All Tomorrow's Parties have been promoting records, music festivals and cultural events since the turn of the century, and they do it with idiosyncratic panache. This London-based organisation has carved out an esteemed place in the ever-shifting zeitgeist by embracing a disparate mix of genres and staging intimate, non-corporate, original events.
This is the third instalment in Ásbrú, the former Nato decommissioned air base in Keflavík, Iceland. The first one was curated by Nick Cave and is fondly remembered for his soaring performance – and less fondly remembered for his subsequent plummet from stage and resulting trip to hospital. Although there is no specific musical curator this year, the ATP collective amassed a typically catholic line-up that included legends and cultish bands alike.
The site itself in Keflavík is a rather odd one. For over half a century more than 200,000 U.S. citizens lived and worked at this former military base, along with thousands of Icelandic employees, which is a lot considering that the Icelandic population is only 328,000. The base closed down in 2006 and now it’s an eerie expanse with endless sunlight keeping you awake and ready for every next act. The action happens around a clutch of buildings that include a cinema, the Andrews Theatre (a seated venue) and a large-scale hangar called Atlantic Studios.
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The festival opens on Thursday night and what a way to kick off proceedings. After a slow-burning start from NYC-based electric folk miserablist duo Tall Firs the stakes go big with recent inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – Public Enemy. With DJ Lord and a retinue of camo-clad security figures in tow, Chuck D and Flavor Flav burst out and give the capacity crowd all they’ve got. It’s a combustive performance and they don’t skimp on the obvious hits, the crowd going mad for ‘Bring the Noise’, ‘Fight The Power’ and ‘Don’t Believe The Hype’.
Towards the end of the set Chuck D says: “I’m 55 years old, Flavor Flav is 56 – we’re a combined force of 111 years on stage here… this shit is harder than it looks”. Thankfully they conceal how much of toll it takes on them, and Flavor Flav, a granddad to 5 kids, leaps around the stage like a man 30 years his junior. And Chuck D is solid, stalking the stage and delivering a constant barrage of lyrical flow. Flavor Flav gushes that the audience, “was the best in the history of Public Enemy, ever” and by the time they leave the stage plenty of people are thinking the same thing – tough act to follow.
Not if you are the arch miscreant Iggy Pop. There’s no one he couldn’t follow… he just has to flail onto the stage with his impossible vim and boundless freneticism and that’s it… everyone is won over in seconds. He charges on stage to the glorious scuzz of ‘No Fun’ and by the end of the song he’s slung off his leather jacket and is gyrating with unhinged glee. His leather-like skin ripples and stretches as Pop revels in his deranged majesty, unleashing hit after hit to a hungry mob. ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’, ‘The Passenger’, ‘Lust For Life’, ‘Sixteen’ – they all keep coming and Pop never takes his foot of the gas. He’s got more raw energy than most young pretenders to the throne put together.
Scottish Indie darlings and former ATP curators Belle & Sebastian are a totally different kettle of fish following Iggy but the Atlantic Studio is full to the gunnels and Murdoch is in the mood to party, inviting hoards of fans onto the stage for a big final dance. Public Enemy’s pals Run The Jewels come on in the early hours and are a twisted hip hop punch in the jaw. Still the sun shines but ATP is a marathon not a race, some energy has to be conserved.
Over the course of the next two days the roughly 5000 punters get exactly what they expect and keep coming back to ATP for – blistering performances from an eclectic bunch of bands plucked from all over the world. Canadian experimental rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor are predictably stellar, notable Icelandic bands such as Oyama, the intensely stern HAM, Grísalappalísa, Valdimar and the instrumental wizard Kippi Kaninus are all a pleasure to discover.
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Denmark’s Iceage are an endearingly shambolic success and apocalyptic American band Swans are devastating… the faces of the assembled is a picture, trying to work out what the hell they were thinking. The list of stand out acts goes on and on… San Diego-based hardcore band Drive Like Jehu were a riot, Lightning Bolt were like getting kicked in the nuts and poked in the ear simultaneously, The Bug is a similarly aggressive aural assault, Icelandic favourites Pink Street Boys were uninhibited punk bedlam with a very dangerous mosh pit to prove it, and fellow Icelandic band Ghostdigital were crackers in a joyful electronica fashion.
All in all it was a tremendous cavalcade of music in many disparate forms. And as with all the best festivals, there was more besides – such as a book club organised by Ben Frost, a pop quiz and a series of Mogwai-curated cinema screenings. And the food was damn good as well… How many festivals have a van serving lobster tails? Or kjötsúpa (Icelandic meat soup) for that matter? ATP does, and the burgers from the easily said Hamborgarabúllan are also amazing.
The last word goes to Philadelphia psychedelic post-rockers Bardo Pond, who wailed “music is life, life is music” during their Albert Ayler-referencing new track ‘Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe’ – 12 minutes of reverb drenched, sternum vibrating moaning and droning. Very fitting.
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Words: Nick Rice
