FESTIVAL REPORT: ATP vs the Fans 18/19/20 May 2007

FRIDAY: 'Hi, How are You?'



From the outset this was always going to be a different ATP experience than the Slint-curated event I attended two years ago. Different venue, different weather and an awful lot of bands that we all wanted to see, after all we had voted for half of them. One concern was that, with more than double the amount of people at this Butlins venue compared to Camber Sands, there may be queues and delays and general hassle, but due to great forward planning and organisation this didn't happen to any real extent over the three days.
After initial arrival and a lot of drinking in a giant pub on the seafront we checked in and flew straight up to the Centre Stage to see THE THERMALS kick off the whole weekend. They were a great choice of opener with their energetic punk rock and a lot of people get in to see them as well. I'm not going to get into set-lists and so on as this report will take forever, but suffice to say I've only heard their last album and I recognised a lot of the songs.
By now there was a huge crowd for DANIEL JOHNSTON and a false rumour circulating that he had missed his plane and wouldn't be appearing. Obviously not everyone in the crowd appreciated Daniel and what he has had to come through in order to even play live so some people were just playing "let's laugh at the funny guy", but mostly he got a heroes' welcome. Despite shaking like a leaf and sounding like he was playing his three-quarter sized with gloves on, it made me very happy that he could get up there and perform. He went on to play three more sets over the weekend, including one in a chalet so I think he enjoyed himself too.
Sadly YO LA TENGO aren't enjoying themselves as much as they should be on the main stage. They weren't the only band this weekend who would have benefited from a more intimate venue. The extended instrumentals like 'Pass the Hatchet' just got lost in this giant mall although the percussion based ones seemed to work ok. The long-lost 'Decora' and the encore of 'Speeding Motorcycle' with Daniel Johnston were pretty special though. Still, I love this band and although I've seen them loads of times I still plumped for them over THE NOTWIST in the first clash of the weekend. I learnt my lesson early - if the clash involved seeing a band in the Pavilion (giant daylight shopping mall) or the Centre stage (large dark nightclub) I went for the latter from here on in.
That decision means initially I plump for SPARKLEHORSE over MOGWAI, though as it was so easy to move between venues I get to see quite a bit of both. Sparklehorse are a low key, stripped down version of themselves with never more than three people on stage. It's occasionally lovely and I found myself reminded of how many good songs they have. I am too hyper to chill out for the rest of their set and I succumb to the overload that is Mogwai on the main stage. Sure they can be predictable - quiet bit gets loud gets quiet and comes back even louder - but they fill this venue with their sound and 'Glasgow Mega-Snake' just shreds the air. There is always something going on elsewhere at ATP and during the latter part of Mogwai's set I find myself utterly gripped by the Notts Forest v Yeovil play-off second leg which went to extra time (Yeovil won!).
I was thankful that my next gig was TALL FIRS in the Reds venue which was pretty chilled out and I even got a seat which recharged the batteries for the rest of the night. I imagined this lot to be in the Low/ Codeine vein, but you could have shut your eyes and believed you were listening to the quieter moments of Sonic Youth. I pass on Death Vessel as I saw him (and it is a him you funny people!) supporting Low the other week and head back upstairs for AKRON/FAMILY. I have one song by them ('Shoes') in my iTunes and I love it, but they didn't play it or anything like it. In fact what they did play was audience participation games and a load of alomost celtic tinged pub rock. If it wasn't for the fact that all of my gang are in here and I had drunk copious amounts of beer I wouldn't even have stayed (never mind done several mexican waves, ahem!).
It was back down to Reds for SUBTITLE who turned out to be one of those faces of the weekend - he was everywhere you looked for the next few days - i even saw him when I was leaving on Monday morning! He was clearly enjoying his brief stint up there on stage even though he seemed to run out of material quite early on!
I was hyper again and I went back to the Centre stage and just got talking to so many people that i ignored Youthmovies totally - sorry guys! From there it was down to Crazy Horse and some fantastic records - I remember hearing Fugazi, MBV, the Cramps, meeting a lot of friendly people (mostly from Dublin) and calling it a night immediately after 'Free Range' by the Fall was played. I looked at my watch - it was 4.15am and I had been up for 24 hours!

SATURDAY: "We were there when the world got great, and we helped to make it that way.."


