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Was a bit concerned about Camber after last weekend's reports but it was great. Better than Minehead. Chalets mega close to venues, friendly staff and way better sound. Our chalet was totally fine too and warm! Owen Pallett, Local Natives and the National smashed it. Also enjoyed the Antlers (despite their technical problems), Kathleen Edwards, Sharpn Van Etten, Wild Beasts, Perfume Genius and Bear in Heaven.

and anything new they may or may not have played

A lot of excellent performances. Undoubted highlights for me were Menomena, Michael Rother, Deerhoof and Stars Of The Lid.

The National were incredible. Wye Oak and Antlers were great, although Antlers sound wasn't great. Sharon Van Thingy was good too.

Bear in Heaven were the band I saw that I thought were complete dogshit.

Our chalet was really warm, all the staff were really friendly and the karaoke was hilarious.

Was the electricity thing some kind of scam? Everyone I spoke to was told to buy electric but the meter didn't accept the cards and never moved.

On the downside, they ran out of Carlsberg Export on the first day and by Sunday they'd run out of Guiness. The shop gave my girlfriend a fake tenner, which the barman made a massive fuss about when he tested it. The dick.

Still, it was ace!

The National were brilliant. I think they played 3 new songs, including 'I need my girl', but I could be mistaken.

Chalets were fine (and you could get a refund on unused electricity cards), although the front door was pretty flimsy and I heard a few people got broken into.

But had a lovely time. Musically it wasn't s strong as other ATPs but Owen Pallet, Deerhoof, ROTHER and Youth Lagoon were all dead good. I had to leave The National half way through to assist a drunk friend but I wasn't really feeling it tbh.

Karoake was amazing. Someone approached my friend to tell her that our performance of Fairytale of NY "changed my life. For the better or for the worse we are still unsure.

Camber is so much better than Minehead. Had no problems with the chalets and I saved loads of money as it was so easy to being your own drinks in.

WE WON THE QUIZ. See you in June, Camber.

I was in one of the teams that came joint first but lost on the tie-break.

Chalets were basic but fine, except for the bed situation. Advertising a 'four bed' when two people have to sleep on a crappy leather foldout sofa that's barely bigger than a single bed does take the piss somewhat, but at least the chalet was warm.

Had a nice time overall, but weirdly I can't really say there were any "OH WOW THIS IS AMAZING" moments. Even the National's set was more good than great - they were a bit rusty, weren't they? It was a setlist that was almost the same as the one from Brixton Academy, but kinda missing a few older tracks from Alligator, and Matt didn't do his normal go-nuts-in-the-crowd-at-the-end thing. I was kinda hoping they'd use the opportunity to do some tracks they don't get the chance to do very often in front of a more forgiving crowd, but never mind. Couple of the new songs seemed alright.

If I had to pick main highlights, I'd choose Suuns, Deerhoof, and Ethan Lipton's set last thing on the second stage last night which was fucking brilliant. So annoyed I chose the pub quiz over seeing him do his play thing earlier in the day now, I had no idea!

Also, Budhha Bowls are TASTY.

Highlights were The Nash, My Brightest Diamond, Michael Rother, Menomena, Boris, Tim Hecker and Ethan Lipton.

Really disappointed with The Antlers - even after their technical freakout they were still a bit of a mess and never really looked like they wanted to be there.

Also really disappointed that Stars of the Lid started so late. What I saw was wicked but it kind of killed the mood standing around for half an hour knowing that every minute lost was a minute you'd have to choose between SOTL and The National. Will definitely need to see them another day.

No real complaints about Camber, although we did end up with two of us in a four berth which helped. I can imagine it would get pretty squished with a full house and that single plug/water heater/oven combo is just fucking insane. I presume everyone else has a phone full of photos of the beach as well.

Having said no complaints, I do have untold sympathy for anyone taken there for an actual holiday. When the owners visit how do they not fire every single person when they see the state of the gents in the main building, or the food from that hellish burger bar by the Queen Vic?

Was anyone else's TV tuned to both ATP channels? Ours only had a wonky signal for The National's channel and we didn't have a remote to try and retune it. Doesn't really matter but it is a shame for whoever put it together to have it fucked up in the execution.

i'd forgotten how much of a fucking pit that Pontins is though - truly grim. also feel slightly insulted by ATP/Pontins calling what was very clearly a 3-berth a 4-berth.

Also annoyed/bemused by a strange incident in the arcade one evening where some guy decided that a security guard had told him to tell us we had to leave. We were confused, he got arsey. We didn't have booze, we weren't being dickheads, no idea whatsoever. Some people are just cunts, I guess...

The National were majestic. Yes, it was the same set as they have played for last couple of years, but it was in a venue at most half the size. The atmopshere, if you had nouse to get out of earshot of the countless chuntering fuckwads (of which more below) was the best truly elatory.

