måndag 11 Maj 2009, 17:29
Fri 8 May – ATP Vs The Fans 2: The Fans Strike Back
Wow.
What a weekend!!!!
I've had a sleep now, so I can actually review this properly…
Arrived with plenty of time to chill before heading off to see M83. Silly chalets didn't have the key cards activated until 4pm (although ours was 3.30pm) so we sat about and had a beer or 2.
M83 set things off to a great start. The sound was incredible. Admittedly, I was a bit dubious about their ability to bring their songs on stage, but I was completely blown away by the sound. Shame they didn't play "Slowly", or at least they didn't during the 45 minutes that we watched them for…Then it was off to see…
Andrew WK. Motivational speaker? A great show man for sure, and a fun choice to get the weekend kicked off. He's clearly a talented bloke, it's just a shame that everyone was there to go tits to "Party Hard". We didn't stay for as long as that… Never mind…
Devo next. Amazing. I had been told they'd be good but I didn't think they'd be THAT great. Choreographed dance moves, a fantastic array of songs (most of which I knew to my delight) and an extremely entertaining intro video. Did some serious bopping about to that.
Pizza Hut next - yay. Saviour of the weekend… except the guy ordered me the wrong pizza.
Decided to skip Health which I don't know if it was the right or wrong thing to do… Toddled back in from the chalet to catch some of AntiPop Consortium but we decided that we couldn't hack live hip hop. I like it when they get down to business and do their song thing, but not when they do all the "uh yeah, BUTLIIIIIINS IN DA HAAAAAUUUSSSS" stuff. No sir-ee.
Scooted downstairs to catch the end of Jesu's set. Don't think I could have endured the entire thing, but what I caught was pretty nice.
Due to being pooped, I missed out on Electric Wizard and left Rory to his own devices. They were good he tells me, but the sound was whack (He didn't actually use the word whack), Next time maybe…
Saturday kicked off with Lords in Reds. We saw Lords almost exactly a year ago in Glasgow and admittedly never really rated them highly. This might have been due to excessive alcohol intake, but they were certainly enjoyable this time round.
Qui were excellent but I didn't feel great due to BIG SUN. Managed to stay for the whole set tho, then it was off to get an ice cream where I was prompty ATTACKED by a seagull who wanted in on my kit kat ice cream action. Naturally screamed like a little girl…
Harvey Milk were brilliant. So brilliant infact, that we heard some tool say "I think Harvey Milk are excellent but I really want to see Beirut". Hope you enjoyed yourself mate. You missed out. Then again, you might argue we missed out by not seeing Beirut. So we're even…
The poster LIED about Marnie Stern being on at 12, so it was just as well I went in "early" (or so I thought), and caught her set. She played the songs I wanted to hear, but I was totally bummed that the set was cut short due to technical difficulties. Still, she played "Patterns of a Diamond Ceiling" so I'm very happy…
Managed to locate Rory in the crowd at Jesus Lizard due to his big 'fro and proceeded to be blown away by the energy that band gave off. Excellent set, and Yow was clearly enjoying himself! Infact, EVERYONE was enjoying themselves… Most definately a set that I will remember for a very long time…
Up next, the big one, Sleep. A milestone in the history of whatever genre people want to label them as. I would put them under "Inspirational". Yeah. I didn't say "Doom" or "Stoner" or whatever because I don't like using words like that :/ I retreated up the back for this one where I was spoilt by a telly giving me a close up view of what was going on on stage. The sound was phenomenal and I was hypnotised by their cool grooves and balls out riffs. Their 90minute set seemed to fly by and before I knew it, it was time to head back to the chalet.
Sunday had a slow start for us, so we fed some mallards and drank lots of cider/beer outside. Thinks kicked off (well, in a very slow sense) with Grails who I thought were excellent. Dual drumming impresses me. I'm clearly easy to impress. Great, however I wonder what will happen to Om?
I've seen Future of the Left 3 times now, and that was easily the best they've sounded. The new songs were great, but it was good to hear "adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood" amongst others. As per, their on stage banter was great. And no I haven't downloaded the new album yet…Waiting for it to come out. Oh and by the way, Kelso has the best dancing legs ever.
I felt I should have been more impressed by Killing Joke. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were really good and I was excited to hear the songs that they played. They have some extremely dancalicious tracks, but I didn't leave their set feeling all "wow". And was it just me, or was the audience not really feeling it either?
Jesus Lizard pt 2 was just as great as pt 1 so I don't feel the need to discuss them further…
Decided to stay down the front for Sleep pt 2 which was a great choice once they got the bass sorted out at the beginning. I felt like I was going to vom everywhere it was rattling my rib cage that much… They played another storming set with a few different tunes, including a homage (of sorts) to Black Sabbath. Noodly noodling…Touching moment when Al gave Matt a hug at the end of the set. It felt good being there to witness that moment alone…
Corker of a weekend. Just enough cider, pizza and seagulls for the moment. Got the bug for live music though. Sadly can't afford this coming weekend, and I'm not bowled over by the Xmas line up as it stands, so maybe next year will be when I next grace ATP… But even though I dont' know if I'm definately going, I'm still fucking excited about the prospect…