A slight lie-in was interrupted by the unintentional genius that is R Kelly's Trapped in the Closet on ATP tv. It seemed that everyone I spoke to in the next few hours had seen it they all knew exactly what you meant if you said "miiidget, miiidget, miiidget!"
There's lots of time to kill so we chill out, have some proper food and bump into Steve Albini in the shop! SHELLAC were on first but due to late running soundchecks they don't play until 3pm therefore clashing exactly with the FA Cup final and a bit of Current 93. I had made my mind up to watch a bit of Shellac and then go upstairs for C93 but Shellac do 'The End of Radio' just as I'm about to go and it just floors me. Absolute lump-in-the-throat, hairs-on-the-back-the-neck material. They played 'Prayer to God' after that and then I tore myself away, as I would be seeing them again tomorrow and CURRENT 93 gigs are scarce and they were already well into their set upstairs.
I arrived just after they start 'Lucifer over London' and saw about 5 more songs, some of them beautiful, some of them annoying, all of them could be classed as English folk music. Sadly, they played to a scarcely populated room but they seemed to enjoy themselves anyway. And yes folks that was Andrew 'Party Hard' WK on bass.
I actually watch the last 10 minutes of normal time in the FA cup and it is dullsville! You people that watched this missed the music of Steve Albini and David Tibet you know!!
Those that suffered extra time also missed CLINIC. Despite being a fan of their first few releases I was surprised to find that they have released two more albums since I last really listened to them. Still I recognise a few tunes - 'Evil Bill' and 'The Second Line' in particular - and there was something perversely appealing about watching this bunch of guys in surgical masks and top hats playing their sinister music in a darkened nightclub when it's a blistering hot day outside.
THE GO! TEAM seem as strange an inclusion to this festival line-up as Current 93 earlier, but they are bold and FUN and they make the main arena work for them. Perhaps they would have suited better later on as I need a break and I only catch a couple of tunes. I just wished I had had their energy at this point!
I was back in for LES SAVY FAV who are of course one of the most entertaining rock bands you wil ever see, and they don't disappoint! I was slightly delayed getting back in and i miss the singer's haircut and the first costume change! There was lots more fun though as front man Tim Harrington had raided the Butlins toyshop for costumes, fake blood, face paint, masks, plastic swords, you name it! Every time you looked at him he was doing something different. LSF are both laugh-out-loud funny and a kick-ass punk rock band. The new songs sound great too, and that was a Superchunk cover at the end wasn't it? One of the real highlights, an unforgettable performance - just key "Les Savy Fav ATP" into You Tube and see what you get!
Time to calm down with WILCO downstairs on the main stage. Jeff Tweedy seemed displeased at first to be playing "in a food court" (he has a point) but he lightened up a little and his band were in stunning form. I liked the new songs and the triple guitar interplay on 'Impossible Germany' was just the sweetest thing all weekend.
Naturally the packed nature of this bill means you've gotta miss something and the queue for Battles is just too long for me to bother with, though judging by I would believe a lot more people watched them then Wilco. Everyone who got in said they were one of the very best acts all weekend. I also managed to miss both Annuals and Okkervil River in Reds, both of whom I would happily go and see any night of the week, so I try and make up for it by watching a bit of GHOST although I catch their folkier, less psych-rock part of their set and it doesn't really grab me.
One of my all-time heroes, PATTI SMITH, is up next and she starts brilliantly with 'Gloria' and 'Redondo Beach' and I wonder for a minute if she is going to play 'Horses' in order. She isn't, as she then goes into 'Are You Experienced' from her very disappointing new album and I realise that I've seen her four times since I last saw CORNELIUS and head upstairs.