Good job they were that good, too, cos there were countells awesome sets. Deerhoof were my highight of the weekend; heavy and fucking joyous - surely they're worth a punt as a headline act?

Buke and Gase were my big unexpected highlight, along with This Is The Kit and Camera (Michael Rother's backing band who played an impromptu set in the pub yesterday). And other hefty hat-tips to Owen Pallett, Hauschka, Wye Oak, Sharon van Etten and Dark Dark Dark.

The aforementioned fuckwads didn't really affect my enjoyment, but they seem to be growing in number. Think we must figure out a way of keeping the chunts out. Maybe rob their chalets when they're turning up to talk over the bands? Burn their BMWs? Bit much?

The place is a ghetto, but nostalgia and free electricity helped take the edge off of the worst of that, too. Do wish ATP could take over the running of the facilities, too, though. Some decent food wouldn't do any harm.

Musical highlights were This is the Kit, Owen Pallett, Kathleen Edwards and Sharon Van Etten. Other highlights were the beach, the buddha boxes, the great atmosphere and the fact that security turned a blind eye to the widespread use of hip flasks.

- The National - four new songs! That one that seemed to be called restless or weightless or something was so great.
- Buke and Gase, remembering how awesome Deerhoof are live, Wild Beasts doing Smother in full, Michael Rother, the Philistines Jr
- Anyone else see Ethan Lipton's No Place to Go yesterday morning? I wasn't that into the idea of going, but I'm so glad I did. Wonderful stuff.
- Buddha boxes, nice security, huge walk on the beach, chalet karaoke (chaletaoke?), watching the Christmas song battle at the actual karaoke

Bad bits
- Our chalet was so fucking gross. There was blood on the bedsheets, pillows, duvets and curtains, and some really nasty looking mould growing underneath the bunk bed. Also that leather sofa bed thing in no way constitutes a double. My hope is that people were a bit crammed in this weekend due to the switch, and that next year's ones will see chalets/beds allocated a bit more fairly, but we'll see... We had fun reading the Trip Advisor reviews of Camber on the way back: "when we got there there was a piece of poo on the toilet seat" :(
- I thought Kurt Vile and Youth Lagoon were both really underwhelming.
- Stars of the Lid running late, having to miss them to go upstairs for a good National spot. I wish SOTL had been on earlier - I remember accidentally coming across Bohren and the Club of Gore at ATP a few years ago, playing at perhaps 1 or 2 in the afternoon in Reds/Crazy Horse (?), which was the perfect time to see something like that.
- The fact that Deerhoof were feted like gods of rock kind of showed how the bill could have done with a bit more fun and noise, but then ole man misery was what I signed up for, and I got it in spades.

Didn't see a single band I didn't like the sound of. Also Yellowbirds and Puzzle Muteson whom I hadn't heard of before were both a pleasant surprise.
I must have got lucky with the chalet because I had no issues at all. Camber Sands is definitely a bit of a dump compared to Minehead but at least the sound of air hockey didn't mix into a bands set.
For me the downside was the HUGE number of people talking over the sound of the bands - really almost shouting at eachother. FFS there's breaks between bands and you are most likely sharing a chalet with the people you are talking to - chat about shit then!

Oh and the Virginia EP on vinyl is awesome.

My first atp so it was all pretty novel. Our chalet was fine and most of the music i saw was great. I thought the sound was good all weekend, though maybe the National could have done with being louder. Might've just been my battered Sunday night hearing though tbh. Deerhoof, Yellowbirds, Youth Lagoon and Kurt Vile were all great. Like people have said shame about SotL being delayed. What i heard before heading upstairs sounded brilliant.

This was my second ATP and I honestly couldn't believe how stark the difference was between Minehead and Camber when it came to the Chalets. Never the less though it didn't stop me from enjoying the music.

My highlights were definitely Micheal Rother, Buke and Gase, Deerhoof, Stars of the Lid, Sharon Van Etten, Owen Pallet, My Brightest Diamond, Boris and The National, once I moved passed the pillars near the bar. The sound somehow just got better after I'd moved. The only disappointing act was Bear in Heaven really.

Me and my lover James thought it was awesome. The biggest disappointment was no Space Bowl. Or Space Jam. The chalet be terrible, we found some shit on the floor... turned out fat bav done it. Other highlights include ex-racist philbert (name's have been changed due to reasons of privacy.) Owen Pallett was great when he was doing karaoke and bummersville. If that was Bummersville, i'd love to go to Bummersville everyday.

Camber wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be more [places to sit down is a must for next years festival. I think I preferred the two stage set up as well.

Didn't see anything that I didn't enjoy but my highlights were probably Boris, Kronos Quartet (glad they lifted the mood with the cover of Purple Haze after the 15 minute piece about 9/11), Richard Reed Perry's folk song cycle, Michael Rother, Owen Pallett and of course the National.

