10 Years Of ATP!
As usual this year’s ATP was split over two weekends, the first saw shoegaze legends My Bloody Valentine curate a lineup that included Sonic Youth, De La Soul and The Horrors. The second event was slightly different, as it tied in with the festival’s tenth anniversary, the organisers put together an appropriate line up to celebrate. In what can only be described as a “best of ATP” 10 Years Of ATP was littered with former curators including Shellac, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Mars Volta and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. For those who are unaware, ATP takes place in a Butlins holiday camp. Something of a British institution, Butlins usually hosts families with rowdy kids, taking advantage of the sites veritable activities. Tents are exchanged for chalets and the stages are located within the vast walls of the resort’s centre. Hosting a festival that showcases the best in alternative music within a venue that contains garish games machines and fast food outlets is quite a juxtaposition, but it’s one that strangely works.
Photos by oliverspall
The Mars Volta
While Pavement are warming up for their reunion gigs, as well as curating next year’s ATP, Stephen Malkmus had more pressing matters to attend with his other band The Jicks. Their laid back college rock drew a huge crowd and proved to be the perfect warm up before Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. ATP pioneered the “album set”, where a band plays one of their albums in full, and it seemed only right that this year would showcase such a set. A slightly delayed Yeah Yeah Yeah’s tore onto the stage to the arpeggiated electronic riff of ‘Rich’ before playing their debut album ‘Fever To Tell’ in its entirety. Seven years on from release their debut almost feels like a greatest hits with ‘Date With The Night’, ‘Maps’ and ‘Y Control’ all inspiring feverish reactions from the crowd. Post Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, Icelandic collective múm wowed with their atmospheric electronic before giving way to F**k Buttons who gave one the essential performances of the weekend. With the release of their second album ‘Tarot Sport’ the Bristolian duo seemed to have upped a gear with their live shows, forming queues outside the centre stage.
Saturday again boasted a huge lineup, with many forced to make excruciating choices between bands. The festival’s house band Shellac took to the stage for their first set of the weekend and delivered a typically grinding performance, made slightly more jovial with the inclusion of their usual impromptu Q&A session. Bassist Bob Weston fielded predictably ridiculous questions from the crowd, while Steve Albini tuned his guitar. Next on the Pavilion Stage Battles debuted songs from the forthcoming second album, while also playing a fantastic rendition of live favourite ‘Atlas’ amongst a clutch of songs from ‘Mirrored’. While details of the new album are thin on the ground at the moment, on the basis of this performance it’s sure to deliver to their high standard. Arriving to catch the tail end of The Melvins, the toughest choice of tonight’s line up was whether to choose Modest Mouse or The Breeders. Opting for Modest Mouse seemed to be a strong option, although lead singer Isaac Brook suffered with his voice he prevailed through their fan friendly set. For many the most staggering performance of the weekend came from Sunn O))). Their hypnotic drone laden set was one of the most talked about throughout the weekend. For those who couldn’t take it, relief came in the form of a Belle & Sebastian DJ set, playing a wealth of feel good northern soul, Motown and pop to a rammed dancefloor.
By Sunday the barrage of alcohol and fast food had begun to take its toll on various sections of the crowd. It’s at this stage of proceedings when the fluorescent glare of the ever present arcade machines begin to take their toll; but any hangovers were quickly shaken off by Shellac’s second set of the weekend. There really couldn’t have been a more apt house band for the festival’s anniversary. Following on, Captain Beefheart associates The Magic Band opened yet another jaw dropping lineup on the Pavilion stage. Quickly jumping to the Centre Stage to catch the tail end of a typically jaunty performance from Deerhoof, many then filed back to see Devendra Barnhart‘s commanding performance. ATP then drew up another of the weekend’s tough choices, the enchanting post-rock of Explosions In The Sky or the influential godfathers of grunge Mudhoney. The draw of Mudhoney proved too strong and while Explosions attracted their share of punters, those who heard the familiar wail of ‘Touch Me I’m Sick’ knew they’d made a sensible choice.
While The Mars Volta have previously been criticised for their prog leanings, especially when performing, they clearly got caught up in the nostalgia of the event and played as close to a “hits” set as you could hope. Opening with ‘Son et Lumiere/Inertiatic Esp’ from debut album ‘De-Loused In The Comatorium’, the pair instantly delivered what the crowd was hoping for. Backed by their faultless band, Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez clearly relished the opportunity to close proceedings on the Pavilion stage. The final band on the Sunday were Lightning Bolt. Usually the pair prefer to perform in the crowd rather than the stage, however their set was delivered on stage this weekend – something that the rabid queue waiting outside were no doubt thankful for. Delivering a set cluttered with tracks from their most recent album, 2009’s ‘Earthly Delights’, Lightning Bolt gave the audience a fittingly hectic goodbye.
All Tomorrows Parties succeeds in that it continues to deliver line ups that cater perfectly to their core audience; on success of this weekend there seems no reason why they can’t continue for another decade.
Battles