Cornelius is every bit as stunning as the first time I saw him 4 or 5 years ago in the Royal Festival Hall, brilliant musicianship and wonderful visuals breathe new life into the 'Sensuous' material. 'Gum' and 'Beep it' are awesome, 'Count Five or Six' had me heading right down the front and 'Starfruit Surf Rider' was just the icing on the cake. This was my favourite show of the whole weekend, and for many people who stayed in here the whole evening the Les Savy Fav- Battles - Cornelius was a hell of a run of good music.
Cornelius was a hard act to follow but THE APPLES IN STEREO downstairs in Reds make a damn good show of it. This was mostly the pure indie-pop of the recent 'New Magnetic Wonder' album and it goes down a storm. Catchy pop was in short supply and the Apples made up for that.
I had an ill advised hot dog and stayed in Reds for WHY? which was yet another great show. I can't adequately describe what Why? sound like, as they get the hip-hop tag a lot because of their Anticon/ cLOUDEAD connection but their sounds leans towards people like Beck as well. They play most of 'Elephant Eyelash', at least one cLOUDEAD song and they also do a cheeky Conor Oberst piss-take which goes down well too.
More fully-fledged hip-hop with EDAN & MC DAGHA and a pretty fun end to the live part of the evening, especially the bit with the record sleeves. The kazoo was a little bit grating on the nerves and their late finish (2.20am) coupled with unpopular DJs in Jaks meant that Crazy Horse was seriously oversubscribed and nowhere near as interesting as last night. Back to the chalet for beer, Battle Royale (another great ATP tv choice) and bed.


SUNDAY: "...as we come to the close of our broadcast day..."



An even bigger lie-in thanks to my industrial strength earplugs means we cut it fine for SHELLAC on the smaller centre stage. Today's set was a bit different from yesterday's, it did feel a bit too early to be really getting into that sort of thing, but Todd Trainer is "baked" in Albini's words and is the star of this performance. His Meg White impression, his belittling of the heckler, his roaming snare during 'The End of Radio' made this pretty memorable. Steve and Bob dismantle his kit during the last song leaving him with nothing to play on. Saturday's set of songs was better but today's show was more memorable, so I'm glad I watched both.
Back down on the main stage SLINT are playing the spooked masterpiece that is 'Spiderland' in broad afternoon sunshine and I think it is really lost on a lot of people. I don't even bother with the first two songs and I'm a huge fan. They soon reel me in though and surprisingly i can walk right up to the front and get into it. I agree that the delays between songs and the mid-afternoon time slot spoilt it slightly, but at the end of the day this was Slint performing the likes of 'Breadcrumb Trail', 'Washer', 'Don A Man' and a particularly awesome 'Good Morning Captain' so I enjoyed it a lot. It was strange to end with the instrumental 'Without Monicker' which I don't think a lot of people knew.
I have only a passing interest in Bat for Lashes (eyewitness reports differed and said "amazing" and "dreadful") and I think Architecture in Helsinki are a poor live band so it's time for sunshine and drinking.
Back indoors for what turns out to be BAND OF HORSES debut UK performance. They are possibly the best kept secret of the weekend as they play one of the very finest shows. Ben's voice just carries so well and the material from the debut album is fast becoming a classic. 'Wicked Gil', 'The Funeral' and 'The First Song' are magnificent, and the new material shines too. I think they won a few fans today.
I wasn't a fan of MODEST MOUSE and I miss a bit of their set for all of Band of Horses and a Pizza Hut buffet where I shuffle around the salad bar with Daniel Johnston beside me! Happily I can hear the Modest Mouse set really well from inside Pizza Hut (must remember that for next time!) and it sounds good enough to get me out of there. I understand this is a seriously expanded line-up (2 drummers - one wearing a beekeepers hat!) including the legend that is Johnny Marr on guitar, but they are so impressive, probably my favourite act on the main stage. I had none of their records before ATP but I've since bought 'The Lonesome Crowded West' and I'm convinced they did a good few from it. Interestingly Johnny Marr was centre stage with a spotlight on him, Isaac Brock was stage left throughout. They were great though and I was converted.
Consequently I saw much less of ISIS than I thought I would and although they are too metal for my tastes they are impressive. I saw the first three songs of ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN but they seemed like they couldn't be arsed and neither could I. BUILT TO SPILL are the next significant act that i encounter and they are just superb. In fact they are so much better than the noodling trad-rock performance I saw them so 6 or 7 years ago in London. I had forgotten how many good songs they have, and even if there was no 'Car' this was all pretty great.
The end is in sight and no-one interesting was playing so a chalet based party was in order, but not before we called round to see Todd Trainer from Shellac who is loitering near our chalet and it turns out he is a neighbour. What a great guy he was, a pleasure to meet him.
Only GRIZZLY BEAR and DO MAKE SAY THINK to go, although I did manage to miss the Grizzly Bear beach performance. I was looking forward to them so much that I was slightly disappointed, although they were impressive and played some of the loveliest music all weekend. Those harmonies! Do Make Say Think are an absolute blast, a great closer to the festival and it was such a thrill to see so many people going mad to instrumental post-rock, even if I did spend a lot of their set trying to get served at the bar.
After that it was Crazy Horse (I forgot to even check Jaks but it looked busy!) for an another epic bash, people making their own percussion after the music ended, marching through the empty arena hyper and taking a trek to someone's chalet which was taking a bit of a beating due to the enthusiastic percussion. I reckon they lost their deposit. And could someone please tell me what the Arthur Fowler Memorial Bench is all about!??
Overall this was another superb ATP. No hassles, great music, great atmosphere and great people. Cheers to the 15 people in our posse who made it so enjoyable and the many more I met along the way. Let's do it again some time!
[pics by me: top to bottom - YLT and Daniel Johnston; Shellac main stage Saturday; Cornelius; Slint. There are some fantastic pics of this festival floating around on line, I recommend the ATP myspace page, Flickr (ATP vs the Fans) and of course You Tube (ATP vs the Fans) for those all important mobile phone movies!)

