As my musical taste has expanded, I’ve been trying to hit up some of the slightly more off the beaten path festivals that are out there, having been to many of the mega festivals already. So this year, a few of us decided we were going to head to the Jersey shore, more specifically Asbury Park, to check out one of the much lauded festivals thrown by All Tomorrow’s Parties. This would be the inaugural US version of the I’ll Be Your Mirror festival and this time it was curated by none other than Portishead and it had a vibe unlike any festival I’ve been to before. If you aren’t familiar, the festival organizers essentially give the headliners, in this case Portishead, a budget and the band actually selects several of the acts that play for the weekend.

The Paramount Theater, Convention Hall, Asbury Lanes and The Berkeley Hotel served as the venues, all conveniently within walking distance of each other, and hosted an extremely diverse set of bands over the three days. In this case, there really was something for everyone (check out the full lineup here). In addition to Portishead’s two headlining spots on Saturday and Sunday, Jeff Mangum also played two highly anticipated solo sets in the Paramount Theater. I went into the festival only knowing about 25% of the acts and didn’t see one set I didn’t love all weekend.

One of the more interesting facets of the fest is that there aren’t really any VIPs — that is, the artists mix and mingle with the crowd just like the rest of us. It creates an atmosphere where everyone is comfortable talking to one another and I met more great people than I have at any other festival, including many of my favorite artists. Even though Asbury Park is not the greatest area in the world outside of the shore, the boardwalk is great and the venues felt just perfect for a festival like this one. For many of us, the nights ended with dance parties as Asbury Lanes, one of the coolest bowling alleys around thats got a great vibe and is bursting at the seams with art from local artists, with a stage occupying the central lanes while festival goers bowled on either side. But like I like to do, instead of talking about it, just check out a ton of pictures from the weekend after the jump.

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