All Tomorrow's Parties 3/4

Sunday was day three and we took a much needed lie in until the afternoon, missing everything up a Place To Bury Strangers. We stayed for the first half of their set which was nothing but dull. We were later told the second half of their set was amazing, but why play half a set of boredom to slog through before the good stuff. Whatever. I'm not a fan, never have been so it's no loss to me.

As I said, we left the grey, non-event of A Place To Bury Strangers and retreated to the arcades for round two of our video game battles before we headed home once more to hang with the neighbors before múm.

Múm were grand in scale but far more open and euphoric than i was expecting. Theirs set was weighted with newer tracks that forgo the older, darker sounds. It made for a nice set, and probably fitted the sunday a bit better as a chill out/warm down from the night before. As with Sonic Youth, some of the crowd moaned about the set choice but it worked if you took it for what i was. Maybe if they'd been given a slot on the darker, noiser saturday we may have seen some of the more oppressive múm material. The band also had to regularly contend with sounds emanating from the arcades, something quite farcical for a festival on this scale.

Surprises for where we ended up afterward: burger king. I stayed there for the next hour or so, chilling out whilst Seymour went to EPMD, with a good view of the main stage so i could sit back and watch The Dirty Three who were very epic and substantial, it was moving even from my plastic fantastic, fast food seating. I began to become hungry, but by now a whopper was out of my price range. Fortunately ketchup, mayonnaise, sugar and small milk cartons were at hand for a delicious, in mouth cement mixer treat. Gourmet!

The Bloody Valentine sets worked like this... you queued for a wristband on arrival and chose one of the nights to see MBV. We chose the friday as you've already read about but we managed to sneak in with Mike and Teresa on the sunday too. I desperately wanted them to come good. The set definitely had more feeling and there was slightly less apathy from shields in relation to the audience but the sound was just as bad and the band seemed to have given up a bit. Everything was less tight and precise and although Shields was improved, the rest of the band were below par. Much like the whether, MBV were a damp squib and a massive disappointment yet again. The holocaust was once again the only truly great part of the set. It was telling that all the way through their set all you could hear was some strange booming bass sound filling the room from below and overpowering the apparently all-power sonic juggernauts MBV. It was Lightning Bolt playing a secret set on the 3rd stage again. If i'd have known I wouldn't have wasted my time in MBV for a second time.

It only felt right that we went to the Irish Bar at least once during our stay, especially after watching MBV. Guinness was at hand to make everything better once more! We decided to sneak our drinks back to chalet. We had to leave early on the monday and i had to drive. It wasn't going to be a big night for me.

We got in, drew some poor excuses for cartooons and i downed my Guinness before bed. God i sound old, especially when tales of Rob's midnight exploits hit us on the drive back home.