Deerhoof top an enjoyable weekend of musical noise, doom & gloom

Following the 3rd Godspeed You! Black Emperor performance rescheduled for the morning, legendary Krautrock pioneers Cluster performed their electronic ambience set on the Pavilion Stage. One of the most influential bands appearing over the weekend.

Later, Weird Al Yankovic's comedy-rock show parodied everyone from Kurt Cobain (complete with dancing cheerleaders), and Keith Richards, through to Michael Jackson. 'Canadian Idiot', set to Green Day, was dedicated to the curators. Film footage of spoof artist interviews continued the parody between songs whilst 'Weird' changed costumes. He was suffering from high fever and throat infection he told us apologetically, but it wasn't noticeable in his work rate, or the vocals for that matter. This is his first tour in Europe to date in a decades-long career, perhaps because the content is quite America-centric. We get it anyway.

The fun continues over on Centre with the Boban & Marko Markovic Gypsy Orkestar as the party atmosphere peaked. A 13 member Worldly brass band from Serbia, performing high tempo, feel good songs. Definitely the best audience response of the weekend. People were still singing their tunes a full half-hour later, this carried on later outside the venue at the parasol smoking area that always seems to get a sing-along going at some stage.

Wolves in the Throne Room brought us back to the dark side, a set with a similar feel and pace to that of Neurosis. They take great care setting up the right feel for their show, hanging banners with a nature theme, and even lining the stage with fir tree cuttings, before immersing it all in dry ice and cold azure light. The end effect is that of a forest at night immersed in deep mist. Blue torches light up their guitars, at times the mist is so dense that's all you can see. "Even I enjoyed that" one security man told me keenly at the close. Quite right too.

I'm a big fan of Deerhoof: quirky songs and live performances that put a smile on people's faces. Their set includes Ramones ('Pinhead') and Troggs ('With a Girl Like You') covers. It's difficult to tear your eyes away from Greg's superb, if a little manic drumming. It's easy to see why Dave Grohl is such an enthusiast of them. Happier notes to have finished on anyway.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Setlist 3: The Dead Flag Blues – Dead Metheny – Chart #3 – World Police – Albanian – She Dreamt She Was a Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone in an Empty Field – Moya – BBF3

Over the weekend, perhaps a bit too much musical noise, doom & gloom at first for my personal taste then. To be fair, that was plain for all to see in the line-up announcement before the event though. If loud, experimental, drone and improvised sounds is your thing then you'd have been in 7th heaven. Thankfully things diversified more come Saturday. The eclectic line-up and nature of ATP line-ups always makes for disparate views of the event, and it's all too easy to miss the best performances there.

Overall, a great weekend as usual though. A good place to thaw out a bit to continuous music, 14 hours a day. I haven't even mentioned the Chalet Parties, Bingo, Music Quiz, Wave Pool, ATP TV, Cinema, and other facilities there...

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