ATP 2010 Curated By Matt Groening
Title: Live: ATP 2010 Curated By Matt Groening
Author: Rich
Date: 12, May, 2010
Well, after last December's My Bloody Valentine curated edition of ATP, this one could have
been a little bit dull and still manage to be better than Kevin Shield's attempt at pleasing
the music nerds... So to say that this one was utterly stunning as an understatement to say
the least. Yes, Matt Groening did an incredible job of curating his second ATP and I have no
idea really where to begin rambling on about one of the best ATP's for a good while. So
Friday Afternoon it is then...
Friday 7th May
4 uber refreshing beers and a game of frisbee later and Team Nothingatall are off to see
Broadcast do their electronic indie bleeps. Slightly disappointing but none the
less rather fun and a lot more experimental than expected, I don't know that much about
these two Warp Records high flyers, though they seemed to do the job. But anyway, moving on.
Built To Spill prove to the first awesome band of the weekend, they can do nothing
wrong it seems, pleasing the (already slightly wasted) and happy crowed in the cavenous
Pavillion Stage. Back upstairs to see Cold Cave and Team Nothingatall is quietly
pleased to see some noisy throbbing keyboard action, if they were later on though the place
could well have been dancing.
But anyway, now for the more important stuff... Iggy & The Stooges, downstairs
again in the Pavillion managed to exceed high expectations by pushing out one of the most
thrilling and impressive sets of the entire weekend! Iggy looking his same old self ending
up in the crowd a few times, stage invasions, girls with their boobs out... what more could
you ask for? Cue outragous pogoing from the (almost lairy) crowd... and a smiling Matt
Groening lurking about. Utterly awesome.
Back to the chalet for some more drinks and things start to go a little fuzzy for Team
Nothingatall, gin is such a joy to behold sometimes... Caught the end of Toumani
Diabate, hung around for a bit and it all goes a little mental for Japanese punk outfit
Shonen Knife... Don't ask me quite what they were like as for those 45 alcohol
fuelled mintes Nothingatall went stupid along with the bulk of the sizeable Centre Stage
crowd... More followed with Liars who seemed to be enjoying themselves, though they
didn't qite live up to expectations... And the rest of the night? I have no idea other than
the ATP virgins in our chalet decided to unwisely follow me to our chalet... which took us
about half an hour I think and I do remeber finding the mythical Chapel which is completely
the other side of the resort to where our chalet was...
Saturday 8th May
Okay so it's hangover time and its raining. Needs must and we hit the town for some food and
coffee... Back at Butlins however Boredoms are doing something that may well be
illegal in some countries. The 9 piece Boadrum litterally left everyone with their jaws
hanging in sheer shock/excitment. EYE with his 7 necked guitar things, backed by 9 drummers
and a guitarist managed to create such an earthquake of perfectly timed drumming and noise
it should well be impossible. But it isn't... and my god its amazing. If there is one band
you should see before you die.. Boredoms may well be the one! Quickly back to the chalet to
recover some hearing and to start with the cider and we are off to catch the end of
Deerhunter and see the highly anticipated Konono No1 and their trancing
inducing thumb piano groovtastic wall of sheer joy... they couldn't have done it better
either, and managed to get the afternoon crowd dancing away like muppets to another utterly
brilliant group of musicians. Can things get better? Probably not, technically... but
The Residents scared the hell out of the bewildered (read happy) crowd with their
unclassifiable masked theatrical noise/oddness.
Amadou And Mariam managed to get the Pavillion Stage once again on its feet and
dancing away, Team Nothingatall jumped around at the back like fools for their 45 minute set
and then legged it downstairs to Reds to catch The Oh Sees who played a
surprisingly good set of twangy indie rock. Definatly worth checking these guys out if you
havent already.
And then the day started to get a little bit blurry...
Ruins did his drum thing, but more was needed, so upstairs again to catch The
XX who quite frankly bored the arse off me. Really, they were probably the only rubbish
band of the entire weekend, so why they had 2 sets I have no idea.. but the less about them
the better right? RIGHT? Totally missed James Chance and ended upstairs ready to be
thrilled by Panda Bear, who unfortunatly didn't quite do the thrilling set that was
expected. Not that it was bad, just.. a little too downbeat and slow for a Saturday night
ATP crowd that seemed to want to dance their merry little (drunken) faces off... So you know
what that means? Yes, that's right, ALL NIGHT DANCING IN CRAZY HORSE...
Sunday 9th May
I think I got about 2 hours sleep. And I stupidly (kinda) thought going swimming whilst
still rather wasted was a good idea. 45 minutes later and somehow not dead with chlorine..a
nice walk around the concentration camp of ATP and all is sort of okay. No more drinking
right? Sod that... beer in hand and its Boredoms again... somehow this time seemed
even more insane than the last, with Zach Hill (of Hella) being carried through the crowd
and putting in a blazing performance... again.. wow. Next up, probably my highlight of the
weekend, The Tiger Lillies did their thing, you know.. the
perverse/klezmar/lewd/hysterical/gypsy folk thing. Just brilliant, and I don't really know
the words for them... Go listen to them, they are on Spotify...
I think we caught a bit of Viv Albertine I seem to remeber disliking her... but
onwards to see Daniel Johnston play a heartfelt and quite quite beautiful set to a
hugely appreciative crowd in the Pavillion Stage. People can say many things about this man,
but they can't say anything band about his lyrics thats for sure. Special stuff and
introduced by Matt Groening himself as 'his friend'. Excellent.
The fianl greatness of the weekend (for me anyway) came from Spiritualized
performing their seminal album 'Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In space. And it did
just that, with a ridiculous amount of musicians onstage
(choir/strings/horns/guitars/bass/percussion/keys...), J Spaceman sat on the right and
melted ATP's warm glowing heart. Extra special mention has to go to probably the most
beautiful song of the weekend 'Broken Heart'... it slayed and probably could have caused
even the most manly of men to shed one tiny tear of sadness. The set was kinda ruined
however by the unneeded mad rush to queue up to see Joanna Newsom upstairs. Team
Nothingatall decided to skip it... and go have a few beers...
A Couple more bands
were seen, none of which really could do much more for the weekend... and the plan was to go
to bed...
Of course gin+wine was consumed outside the chalet at 4am whilst parties went on and our
chalet ended up with a load of randoms in making music on a few samplers and ukes... And
that was that.
ATP really did do an excellent job this time round. Now it's going to be a long 7 months
until Godspeed You! Black Emperor do their weekend...
Rich's Matt Groening ATP Flickr Set
Official ATP Website - Matt Groening ATP Lineup
ATP Curated By Matt Groening Spotify Playlist
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