365;

with the start of september i expected an indian summer. there is typically a wave of beautiful weather here just in time for back to school, but this year it only lasted for a day or two. it is now autumn, there is a chill in the air and dublin has gone back to it’s wet and dreary self. now that summer is over, i figured it was about time to update about it.

a good place to start would be the absolute best weekend of my entire summer/year/life, which was spent in camber sands, uk at the atp festival curated by deerhunter.

dan saw the announcement for the festival before i did. “what would be your dream festival? this is better.” we are both borderline obsessed (ok really, there’s no borderline about it) with deerhunter and everything associated (refer to sidebar) such as atlas sound and lotus plaza. i jokingly refer to our relationship as “love-at-first-mention-of-deerhunter” as it’s what we initially bonded over when we met. there were two things about this announcement to be overjoyed about: one, they were scheduled to play their three main LPs in full over the course of the three nights (cryptograms, microcastle and halcyon digest). this in itself is bloody amazing, as we were guaranteed to hear ALL the songs we knew and loved. the second thing to be excited about was the prospect of atlas sound and lotus plaza playing the festival as well. we snatched up four tickets for a chalet the moment they went on sale.

i invited my friend andy and we sold the fourth ticket to sanjay and we all proceeded to have the most amazing three days. bands included the breeders, tom tom club, atlas sound (but sadly, no lotus plaza), panda bear, avey tare, dan deacon, verity susman, laetitia sadier and the black lips to name a few. deerhunter did an amazing job curating, they gave us a brilliant lineup of bands that inspire them.

in the days following the festival, my memories of it were a blissful blur. bits and pieces would come back to me sporadically, such as something ridiculous that brad said or the band stage diving after microcastle or me crowd surfing during desire lines. yes, i’m still fifteen. i had been looking forward to this festival for so long that once it was over i had no idea what to do with myself. i suppose it was good we had a week planned in cornwall with dan’s family a few days later, but more on that later.