Sharon Van Etten would have been on the list if it wasn't for the terrible sound at the start and a women talking very loudly behind me. Stars of the Lid were great but seeing less than 40 minutes of the was very annoying. Should have been on early with more time to set up.

Going down to the beach on Sunday night when it was crystal clear after the National was brilliant don't think I've every seen a sky like it..

Will defiantly be back in May or June...

The place was essentially lawless by 5pm Saturday

Highlights were certainly Deerhoof, The National, Sharon Van Etten(I had a massage during this), Boris, Dark Dark Dark, speed garage being played in the pub, watching people do karaoke.

Our chalet was great, I mean the bed situation wasn't perfect but it still beats a tent. There was some differences between the chalets though we had a shower, others didn't...and I was pretty jealous of the psycho cat art work that my friend had.

I think next time I go to a ATP, I'll choose one with a more exciting line up I did find myself pretty bored by lots of the artists. Despite adoring Tim Hecker, I was bored to tears within 10 minutes.

Organisation wise, the staff were nice(I like the guy on the stairs with the voice like Tom Waits x 10), too little bar staff(some of which had bad attitudes), there were a couple of late sets I believe but nothing terrible.

where's the love?
he was excellent at bush hall last week...

What am I not getting? They're a bit...Coldplay to me.

Would go again. Four people in a chalet with one bedroom a bit of a pisstake but still shits on camping and the electricity was free so I'm OK with that. Assumed had something to do with the site move. The Saturday lunchtime strolling around that beach was lovely. Probably not as good if it had shat it down mind.

Bandswise, agree with those saying The National a bit disappointing. I mean, it was good because it's The National but as they were closing their own festival I really expected a few rarities or something thrown in, even at Latitude we got Son, Cardinal Song and Available. Appreciated the four new ones though. The second of the two they played back to back sounded really good, and I Need My Girl sounds much more of a complete song now. Unfortunately gig almost ruined by bunch of lads, one of who was absolutely obliterated, and all shouting pretty much constantly, even though I’d managed to get down the front, but shit happens I guess.

Honourable mentions to Youth Lagoon, Wild Beasts, Perfume Genius, Buke and Gase, Kurt Vile, Local Natives. Owen Pallett is an extremely talented young man.

Antlers was a shame as they didn’t really seem to recover from the early sound troubles and seemed a little bit disinterested after that, but brave to play two off the new EP in a set of (I think?) six songs.

Bear in Heaven’s singer ruined them for me, poncing about like George Michael with the vocals drowning everything out. Their drummer was ludicrously good though.

I met Bryce Dessner twice over the weekend and told him I thought he was fucking brilliant both times before shaking his hand and running off because I was too drunk to think of anything better to say.

Bar queues and no real ale stalls a pain in the arse but £2.50 cans and bottle of wine in two pint pots for less than £8 helped a bit.

That burger bar was utter shit but a burger was 99p so swings and roundabouts. What is a buddha box? Where were these?

My chalet and all my clothes smelt of onions the whole weekend after cooking dinner in my "bedroom" early on. Every so often stood near someone who was obviously suffering from the same problem.

Dread to think how much I spent on the 10p machines.

I wish it wasn’t 300 miles from Manchester.

tl;dr

best bits were perfume genius and owen pallett and stars of the lid and hecker and so percussion and kronos quartet.

hated the lack of alternatives to watching the national. found them very dull and spent two hours just wandering around wondering what to do.
o2 reception at camber was fucking dreadful for 3G, which was a bit annoying but hardly serious.

really liked it being back at camber. so convenient for london, later dancing, i had no problems with the accommodation. shame about the limited range of mainly terrible food. surely some more hipster food vans would be popular and profitable?

Saw a fairly large number of crap bands over the weekend (Bear In Heaven, Youth Lagoon, Sharon Von Etten, Boris) but the good/amazing stuff really made up for it so who cares.

- Huaschka was the perfect opening to the festival, amazing stuff.
- Tim Hecker was cool but we didn't stay long enough.
- Owen Pallett is an absolute genius and the new stuff sounds incredible.
- Local Natives were absolutely great and I had an amazing time shouting along.
- The National are still pretty meh. Was drunk enough to get through it. I still think Matt Berringer is just pretty boring though.

Anyway, other great stuff - winning a book at the book bingo, and the quiz which was loads of fun. The arcade. Just the general atmosphere, getting drunk in the chalet, drinking an unimaginable amount of £3 pints of Tetley's. Doing karaoke and completely embarrassing myself (I was at the karaoke for about 3 hours in the end on Saturday night and it was fucking hilariously great).

Chalet was warm, clean, and bloody miles away from the main building and still not that far so that was good too.

Props to the kid who sold me some chicken nuggets at 2am and then a hot dog then next day at 4pm, after finishing work on the fast food stand at 6am.

Would definitely go again. Probably to a May/June one though because I reckon the outside areas in between chalets would be loads of fun at that time of year.