We try to catch as much of the fun as possible on a buzzing Saturday night in the Shoreditch underworld.

The multi-venue festival is something more often associated with smaller cities and towns (like Bristol’s Outer Town or Portsmouth Psych Fest) but East London Block Party seek to change that with their inaugural event in the capital’s east end. It takes place across three Shoreditch Venues: ex-Vice event space Old Blue Last, the subterranean Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes and Strongroom, a relative newcomer to the venue game. All are a short walking distance from each other.

Though ELBP may have lacked the scale of Brighton and Manchester counterparts, it more than made up for it with a muscular lineup of London’s mightiest heroes. The evening’s first standout is an electrifying performance from Saloon Dion at Old Blue. It’s as if these guys have found a way to bottle cheeky lad brit pop energy and are all too eager to spray it all over the crowd like Formula 1 winners. You’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a Saloon Dion headliner the way the room is bouncing. An encore is demanded and they respond with an AC/DC cover. Vibes on toast.

On to Dream Bags where Hot Face take to the stage/floor before a much calmer crowd. The latest graduates from the University of Speedy Wunderground shine brightest in their verses where their songwriting takes front and centre. The vocal melodies and delivery come across very Dandy Warhols at times and I’m here for it. Hopefully that they lean into it more on future recordings.

It’s Strongroom, though that sees the event’s best performer. Vanity Fairy is a bit like if a fortune teller reads your future but delivers it in an 80s synth-pop montage with Bee Gees vocals. Dressed in a glittery cape and 1920s headpiece, her stage presence is extraordinary: She dances across the stage, glides around the room and exits and re-enters through any door she can find. Halfway through she draws back the curtain, revealing a huge glass window at the back of the stage, and starts performing to confused Shoreditch Saturday-nighters. There’s a touching moment where a random drunk bloke and her touch hands through the glass like prison-divided lovers. 

Block Party’s debut climaxes with scene heavyweights Butch Kassidy. The dark knights of London post-rock don’t disappoint with their unique brand of crescendo-core doom-rock. You’d be forgiven for thinking drummer Aaron Murphy is hostile to moshers with his intricate jazz-esque beats but it doesn’t deter the boisterous audience from finding their rhythm in the chaos and bouncing restlessly. Butch Kassidy are worthy of the hype that surrounds them, and this performance will surely leave their fans gagging for a record.

DJ duties are assumed by Mandrake Handrake who see the night out on Old Blue’s ground floor. Its another welcome gear-change in an event that has tastefully balanced party vibes and scene big-hitters. The only issue this reporter has with East London Block Party is that there isn’t time to see it all.