Caught Live: All Tomorrow's Parties Presents... I'll Be Your Mirror USA, Curated by Portishead & ATP (Day Three) @ Asbury Park, NJ

Sunday kicks off with a 'secret' breakfast set at the bowling lanes from festival stalwarts Shellac. The band have more fun, are a little slacker and show a bit more of their humorous side than usual to the packed, largely hungover room, but remain a thrilling performance entity – especially in such close quarters. Let's face it, closing number ‘Prayer to God’ retains its power whether you are at a bowling alley, a club or perhaps even a church, and here they put on the most out-and-out enjoyable show of the weekend.

Angular noiseniks Deerhoof lay waste to the Con Hall stage with aplomb, mining this year's ...vs. Evil LP for all its addictive, semi-anthemic qualities, while still remaining purposely obtuse, otherworldly and also quite, quite pretty. The sound quality tries to mug them, but they manage to escape with dignity intact.

Seattle drone pioneers Earth then send The Paramount into a low-level trance with a selection of their more recent Americana-inspired material interspersed with a couple of old 'Sabbath-driven gems. It’s hefty, slow, awkward, discordant and darkly affecting stuff.

After much early-evening pinball and mini golf, Public Enemy are set to tackle a huge Convention Hall crowd. Bearing in mind Messrs. D, Flav et al. brought us 'Don’t Believe The Hype' all those years ago, a near-thirty-minute onstage 'warmup' featuring an actual hype man does not sit well. Far from rousing the crowd before the band's actual set begins, it sadly proves a very, very boring exercise in self-aggrandisement.

Still, after muddling through the first half a dozen numbers (sound issues unfortunately hamper things yet again), they eventually find their sonic spot and proceed to charge through the likes of 'Fight The Power' and 'Brothers Gonna Work It Out' as though they're trying to stamp out a fire. It reminds us all just why and how these guys were once the most important musical act in the world. Flavor Flav’s speechifying on world peace, racism and god takes the wind out of their sails somewhat, but then again it always has. When distilled to a pure, hard hip-hop experience – as they are tonight on seminal cut 'Timebomb', which sees Flav taking to the drums to underscore Chuck D’s imaginative rhymes – Public Enemy remain peerless. As for the needless frippery and over-the-top 'showmanship' that goes with them? Mere trivia.

With Mogwai sadly absent due to illness, we have only co-curators Portishead left to bring the curtain down on what's been an immensely enjoyable festival. We say "only Portishead"... In many ways this has been their weekend, and while they’ve certainly provided us with an excellent selection of music and film, the pressure is now very much on Beth Gibbons and co. to bring Sunday night to a close with a bang. That they are superb here this evening is beyond dispute – that they sound bigger and better than they’ve ever done is the real surprise.

They drop the hits, yes, and they are appreciated to a song, but it’s the lone guitar and vocal version of 'Wandering Star' that lets us all know we’re witnessing something truly special. Well, perhaps that and Chuck D's explosive cameo during 'Machine Gun', the rapper spitting rhymes from 'Black Steel in The Hour of Chaos' under Geoff Barrow's seismic industrial beats; even as it's happening it feels like one of those great, spontaneous "I was there!" festival moments, and it just about seals it for a set that barely lets up once from start to finish. Virtuoso, exceedingly heavy, cleverly angular and always, always beautiful, Portishead are now at the height of their powers. As tonight's performance underlines, they deserve to be celebrated for their enduring excellence.

Portishead photo courtesy of Abbey Braden/ATP

Michael James Hall also compiled his thoughts on the rest of this year's IBYM USA weekender. Go here to read what he made of Friday's festivities, and here to get his verdict on Saturday's goings-on at Asbury Park.