Many jokes were made about the number of beards being stroked at the recent All Tomorrow's Parties festival in Minehead. Ordinarily, this many older men being present in a Butlin's holiday camp would have every parent scampering. Even The Go Team! tried to address this reserved behaviour, not usually seen at music festivals up and down the UK.

All of that aside, this new model of music festival staging was appreciated by them all, bands and appreciators alike. What's not to like about having a bed to sleep in when cold smelly tents are the norm? It's a dream for fans to be able to half curate the line-up.

Luckily, our chalet was located a mere two minutes from the stages, with us having many of the performing artists as neighbours. On Saturday, Daniel Johnston emerged from his chalet to perform an impromptu song from his stairwell for a handful of us festival goers.

Lowlights:
- Architecture in Helsinki. A mess of a performance.
- The food. Everything was fried.
- The sound at the Pavilion Stage. As one observer put it, it was like listening to and watching bands play in a mall.
- Daniel Johnston's opening set. For a talented songwriter, the man can't play guitar very well and admits to the fact by sayingn that he's practicing very hard to become better.
- The decibel level for The Annuals' performance. Painful on the eardrums.
- The queue to see Battles.


Highlights:
- Daniel Johnston playing outside our chalet.
- The Go Team!. A lot of fun.
- Band of Horses. Sublime.
- The Two Gallants. Probably the highlight.
- Apples in Stereo. Teenage rock played by 40 year olds.
- Yo La Tengo. Eclectic to say the least.

Check out some photos @ Pitchfork

tags:atp

Published by Colm.