Putting 2005 to bed, part 1: Gig Highlights

1.  All Tomorrow's Parties, curated by Slint, 25th-27th February 2005
In ATP terms this had a shockingly low band count, freezing weather and you couldn't bring booze from chalet to venue, but despite those minor set backs it still couldn't fail to be a weekend of quality music and rowdy fun.  I did a full report around the time and as I compile this realise I'm realising that if I had split the bands into individual performances, there would be a lot of them taking over this top 10.  Namely Slint, the Melvins, Deerhoof, Mogwai, Bad Wizard.

2.  Slint, Dublin Vicar Street, 6th March 2005
Yes, the once in a lifetime chance to see Slint popped up again a week later when I found myself at their gig in Dublin.  Although the band played EXACTLY the same set as ATP,  I probably enjoyed this more, probably because the venue was more intimate, the audience were quieter and I wasn't drunk beyond belief.

3. Sufjan Stevens and his Illinoisemakers, Belfast Spring and Airbrake, October 2005
As I've been a fan of this guy for the last couple of years, he would have been higher except he hardly touched the 'Michigan' album at this show.  'Illinoise' and 'Seven Swans' dominated the material. The band were dressed as cheerleaders/ lettermen and introduced a lot of the songs with specific 'cheers'.  A lot of their act seemed to be influenced by the Danielson Familie, which is no bad thing in my book!  Some excellent songs though - highlights - 'Sister', 'Casimir S Pulaski Day', 'Chicago' etc.

4.  Beck, Belfast Waterfront Hall, 3rd June 2005
I'm surprised that three of my top four are all large-scale shows, especially as they were the only big shows I went to this year.  I had only seen Beck once before (nearly 10 years ago in the Point with the Foos, Manics, Afghan Whigs and Jesus Lizard - what a day that was!) and for his debut Belfast performance he pulled out a lot of his old material, something from every album from 'Mellow Gold' to 'Guero'.  In fact, I think he played nearly all of Guero.  Most memorable part was the acoustic section where the rest of the band had their dinner on stage, turning their plates and cutlery into a makeshift percussion section when they had finished!

5.  The Broken Family Band, Belfast Menagerie, 11th November 2005
An epic performance by the country-tinged Peel faves from London.  They did the standard waltz-time slow numbers that everyone expected but they really came to life when they stepped it up a gear.  More in common with the likes of the Wedding Present and Hefner, and their witty lyrics even remind me slightly of Half Man Half Biscuit.  Cheap sweaty fun.

6.  Hood/ Pram, Belfast Spring and Airbrake, 20th February 2005
It's a shame there was a poor turn-out for this, because it was one of the best double bills of the year.  I reviewed it when it happened, so go here.

7.  Chris Brokaw, Belfast White's Tavern, 28th April 2005
Top solo acoustic performance of the year if you care about such things!  Brokaw is the ex-Come/ Consonant guitarist and this was a triumphant return to Belfast for him.  Great guitar playing and some great songs too.  I really must get more of his recordings.

