Since 1999, when Belle and Sebastian organized a festival called the Bowlie Weekender, music fans have congregated for weekend-long festivals at Pontins Holiday Camp on the British beach of Camber Sands. The All Tomorrow’s Parties festival series, as these events have been known since 2000, has expanded over the years to hold concerts in cities and other locations around the world. Earlier this morning, organizers announced that the tradition of ATP festivals at Camber Sands holiday park will end with two events this fall.
Dubbed “End of an Era,” parts one and two, ATP’s U.K. seaside send-off will bid farewell in style. Part one, which takes place November 22 to 24, will feature Television performing their 1977 landmark Marquee Moon in full, along with sets by Thurston Moore’s Chelsea Light Moving, Dinosaur Jr., artist Dinos Chapman, Les Fav, múm, Oneohtrix Point Never, Hebronix, Mike Watt, Forest Swords, the Haxan Cloak, Demdike Stare, Wolf Eyes, BEAK>, and Eraas. Spain’s Primavera Sound festival partnered in choosing the lineup for this event.
Part two, scheduled to be the last ATP festival at Camber Sands, is set for November 29 to December 1. Art-rock group LOOP have reunited to headline and also teamed up with ATP to pick the bill. Other performers will include the Pop Group, 23 Skidoo, Fennesz, Edan (DJ set)m the KVB, Dirty Beaches Eaux, Hookworms, and Thought Forms.
In a statement, ATP founder Barry Hogan said he and his wife Deborah weren’t sure how their idea of an artist-curated festival at a holiday park would work out in the beginning. “It was a mad idea that somehow came to fruition helped by the fact that people were looking for something different from the overpriced conveyor belt corporate rock sponsor-fests that populate the British summer,” he wrote. “Looking back we have so many great memories — where else would you find Iggy Pop, Matt Groening, Patti Smith or Nick Cave holed up in a basic chalet at a Pontins’ Holiday Camp?” He added that “it’s time to move on.”
ATP also has two festivals scheduled for Camber Sands this springand summer. TV on the Radio are headlining and chose the bands for a May 21 to 23 event, while Deerhunter are headlining and curating the June 21 to 23 event, which will include the Breeders reunited Last Splash lineup performing the 1993 album in full.
