Four years ago the All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival arrived in Australia, with its premiere Antipodean event taking place in the picturesque surrounds of Mt Buller. With a long break in between, ATP returned to our shores this month, but not to the popular ski resort. This time round it was far less glamorous, with sweaty attendees piled on shuttle buses and delivered to a dilapidated entertainment complex/reception hall in a desolate part of Altona in Melbourne’s industrialised western suburbs.
This odd choice of venue slowly started to make sense as the festival unfolded over its two days. The sports area was soon taken over by punters wielding tennis rackets and battling each other with inflatable sticks in the jumping castle. The oddly specific ‘risotto restaurant’ was a classy dining room with a few tables and chairs set up and plenty of floor space to enjoy high brow entertainment such as magic and philosophy by Sunny Leunig, book readings from Don Walker, bingo, and music trivia. Upstairs in the cinema, aptly the coldest room in the venue, bean bags were quickly claimed, with the room jam packed for movies such as Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey and There Will Be Blood. The rock climbing (‘The Cave’) room’s cushy floor was the perfect place to bounce wilted bodies around to the DJ’s tunes or comfortably slump upon between bands while watching an artist whose style and flourish had to be seen to be believed: Pricasso, who painted impressive portraits with his penis. None of it made any sense whatsoever but that just added to the charm.
San Francisco’s Sleepy Sun were the first band on the main stage and played to a decent sized crowd, although when they moved away from psychedelia and whipped out the harmonica the crowd thinned out, which was a shame. Having toured here countless times, fellow San Franciscan’s Thee Oh Sees played a fun and energetic set, concreting them into the hearts of an adoring crowd.
The temperature in the shed (aka stage one) rose into the 40s as people edged in and made themselves as comfortable as one could possibly be under a hot tin roof, ready for an epic two hour Swans set. The uncomfortable surroundings actually made for an appropriate setting for the noise/post-punk band, with the sound level rising with the heat as earplugs were hastily shoved into ears. Much respect to those who lasted the entirety of the set, as I squeezed out of the tightly packed and simmering crowd a quarter of the way through to seek refuge in the cinema, where Brad Neely’s Wizard People, Dear Reader soundtrack was accompanying one of the Harry Potter franchise.
Godspeed! You Black Emperor’s set also proved to be a survival of the fittest/ultimate test of fandom, with their performance of both new and old material spanning two hours, which may sound excessive, but keep in mind that one of their songs, the unreleased ‘Behemoth’, is 45 minute long! Headliners and alleged ‘loudest band in the world’ My Bloody Valentine came on at 10pm. The sound mix unfortunately wasn’t great, which detracted from their set, and just as I was wondering whether the loudest band baton should be passed to Swans instead, the night came to an end under a huge wall of ear-popping noise.
Despite some cozy nooks around the centre, sleeping over wasn’t permitted so we shuffled back on the bus – fast forward 10 hours and it’s back to Altona, showered and ready for more.
Curators The Drones handpicked Sunday’s lineup, and it was markedly different (key changes! choruses!) to the night before. At the much cooler (in terms of both temperature and décor) stage two, local musician/composer Cam Butler with The Shadows of Love played a gorgeous instrumental set complete with strings.
My Disco wheeled out the smoke machine and it valiantly attempted to fill the huge stage one room, albeit unsuccessfully. I was pleased by this, as part of what makes a My Disco show so fascinating is watching the guys play. With lasers beaming, they opened with a song from 2006’s Cancer and finished with (deep breath now) ‘You Came To Me Like A Cancer Lain Dormant Until It Blossomed Like A Rose’, with newer material (‘Turn’ and ‘Closer’) wedged in the middle.
Speaking of lasers, over at stage two, Lost Animal were without Kirin J Callinan for their performance, resulting in a more stripped back, ethereal sound. Their experimental dreamy hip hop/pop sound was a contrast to the rambunctious Harmony (Tom from The Nation Blue and ex-Mclusky member Jon Chapple) and the always entertaining Dan Kelly. Tassie’s The Stickmen pulled a big crowd, however that didn’t deter the horde of people awaiting The Drones. They didn’t use their curating powers to claim a later performance time, and took to the stage at the very un-rock time of 5.15pm. Starting with ‘Sitting On The Edge Of The Bed Cryin’ from their breakthrough release Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By, the crowd lapped up The Drones’ dynamic set, especially their version of ‘River Of Tears’ (unfortunately Kev Carmody wasn’t in attendance, despite rumours indicating that he would be).
Australian music dominated on the Sunday, with the very Aussie Beasts Of Bourbon adding to the masculine air of the festival with a performance that hit its stride halfway through, and Don Walker playing immediately afterwards. A swarm of Einstürzende Neubauten logo adorned bodies watched excitedly as the band’s instruments/tools were wheeled onto the main stage. Closing the festival, the German industrial legends put on a spectacular show that lived up to their much-hyped reputation.
Mt Buller, Altona, where to next ATP? Wherever it is, please don’t make us wait another four years to experience the weird and wonderful world of this unique festival.
All Tomorrow’s Parties present
I’ll Be Your Mirror Festival
Westgate Entertainment Centre and Grand Star Reception, Altona
16 – 17 February