8.  Keith Fullerton Whitman (hrvatski), Belfast Bunker, September 2005
A solo laptop/ guitar-processing performance from the sometime Harvard employee and electro-acoustic specialist. This was way more enjoyable than I had expected - two long pieces - one electronica, the other guitar manipulation, both accompanied by his own cut-up movies.

9.  Wolf Eyes, Belfast Pavilion, 18th June 2005
This should have been the noise highlight of the year but Hrvatski pipped it, mainly because Wolf Eyes thought we weren't into it because a lot of people left and the ones who stayed weren't raucous enough. I kind of accepted it more as powerful ambient noise rather than something you could mosh to. Whatever, I enjoyed it, and they won't be back!

10.=  Hot Snakes, Belfast Limelight, 28th May 2005
An intense, classic punk rock n roll performance, especially memorable now that they called it a day at the end of this tour.
10.=  Wedding Present, Belfast Spring and Airbrake, February 2005
This would have been higher if it REALLY was a reformed Wedding Present, instead the show was faithful to the recent 'Take Fountain' album - more like Cinerama gone dark than classic Weddoes. Not much wrong with that, and the last 30 minutes or so did revisit past glories.

REVIEW: ATP/UK 2005 curated by Slint

25-27 February 2005

This is my first ATP experience so I'm not as miffed as some people who are already complaining as soon as the running order is announced. The issue isn't with the names that are appearing - most people have had a few weeks to prepare for this and seek out music by the more obscure acts - but with the numbers of acts on the bill. The scarcity of bands results in two quirks - there are no clashes, and the live action alternates between the upstairs and downstairs venues all weekend - which, my fellow ATP veterans tell me, is not normal.
Another thing which isn't normal is the weather. It's not the best idea to go to Pontin's in February but given the mild winter we've been having we could have been forgiven for not expecting the sub-zero conditions we actually got!
BORN HELLER are on first in the smaller venue and it seems like everyone has come out to watch them. They come across as a fairly old-fashioned folk act and they don't really grab my attention.
LOVE AS LAUGHTER open the proceedings upstairs and, in keeping with Born Heller, they come across as a fairly old-fashioned indie-rock act somewhere between Pavement and Neil Young. I do recognise a couple of their tunes, but again I am a bit nonplussed.
EARLY MAN at least drive me to have an opinion, as I can only stand the first three songs and I leave to make some phone calls. Early Man have a great name but what they play is 80s speed metal not unlike Helloween and I have no interest in them at all. My venture outside did raise an early alarm bell that the bouncers were not letting you outside with your drink from the bar, therefore disabling you from refilling in your chalet and upping the amount spent over the bar by quite a bit.
Back upstairs for DEERHOOF, who are as far as I'm concerned the first really impressive thing all day. You never quite know what they are going to do next as they flip around between hardcore and psychedelic music. One of the few bands on all weekend to use their full hour in an interesting way, but then I guess they have a bigger back catalogue than a lot of these acts. The singer wears some giant fluorescent fingernails for the final song, and by this stage it seems anything is possible.
BAD WIZARD may have the sort of name that may make you avoid them, but they put on the performance of the weekend downstairs and win a lot of people over. They play unreconstructed classic rock with such a passion that you wonder why it went out of fashion! They've got big afro hair and a girl on bass who looks like she could be in the Ramones, and they evoke prime AC/DC, MC5, ZZ Top, Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick.
Upstairs, the previously unheard of SEAN GARRISON (long term friend of Slint) plays some dull pedestrian country which I'm too busy chatting to bother with then he just changes things around, gets louder and starts making people pay attention. For a couple of my chalet mates Mr Garrison was actually the best thing all weekend, so naturally I'm cross that I was ignoring him.
I wasn't sure what I would feel about seeing the MELVINS as I last encountered them in '92 and I haven't listened to a lot of their music since but they blew me away. Apparently some of their recent music has edged towards industrial/ electronic sounds, but tonight they are just classic stoner grunge. King Buzzo has the best hair all weekend and he makes a lot of people happy by announcing their surprise guest - David Yow of the Jesus Lizard - who wears a toga and does his best to lose it during his crowd surfing! Awesome.
I pass on the first Staremaster heats downstairs (it's a staring contest in case you wondered) and head back to the chalet for some more booze, fully intending to return for the late DJs, but Slint TV is showing Turkish Star Wars which is easily the worst thing I've ever seen, and I'm too worn out from laughing to do anything but crawl into bed.
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Given the relatively early night last night, we gear up for Saturday checking out Camber Sands (most things are shut) and walking for over an hour along the beach. Although it is seriously cold, the sun actually comes out for a little while and you can nearly kid yourself that you are on holiday!
