All Tomorrow's Parties, curated by Jeff Mangum

Dates:  Friday 9th - Sunday 11th March 2012

Venue:  Butlins, Minehead



Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise @pmhigham



I'd fancied going to an ATP at Butlins for years, so, although in the end I only really got into Jeff Mangum and Neutral Milk Hotel after booking the tickets, the eclectic line-up of this event sounded interesting and ripe for new discoveries.  Plus The Fall were playing, and loads of people from Twitter were going :-) The (never satisfactorily explained) postponement from December had the bonus of giving me even more time to 'revise' many of the bands on the bill I didn't know much about.



On arrival we were pleasantly surprised to find our booking for a 3-berth chalet had been upgraded to a 6-berther, leaving ample room for a designated food and booze room.  After a brief stroll around the dystopian motorway service station that is the central area of Butlins Minehead, we wandered over to see the first band of the festival on Friday - Elephant 6 Holiday Surprise, who took to the Centre Stage at 4.30.  The jubilant atmosphere of the upbeat music they created, playing each others' songs (and instruments), meant this Mangum-related supergroup provided the perfect start to proceedings. 



Robyn Hitchcock @pmhigham

Next was Robyn Hitchcock in the Crazy Horses bar, where he was playing 1984's I Often Dream of Trains.  My first time seeing him solo, and I really enjoyed it - one of the quiet highlights.

We just about made it back to hear Jeff Mangum's first set of the weekend.  In an atmosphere full of reverence, Mangum sat on stage alone to play a very impressive acoustic set, each song greeted by rapturous applause.  Despite feeling a bit hot, tired and out of it at the back, I was seriously impressed by the power and character of his voice and the way the sparse sound filled the whole room.

I managed to get nearer the front for Joanna Newsom, who I was really looking forward to seeing.  Despite playing Ys a lot when it came out, I hadn't really got into the latest epic Have One On Me and had passed up the opportunity to see her at End of the Road last year (though did see her cameo with Roy Harper at the RFH).  On the basis on this ATP set, I'm sorry I ever doubted her.  I thought she was spellbinding, and was especially pleased to hear wonderful renditions of older songs such as Emily, one of my favourites of hers.  Admitting to some jet lag, she fluffed the lyrics a couple of times but was easily forgiven - in fact it was nice to see that she is human!

Joanna Newsom @pmhigham


One of the brilliant things about this festival was the musical contrasts it threw up, and literally next up on the same stage as Newsom was The Fall.  Though this was only my third time of seeing them, they are becoming an addiction and I can easily understand how people end up clocking up 40 or more shows. For this we were on the barrier, which certainly added an extra dimension (and we had the bruises to prove it). As seemingly the hugest men attending the festival crushed us, elbowed us and surfed over our heads, MES prowled the stage taunting the hapless security guards charged with keeping order.  This was definitely the best I've seen them yet, the physical and slightly menacing aspect adding to what was a fantastic set delivered brilliantly by the 'workers'.  Smith himself seemed to be having a good time, and had even got dressed up for the occasion with some tuxedo trousers.  Highlights included 'Nate Will Not Return', 'Strychnine', 'Cowboy George' ("...and he went down the wibbly wobbly way until he came to a microphone that actually fucking works..."), 'Bury' ("...and the Elbow albums they bought..."), 'Latch Key Kid' and 'Theme from Sparta FC'.


The Fall @thelawes

Well, how to follow that?  Unfortunately Thurston Moore couldn't, so after a brief listen we hobbled off to bed to prepare for the next day's onslaught.

Saturday began with a trip into Minehead, which was misty at first.  After we'd consumed a restorative lunch in a whole food cafe, the sun came out to provide us with a chance for a nice sit down with the pensioners in the park and some lovely views of the bay.



Boredoms @pmhigham



Boredoms first 1.5 hour set of the weekend was unbelievable.  I'm not sure my words can do justice to the full trance-like power of 5 drummers and 14 guitarists all conducted and energised by EYE, who seemed like some sort of Buddhist monk on acid as he orchestrated Boredoms' massive sonic constructions.  Just wow.  Here's a picture and a video instead.

The Apples in Stereo @pmhigham

Next on were The Apples in Stereo, whose good natured noisy power pop got (almost) everyone dancing.

