Here are some photos from day one of All Tomorrow’s Parties at Mt Buller (AKA the greatest festival ever). You can read a lot more about it on this thread at Mess & Noise.

The main stage

This was quite early on, hence not so many people. Overall the numbers weren’t huge anyway so there was not much lining up for anything or any trouble getting a good view of the bands. Note also that it is on a mountain – so there were great view everywhere. Also there was a chairlift between stages which was very cool!

Myself and The Don (his thoughts here and here) had great accommodation at the Abom which was right next to the main stage. We coudn’t believe how good it was when we arrived (and still can’t).
First act I saw were Psych-rockers Dead Meadow, their set was an enjoyable enough intro to the festival, sitting back on the grass and trying to get our heads around how incredible the whole setup for the festival was, but didn’t blow me away. By all accounts their set at the Abom the next day was absolutely mind-blowing but I was too busy with other acts and missed it.
Bill Callahan

I was wondering whether Bill Callahan would be solo or with a band, and was very happy to see him take the stage with the Tren Brothers (Mick Turner & Jim White). His show at the Jade Monkey just over a year ago was the best I’d seen by him and this one was just as good, made of mostly recent material (from his excellent albums of the last few years) like Our Anniversary, In the Pines, Diamond Dancer and Sycamore, plus one classic older one, Cold Blooded Old Times.

Primitive Calculators

Only caught a bit of the Primitive Calculators, they seemed well aware that they were a bit old for such angry young persons music, and decided to just have fun with it. It was good to see a bit of the electronic side of Australia’s post-punk scene on display, unfortunately I left just before their cover of Shout but could still hear it as I headed down the hill.

James Blood Ulmer

I hadn’t heard Ulmer before, but did recently read an interview with Ed Kuepper where he said he was keen to see him. I can see why – his unusual guitar style is clearly an influence on Ed’s playing (particularly some of his 90’s solo stuff). I’m not usually that into blues, but found this compelling enough to not worry about rushing off to find out who the mystery act was.
Grinderman

This was the mystery act. The most obvious choice really, and that was fine with me. The first of three Nick Cave / Warren Ellis appearances over the weekend.
The Necks

Given that I see the Necks pretty regularly, and that they were sharing a bill with lots of acts I’ve never seen and may never see again, I sort of took it for granted that they were playing and wasn’t too fussed about it, but as the time approached for their set I found myself really keen to see it and made sure I was at the amphitheatre stage for the whole thing. It was a good move – not only did they play a great set, but seeing them play on top of a mountain really made it something special. I was keen to see them again on Sunday night back in Adelaide, but after the long trip back from Mt Buller it just wasn’t possible to get there in time.
Fuck Buttons

I hadn’t heard the Fuck Buttons until they were announced on the bill and I borrowed their cd off The Don. I was very impressed with it, and live they pulled it off well. I missed the start as I was still watching the Necks, but could hear Sweet Love for the Planet Earth as I walked up the hill and it sounded great. It was even more epic than usual in the mountainside setting. The rest of the set was excellent, and also provided a bit of variety by being rather more modern than much of the rest of the lineup.
Silver Apples

I certainly never expected to see Silver Apples live! I was reminded of just how strange Simeon’s music is. There was a bit of a more modern update, with the use of electronic percussion rather than live drums, and a few songs didn’t quite work for me but classics like Oscillations, A Pox on You and I Have Known Love were quite incredible. It was amazing to think that he’d been playing the same electronic music live 40 years ago! Many in the crowd seemed to not quite know what to make of him though.

Next was The Dirty Three playing Ocean Songs. Or at least most of it, since they ran out of time (or possibly misread the timetable since I thought they still had something like 20-30 minutes scheduled when they left the stage). They were joined by Nick Cave who was certainly making the most of his curator status (and good on him). To be honest OS was never my favourite album of theirs, I would have been perfectly happy with a regular set with a selection from a number of their albums, so that aspect didn’t particularly excite me, but the Dirty Three live are always a great live experience anyway.
The Saints

The last act on the main stage was The Saints. That is the proper, original Saints, as evidenced by the presence that chap playing guitar on the right by the name of Edmund Kuepper. With them advertised to be playing a Don’t Look Back set of (I’m) Stranded at a couple of other appearances I thought we might get the same at ATP but was hoping not since I really love the other two albums as well. I wasn’t to be dissappointed as they played a wide selection, including many tracks from the oft overlooked Prehistoric Sounds. Hearing these songs played by the Kuepper/Bailey lineup complete with horn section was fantastic, with highlights for me being All Times Through Paradise, Nights in Venice and Know Your Product. At times they were not particularly tight, but that’s not too unreasonable for a band who have played one gig since 1978. Of course, for Ed Kuepper fans this was only the beginning ….

But before day two there was more music care of DJ’s Guy Blackman & Ben O’Connor at the Abom bar. There was a nice ATP moment with the Tren Brothers going nuts on the dancefloor as the Velvet Underground were played on the stereo. When things wrapped up at 3am I really appreciated the fact that my room was in the same building (especially since the temperature was dropping down towards an overnight low of 1°C)
To be continued …. (Update: finally continued about 11 months later here)