After this burst of healthy activity it's straight to the ATP pub - The Queen Victoria - originally for the Arsenal match - and as it wasn't on we settled for some early afternoon drinking instead. Each of us interrupt this at various points to check out today's first band BRIGHTBLACK. They do sound a lot like Low, and are therefore a reasonably pleasant start to the day's music.
MOGWAI continue the Shellac ATP tradition of going on early to get the crowd in (although to be honest there isn't much else to do!) and they are introduced by two loudmouths who have been going around the festival filming and generally hassling people. They intro Mogwai as "some people from a country called Scotland who like to hunt deer - ladies and gentlemen - Mowgli!" which made me laugh as that was the name we used to call them in our house years ago. It's an in-joke not worth going into here! I've seen Mogwai loads of times and I have to say this was one of the best gigs I've seen them play. There is at least one new song, 'Hunted By a Freak' is awesome and they bring on Aidan Moffat from Arab Strap for the long lost 'R U Still In 2 It' from the first album. I'd never seen them do that before. Best of all is the closing 15 minute 'Like Herod' which is one of the highlights of the entire weekend, the excellent sound system really did this arrangement justice - the bits where it jumps from quiet to ear-splitting were really powerful.
I skip the NAYSAYER for some food, I heard from different people that it was one of the best sets of the weekend, and from others that it was really awful, so I guess you had to be there. Whatever, they featured Tara Jane O'Neil (Rodan, Sonora Pine), so I tend to believe the former and I regret missing them a bit.
When I return to the venue NEED NEW BODY are playing some unhinged psychedelic music on the main stage. Some of it is just short bursts of lo-fi pop, occasionally they get noisy and they even throw in some dub-reggae for good measure. Although I enjoyed them I got the impression that the band were having a lot more fun than most of the crowd. They were well worth checking out though, yet another act that I had never heard prior to this event that I will be listening to again.
Ditto FAUN FABLES in the downstairs venue, who in my opinion are the best of the 'nu-folk' acts this weekend. They are a duo - a singing guitarist and a percussionist - and they play a kind of unhinged and slightly creepy folk music that oddly reminds me of Slint. It doesn't sound like them, it just inhabits that same kind of eerie, gothic space. They are the first band to make me think about Slint's skills in curating this event, in creating an odd little world full of talented but overlooked musicians.
Faun Fables are charming too, and their set includes costume changes (headscarves mostly), cutlery and some truly dynamite yodelling.
SPOON are the most mainstream act here, and for some people they are a welcome break from the experimental acts. I've always had a lot of time for Spoon, going back to the mid-90s, and it's interesting to hear how they have matured. 'Lines in the Suit' is a great pop song and one of the highlights.
Back upstairs there is a lot of anticipation as Slint are getting close and MATMOS have the thankless task of providing background music to people's conversations as they try and decide where they are going to stand later on. I've seen matmos once before, I quite like their records, but this show was lost on a lot of people. Although the visuals (endoscopes, eyeballs) were designed to grab your attention I got the feeling that a lot of people were ignoring them, which was a shame because along with Mum they were the only electronic acts on the bill.
Naturally, everyone is here to see SLINT, in fact the running orders we were given when we arrived have an asterisk beside the 11.30 slot in the bar which just says 'go upstairs - that's why you are here'. Despite all this some dumb people attempt to ruin the show for anyone near the bar by talking all the way through. Quite amazing really, £120 a ticket, severe guest list restrictions and these people still manage to drown out the quiet bits.
I mention this because the overall impression I get from this Slint show, (and the Dublin show I caught a week later) was that it was a recital. The music from 'Tweez' and 'Spiderland' is faithfully and impressively played but there is little interaction between band members. Having said that I have to agree that they were awesome. 'Breadcrumb Trail', 'Charlotte', 'Nosferatu Man' are three early highlights, they sound every bit as good as you would expect. In fact their sound balance is excellent. Brian only plays guitar on the instrumental songs, preferring to call up his brother to play when he is singing which works well. The new recruit on bass is superb. Britt comes out from behind the drums for a superbly spooked version of 'Don, A Man' and for a little while it becomes my favourite Slint song. The third guitar comes out of nowhere at the end and sends shivers up your spine. They save the best 'til last of course and 'Washer' and 'Good Morning Captain' are easily the highlights of the weekend.
I miss Staremaster again due to chalet-based partyin' but I do actually manage to return to the venue for some truly great music from the downstairs DJs. All-time classic masterpieces loud as anything until 6 am. You can't really beat that!