Then some momentum was lost, as the next few hours seemed dominated by fairly downbeat offerings. Mount Eerie made the decision to play a whole bunch of new songs, even though he admitted he'd only enough material for three quarters of his allotted time.  Reluctant to engage with the crowd's requests for older material, he did play one such song (his best in the set) but then sloped off after 50 minutes.  I was disappointed, especially as he'd raised expectations with the 12-string guitar he barely played (nod to @Sipperana).  Afterwards we headed to Reds to check out Blanck Mass, described in the programme as featuring a "gut bothering sub bass".  I think it's the only time at a gig I've had a stranger turn to me wincing in physical pain.  In a weird kind of way I enjoyed it, but after 15 minutes I was wondering if I was in danger of having a heart attack so thought it best to leave.  My earplugs really came into their own this weekend I have to say (there were plenty of people with their fingers in their ears at Boredoms too).

Thank goodness for Scratch Acid.  There was certainly no chance of falling asleep during their set, though there did still remain the threat of injury (as the man on the ambulance stretcher and the girl with blood on her face afterwards testified).  That was some mosh pit.  David Yow's ridiculously energetic (how did he manage to dive into the crowd over the photographer's pit during the second song?) and strangely charming ("Thank you for clapping and yelling") performance meant he was the perfect frontman for the band's boisterous and slightly scary noise punk. @thelawes' videos are brilliant (and the first one features a cameo from @pmhigham).



@pmhigham

There was no way I could go to bed after all that, so after some drinks at the chalet of @drelfy, @sipperana, @badger5000 and @country_steve we headed back into the fray to check out Stuart Braithwaite's DJ set.  Despite a promising few songs including one of my all time favourites (The Byrds "Eight Miles High") it did degenerate into Euro/techno type fare, which finally signalled time for bed (or time to stay up in the chalet chatting until 4am anyway).




Boredoms 2nd set @pmhigham

Sunday began with a lie in, and then another mind-boggling set from Boredoms, this time somehow managing to be both hangover-soothing and energising.  Band of the weekend.

After Boredoms we spent a little while queuing outside Crazy Horses while the quiz finished, in order to check out North Carolina's Lost in the Trees.  I didn't know anything about them, but was impressed by their brand of unusual, ethereal American folk, which reminded me of Shearwater, Bon Iver and a bit of Mercury Rev.  Great female vocalist/instrumentalist in red too, who sang some lovely, slightly unsettling, harmonies with front man Ari Picker.

Lost In The Trees @pmhigham



The Magic Band @pmhigham



Next up we decided to check out The Magic Band, as I hope to see The Olivia Tremor Control, who they clashed with, at Psych Fest next month.  At points we could feel OTC through the floor of the venue - I heard mixed things about their set.  The Magic Band played one absolutely fantastic song, but on the whole they seemed a little underprepared and things didn't really gel.  I thought their Delta Blues-style psychedelia seemed very much of its time (not that that's necessarily a bad thing) but they reminded me that I really should do something about getting into Captain Beefheart.

 Then a quick dart down to Reds to check out Versus, who were actually one of the bands I'd got into most when doing my pre-festival Spotify revision.  I found their set of '90s style indie-rock enjoyable if not mind blowing, and decided to leave about 15 minutes before the end to ensure entry to The Magnetic Fields up on Centre Stage.  I'd been getting rather obsessed with new record Love at the Bottom of the Sea, and adore 69 Love Songs, so, despite mixed reports I was looking forward to the set very much.  Stephin Merritt seemed on good form, engaging in some gentle banter with the crowd, and singing duties were probably split about 50/50 between him and the female members of the band.  The set mainly consisted of new songs (highlights included "Andrew In Drag", "My Husband's Pied a Terre", "I've Run Away to Join the Fairies" and "The Horrible Party") with some stunners off 69 (gasps of pleasure were audible during the introduction to "The Book of Love"). A couple of older songs (off The Charm of the Highway Strip and Holiday albums) were very country influenced - I don't know as much about the band's earlier material so this was a lovely surprise.  On the whole, a beautiful set and one of my festival highlights.

The queue for Jeff Mangum's second set had started whilst The Magnetic Fields were still playing, as the venue was being cleared in between, so by the time we got downstairs it seemed like a far better option to nip back to the chalet and then reacquaint ourselves with the excellent selection of driving games and slot machines.  I did hear later that the set was another acoustic one, and as such fairly similar to Friday's.  As the queue started building up for Sebadoh, we made an inspired decision to go to Reds instead to see Group Doueh, from Dakhla in the Western Sahara.  Despite never having heard of them until 10 minutes beforehand, we ended up right down the front for what was a fantastically joyful set of hypnotic guitars and soaring choruses, with the whole crowd enjoying the opportunity to lose themselves in the music. 

Then it was upstairs to catch the last 20 minutes of what seemed like an fine set from Sebadoh, accompanied by more in the way of old-school moshing and crowd surfing.  A fantastic end to a fantastic festival, one that was stuffed full of known and unknown music, plenty of laughs and lots of lovely meetups with new and old friends. 



Who needs Miami Beach? @pmhigham