All Tomorrow's Parties NY 2009: Iron & Wine

For over a decade ATP has been hosting massive music festivals all over the world. What started as a weekend day-camp style music festival in England, the brainchild of Belle & Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch, evolved rapidly into a phenomenon in England, Australlia, and, for the last two years, upstate New York. Adapting the community feel of the musical camp to the desolate surroundings of the Hudson Valley's dying resort scene was easy, and the moment you show up at Kutsher's in Monticello, NY and survey the landscape of trend-setters and musicians alike, you feel instantly at home.

I bought a weekend ticket for the 2009 festival back when I had money to buy such things. It was easily the most expensive ticket I ever purchased, but considering that it was going to cross three of my top 'must see' artists off my ever-expanding list, the price seemed worth it. This year's event was curated by The Flaming Lips, one of my all time favorites, and the three days were laden with other power players in my music library; Iron & Wine punctuating Friday night, Sufjan Stevens starting Saturday, and the Lips finishing the event off on Sunday. Of course the entire weekend was saturated with phenomenal bands like Circulatory System, Deerhoof, Akron/Family, and Animal Collective. You couldn't go wrong.

Anyways, I spent a great deal of time trying to capture as much of the festival as I could on video, so I could share it with my loyal viewers. Some of it turned out exceptional, some of it was a bust. Tonight I'm offering up the entire Iron & Wine set, sans the witty banter between songs. The video playlist is below in it's entirety, so do enjoy!