Barry Can’t Swim played his first major festival headline at All Points East on his birthday, opening with the first track of his album Loner.
Barry Can’t Swim, the Mercury-shortlisted Edinburgh producer, headlined All Points East in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, on Friday 22 August 2025. It was his first major festival headline, and it fell on his birthday.
Born Joshua Spence Mainnie in 1992, he released his first EP, Amor Fati, in 2021. His debut album, When Will We Land?, followed on Ninja Tune in October 2023 and reached number 12 in the UK.
That record earned him a nomination for Best Dance Act at the 2024 Brit Awards. His second album, Loner, came out in July 2025.
He opened with “The Person You’d Like To Be”, the first track on Loner. He played with a live band inside a frame of horizontal and vertical lights, and the crowd sang him happy birthday at the close.
Confidence Man, Orbital, Shygirl, Avalon Emerson, The Blessed Madonna and Interplanetary Criminal played the same day. Marlon Hoffstadt brought his Daddycation show for its only UK date.