor and Flower Boy’, closing with the iconic ‘See You Again’.

The song’s recent traction and popularity online was undoubtedly a contributing factor to the crowd’s fervoured response to it. Some sang the ‘la, la, la’ section while others took on the ‘OK, OK, OK’ (which sounds rather crazy if you aren’t familiar with the song, but trust me on this one). Once again, it reinforced the sense of fellowship that ran throughout the entire night.

The Friday line up for All Points East varied significantly, with artists such as Rex Orange County, Mariah the Scientist, and Ravyn Lenae playing in just one day. It was apparent that not everyone in the crowd that night had come to the festival especially for Tyler, or were remotely familiar with his music. Nonetheless, he managed to capture the attention of everyone, even in the pouring rain, with dancing, jumping, laughing, and the occasional bopping from someone’s unsuspecting mum throughout.

I arrived in Hackney that morning, feeling the infamous London excitement, and by the end of the day, Tyler’s performance itself had created that same feeling. In the darkness, with the moon illuminating the crowd alongside the flashing stage lights, Victoria Park felt less like a festival site and more like one big group of friends dancing together. For a performance built so deliberately around its place in London, there couldn’t have been a more fitting way to end the night.