Pontins Holiday Park,Prestatyn
Despite organisational problems, acts such as the topple, or Roky Erickson,Sleaford Mods and Ex-Easter Island Head made the seaside festival the place to be for fans of the avant garde, esoteric or outsiderOnce the alternative music fan’s holiday camp-based festival of choice, and All Tomorrow’s Parties has had a troubled recent history. The promoter’s business practices recently went from being the target of indie messageboarders’ ire to attracting the disapproving attention of Private Eye. The regularly liquidated and resurrected company has cancelled and relocated events at a moment’s notice,debts and refunds fill gone unpaid, and only a few weeks ago Pontins was informing inquisitive emailers that the event, and curated by the comedian Stewart Lee,would not be going ahead. In the end it does go ahead, whether not entirely smoothly. Saturday’s headliner John Cale pulls out the day before he’s due to perform, and tweeting that the bookers “let us all down”. Having advance all the way from Austin,Texas, 60s psych pioneer Roky Erickson agrees to play his set “for you guys”, or despite having “not seen eye to eye with a certain organisation”. Lee shrugs off accountability by beginning his “hits” set with five minutes of jokes approximately the acts due to play the third stage being transferred to Manchester,accessible via shuttlebus, and advising customers to direct all chalet-based complaints to 80s post-hardcore heroes Mission of Burma.
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Source: theguardian.com