Last night I watched the ATP movie which is highly recommended, here’s the trailer

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It reminded me of a couple of things

1. That ATP is the most amazing festival ever and it is really depressing that there is no Australian ATP in 2010
2. I never got around to posting my photos from day 2 of the 2009 festival.

(also it was a bit sad to see great performances by Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear and Akron/Family since they’re all playing in Australia next week but not Adelaide!)

Here’s the photos  (previous posts here and here)

I caught bits of some of the acts that played early – Hunter Dienna, Bridezilla and The Small Knives (missed the Stabs though). First international act for the day was Afrirampo, about whome I knew very little.

AFRIRAMPO! TOP OF MOUNTAIN! POWER!!!! (see video below for more detail)

Michael Gira
I’d been a fan of Gira for a long time, going back to the Swans but also right through to the present with the Angels of Light. As he took the stage a bunch of people got up off the hill and moved closer and he quipped “Who are you people and what do you want?”.  What follwed was the most powerful performance from one person with an acoustic guitar. Really incredible. Despite his somewhat gruff demeanor it was clear that Gira was having a great time at the festival, you’ll see his white hat amongst the crowd in some of my photos from both days (in particular right up the front for James Blood Ulmer).

Robert Forster
Earlier in the day Forster and his band had asked me for directions on a lonely mountain path. I had no idea, so I was quite relieved to see that they had safely made it back for their set. A show last year at the Gov had confirmed me as a Robert Forster fan (I was already into the Go-Betweens but hadn’t heard his solo stuff). The lineup for the festival was so amazing, with all these long time favourites who I never expected to get to see live, it was easy to forget about some of the acts I’d already seen quite a bit before (e.g. Forster, The Necks, Bill Callahan), but they were all fantastic. The spectacular setting, the wonderful crowd of dedicated music fans, everything just added up so that even the shows by familiar acts were really something special. Forster played a mix of solo stuff and Go-Betweens classics and was having the time of his life.

Harmonia

I’d been aware of Harmonia for a long time via my interest in Neu!, but there records only recently became easily available. Their music, made in 70’s, really lives up the the “ahead of their time” description. The live album “Harmonia Live 1974” in particular got me excited about seeing them, and they turned out to be one of the highlights in a weekend of great music. The crowd response was great, I think they converted lots of new fans. It was a great set, and not just an exercise in nostalgia (though a couple of times I just stood there in awe at the fact that I was watching Michael Rother from Neu!). The band seemed genuinely surprised and delighted by the warm response from the audience. It was a really great moment between the band and the audience when they left the stage to enormous applause.

The Laughing Clowns

What can I say? My favourite band ever, who I never expected to see live, after all this was their first show since 1984. It was all a bit overwhelming actually, I’ve been to a hell of lot of gigs by bands that I really love, but this was something extra special. They played

The Flypaper
Come One, Come All
Everything That Flies
Them From Mad Flies, Mad Flies
Nothing That Harms
Collapse Board
Eternally Yours

I would have been happy if it was longer, but apart from that it was about as good a set as I could expect (given that I love all of their songs it would be hard to be disappointed). Of course Eternally Yours was a truly superb end to the set, the moment when Louise Eliot brings in that Sax line was sublime.

Psarandonis

I didn’t see much of Psarandonis, I was recovering from the amazing run of acts that I’d just seen, and trying to find some food before the big conclusion, but I think this photo goes a small way to capturing the glorious view from the Amphitheatre Stage.

Spiritualized

It’s a long time since I’d really listened to Spiritualized much, so with all the other highlights I hadn’t given much thought to them, but the high quality of the festival continued. My interest in Spiritualized was renewed by a great performance, with I Think I’m In Love being the highlight.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds delivered a spectacular finish to the festival, but I didn’t get any decent photos (but I have since found the instruction booklet to my camera and may read it at some point so that I will be able to get decent photos in the future). I was keen enough to want to see them again in Adelaide the following week but they’d sold out (perhaps also I was desperately trying to cling to anything related to ATP … I really never wanted to leave).

Here is some footage of the festival from Youtube

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