Review: All Tomorrow's Parties End of an Era Part Two @ Pontins Holiday Camp, Camber Sands, UK

Mike Watt w/ Il Sogno Del Marinaio

All Tomorrow's Parties End of an Era Part Two @ Pontins Holiday Camp, Camber Sands, UK
November 29 - December 1, 2013
Photos/Review: Rhona (Wiglet Bill) Aquilina

So this is it. The end of an end of an era.

I can wholeheartedly say that for me, this really is the end of an era. I have attended seventeen UK ATP festivals over the last thirteen years. I was here at Pontins in 2000 at the first ever ATP festival curated by Mogwai. Ever since then ATP's UK holiday camp festivals have been a fundamental akin to nourishment or warmth. And I genuinely mean that. Why else would I have repeatedly reached into my pocket, scraping together all my resources in order to purchase tickets for a just-announced event that had no announced line up? Needless to say when the End Of An Era events were announced it was a no-brainer. I was going to be there!

Friday.

Having been here just a week earlier, with Fucking Nostalgic's head honcho Chris and his fiancée Jen (at End Of An Era Part One), our already well honed ATP travel routine runs like a dream and we make it to Pontins 15 minutes before they open the gates. There are no bands on for 5 hours or so, but anyone who's been in one of those chalets in December will tell you it's worth getting there early to warm it up before the sun goes down. That and the fact that I'm really going to miss this place, this experience and the feeling of community at these events. So I'm here early and I'm going to luxuriate in this feeling one last time. As I approach the check-in desk the lovely ATP ladies inform me that we are the first chalet to book in and snap a quick photo of my grinning mug. I win!

Photos/Review: All Tomorrow's Parties End of an Era Part One @ Pontins Holiday Camp, Camber Sands, UK

BEAK>

Lee Ranaldo & The Dust

Television

All Tomorrow's Parties End of an Era Part One @ Pontins Holiday Camp, Camber Sands, UK
November 22-24, 2013
Photos: Rhona (Wiglet Bill) Aquilina & Chris / Review: Chris

All things must pass. Even festivals that strive to provide an overwhelmingly enjoyable experience in addition to some of the best music lineups known to mankind. In the past thirteen years, UK promotors All Tomorrow's Parties have put on legendary festivals all over the world, but it's their original three-day series at Pontins Holiday Camp in Camber Sands that started it all, and set the template for what a music festival can and should be. And with good reason. Part one of their End of an Era series, curated by Primavera Sound and ATP, provided three of the most memorable days of my life.

Some background on our journey to our first UK ATP festival. My fiancee Jennifer and I decided to take the plunge and make a trip to London after finally meeting FN's London contributor Rhona and her wife Niki back in October, following a two year online correspondance with them. Of all the experiences I've had since creating this blog in 2011, getting to meet people as obsessed with music as I am has been the most rewarding. Rhona and Niki have been to numerous ATP Festivals, and considering the End of An Era series would be the last at Pontins, they were of course attending both weekends. Everything fell into place when Rhona informed me that there was room for the two of us in the 4-person chalet for Part One of End of An Era. Five weeks later we found ourselves on a red eye flight to London, the next morning driving to Camber Sands in a car packed with food, a couple cases of Sapporo cider and a big bottle of Apple Schnapps (more on that later).