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Sunday morning doesn't really happen and I am barely conscious in time for the Ireland v England rugby match (and the Chelsea Liverpool match at the same time). We watch the first half then head for the venue, just in time to get caught in the first blizzard of the day!
I watch a bit of MIIGHTY FLASHLIGHT cos I like some of their records but this venue is a bit big for them to really carry well in and I head back for the rugby. I would say that the temperature doesn't get much above freezing today so I'm amazed to meet someone wearing shorts on my way back to the chalet!
I see most of KING KONG, featuring original Slint member Ethan Buckler, and although it's a long time since I've heard their music they don't deviate from their original blueprint of simplistic, almost kid-friendly melodies and lyrics. They play a bit too long for my liking, but as most of the crowd are nursing hangovers, King Kong are thankfully not too demanding. More people are watching the extra time in the footy in the bar, and you can hear King Kong's bass lines through the wall so I opt for this for the latter part of their set.
An even better hangover soother is Arab Strap DJ Aidan Moffat filling the gaps between the bands upstairs. I'm lazing about up there when RED NAILS come on. They're a quite ordinary indie band from Louisville and I only stay for a couple of songs.
Some late afternoon food and drink is very welcome and we return for PEARLS AND BRASS back upstairs. They are a cross between a classic rock power trio and a post-hardcore band and they sound pretty good. One of my chalet mates compared them to Cream, and I've since read another review which said the same thing. I'd have said they were a bit more left-field than that, but what do I know!
WHITE MAGIC come across like a slightly folkier version of Cat Power (without the stage fright) and some of their songs are quite interesting, although some of it sounds a bit sloppy - the percussion on the last song was miles out of time! No-one really has the stamina for this on the last day.
SONS AND DAUGHTERS are filling the empty slot on the main stage caused by Mark Kozelek's illness, and although they may stand out a bit from the rest of the bill, they put on a good show, much better than their recent show in Belfast. Less of the posing and more concentration on the songs, and of course 'Johnny Cash' is awesome.
Another awesome thing is the return of BAD WIZARD to finish off the second stage tonight. Maybe twice in a weekend was a bit much and the surprise factor has worn off, but they still rock the place better than anyone. It was also a chance for everyone who missed them to check them out, as they really have been one of the talking points of the weekend.
MUM take things to a gentle conclusion upstairs. Again this kind of ambient electronica struggles to fill the large ballroom and a lot of people are distracted during their set. I don't recognise a lot of the material so I assume that it's from their new album. 'Green Grass of Tunnel' is right at the end and makes me very happy.
I actually manage to catch Staremaster which has reached the grand final and is surprisingly entertaining, then it's into the Queen Vic for some flat-out classic rock, then next door for some excellent DJing from Stereolab and Lisa Capsule. I will probably never hear MBV's 'You Made Me Realise' at this volume at this time of day (approx. 4.30am) ever again!
The bar shuts at 5am, people are dancing on the outside tables in the snow and we end up in a posh chalet with Need New Body and some Irish people until we get ejected by the bouncers. Apparently we were partying underneath someone important and we had to go. The snow is about an inch deep, and after a detour via a chalet occupied mostly by San Franciscans I watch the sun come up on a snow covered beach with some people twirling batons of fire.

ATP veterans may not consider this to be the greatest ATP in terms of line-up, weather, or non-music related activities, and while I can kind of see that, it was still a brilliiant experience. Slint were worth it, and while their curation of the festival came in for some criticism, I saw it as their creation of their own little world. They gave us classic rock, punk rock, post-rock, creepy folk and some very strange TV, and the whole experience was unforgettable. There was something about a holiday camp covered in snow but full of people that fitted perfectly with this whole event. It wouldn’t have been the same if it was sunny.