Tweenage Wasteland: ATP Presents Bowlie II
Ex Perthite LAURA MILLER takes a wonderful trip through the twee/folk/pop wonderland that was an ATP curated by Belle and Sebastian. Photos by DANI LURIE.
All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP), the festival where the headline band acts as curator, has its origins in the Bowlie Weekender curated by Belle and Sebastian in April 1999 at Camper Sands in Sussex, UK. To wrap up the ten years of ATP celebrations (who needs to be specific about dates?) ATP got Belle and Sebastian back in the driver’s seat for Bowlie II at Butlins Holiday Camp in Minehead, Somerset, UK. When I realised this coincided with my European travel plans, I knew I had to go. An objective review of the weekend is impossible for me, as almost two weeks later I’m still gushing, so what follows is a kind of recollection of my experience of the greatest music festival I have ever known.
Myself and my companions, three ex-pat West Australian ladies living in London and two boys from Leeds found ourselves at Butlins, a “holiday camp for ordinary Britions” where families flock in summer and holiday in the complex. It comes complete with fast food chains, a grocery store, several bars, an indoor pool, a bowling alley, an amusement park, a cinema, and stages for family entertainment. 6000 people were spread out amongst cabins that came equipped with a kitchen and bathroom and a 24hr TV channel programmed by Belle and Sebastian. This is a festival where all those things you hate about festivals (too many people, too many drunk people, toilets not clean/with no toilet paper/with long lines, drinks three times the price of ordinary drinks, sound clashing between the stages, sweat, rain, camping, no good showers etc.) don’t exist! Our cabin was a mere five minute stroll away from a giant pavilion which houses the main stage and a smaller 3000 person capacity venue with tiered seating up the back. Surrounding the pavilion were several smaller stages, and many venues for late night dancing. It was also the world’s most hygienic festival venue, with hand sanitizer pumps at entry and exit of almost every room! Read the rest of this entry ”
