"East Hastings" is a three-part composition by Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor from the 1998 CD release of their debut studio album F⯠A⯠âÂÂ. The song is named after East Hastings Street in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The composition consists of three movements: "Nothing's Alrite in Our Life..." / "The Dead Flag Blues (Reprise)", "The Sad Mafioso...", and "Drugs in Tokyo" / "Black Helicopter".
An edited version of "The Sad Mafioso..." was used in the film 28 Days Later and its subsequent sequel, 28 Years Later. The song is also featured towards the end of the fifth episode of the show Under the Banner of Heaven. âÂÂThe Sad Mafiosoâ¦â is a regular closer to their live shows, being played over 250 times since reforming in 2010 as of June 2025. As a live set closer, the piece starts with a noisy improvisation, with the band singing along to the tune after the first crescendo. As a drumroll closes out the song, the band utilizes feedback and improvisation in an extended noisy outro slowly quieting as the band members leave the stage.
"East Hastings" begins with a bagpipe reprise of the main theme of the previous track, "The Dead Flag Blues", accompanied by a recording of a street preacher. Both recordings fade out into a soft drone, which begins the next movement.
The second section, "The Sad Mafioso..." begins with a slow, repeating guitar theme, slowly building as drums and strings are added. The music becomes faster and more aggressive before switching to double time, ending, and transitioning into the third and final section.
A pulsating drone starts the final movement, and fades into a guitar loop, before being overtaken by a buzzing, electronic drone, which ends the song.
During an interview with The Guardian, director Danny Boyle of 28 Days Later and 28 Years Later explained, "I always try to have a soundtrack in my mind [when creating a film]. Like when we did Trainspotting, it was Underworld. For me, the soundtrack to 28 Days Later was Godspeed. The whole film was cut to Godspeed in my head."
The song does not appear on ' because the rights to the song could not be obtained.