Wish we’d been able to stay for King Gizzard, my daughter also wanted to hear Rattlesnake! We blasted it in the car on the way home instead. She probably wouldn’t have enjoyed them much though, every band we watched she asked “does it have a girl in it” and if there wasn’t sat down with her back turned. Not sure where she has gotten that from but I massively approve. Kid approved bands of the weekend were Be Your Own Pet, Deerhoof, Wet Leg and Personal Trainer. Not approved were Wilco (“can we get an ice cream instead?”) or Future Islands (“I’m tired do you really have to watch this band?” - I definitely didn’t).
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Had a really great time Wilco were fucking amazing, had very soggy eyes during impossible Germany and Jesus etc, Angel Olsen ending with a big singalong of Without You was very fun
Was too late to get into Panda Bear and Sonic Boom so we went dancing for a bit then went to the Marie Davidson Dj set which was populated with a lot of people staring motionless at the stage which is very weird to me, but there was a good contingent of dancing people towards the back
Other highlights were potting the long snooker thing and getting pins down on the weird bowling thing in the early hours of the morning at the games place whilst extremely wasted
Wet Leg was a nice surprise that went down super well. Future Islands were a bit boring and there was a lot of laughter going on at his most vigorous pub singing bits. He seemed like a nice man though and the lights were good
Picture Parlour were pretty fun on Sunday, it was cool to see Caitlin Rose again as well. I’ve never listened to King Gizzard but they were really fucking good 
. I’d go see them again
Got a nice tan , 10/ 10 .
Oh and the kebab place at the Folly End was out of this world -especially the chicken loaded fries
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Had a great time, first time going and the space felt bigger than I expected and plenty to explore.
Musically highlights were Wilco, Ulrika Spacek, Friendship who were the main three I wanted to catch.
Geese were great although Big Top was roasting and I was a sweaty mess and it wasn’t even that full. Big Brave worked perfectly for letting the noise wash over whilst feeling a little broken lying down.
Wet Leg were good, looked like a fair few into it. Enjoyed the wait for it hearing Lucy Dacus being played giving hope for those who still thought it could be boygenuis.
Big Piig was good fun, had Big Top packed out and everyone was going for it which I didn’t expect.
King Gizzard were great and went in knowing nothing and planning of splitting time and catching Ezra Furman but the final half when they played the heavier stuff was a great run. Time to explore the rest.
Really liked the Garden Stage, however had to get close as the back was too annoying with the chairs and chat. Even had the festival royal mail people singing happy birthday to someone during a quiet song.
Queue for Bridget Christie was ridiculous so bailed for food instead, and had the kebab which as @grievoustim says probably the food highlight. Although as a kebab stand it should be the last one open ever night, failed to get one on two nights.
Got great weather after initial fears of Thursday being a nightmare to setup, although got there a little later so ended up in the back at quiet camping.
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Just recovering from what was another reliably excellent weekend. Probably didn’t quite have a line-up that equalled the quality of last year’s for me, but saw plenty of excellent things, particularly some early afternoon garden stage acts.
Arrived to a bit of rain on Thursday, but did quite enjoy openers The Last Dinner Party. I mean, they’re on a pathway to being big, blah blah blah, but it was an engaging performance and I can see why they’re on that path. Deerhoof were then the highlight of the day for me - just nothing else quite like them. Wilco were good… wasn’t as blown away as I wish I was though… not sure why, might have been the extreme chatters around me.
Friday saw big highlights for me early doors on the Garden stage as both Friendship and Charlotte Cornfield were excellent. I then intended to only watch a couple of Katy Kirby songs before going to catch BYOP, but Katy was SO good that we stayed for her full set (excellent bonus cover of No Children/Mountain Goats too). Did catch the end of BYOP which sounded great, so didn’t miss out altogether. Macie Stewart on the boat stage was also a great set… I like her album, but I like her a lot more live, so i’m going to be keeping a keen ear out for whatever she does next. Having had enough gentle indie rock we then caught Yeule in the Big Top, which was pretty OTT but a good change of pace. And then decided to skip Angel Olsen and catch Unknown Mortal Orchestra instead - who were good BUT sound was very quiet for the first half. Went further towards the front and I think they also turned it up - so enjoyed the latter half of the set a lot more.
Saturday had some nice gentle opening sounds from Mabe Fratti before catching a great high-energy set from Personal Trainer opening up the main stage. Saw a few not particularly memorable things before making a good choice to see Cinder Well on the Talking Heads stage - just beautiful floating folk with fiddle and drummer accompanying. Hung around to see secret act, but in all honesty I’m not really a big Wet Leg fan, so we wandered off to see Crack Cloud, who were not on form. And turns out I really should have seen Runnner in that slot instead as that was reportedly brilliant and sad to have missed it. Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupil gave me my much needed evening change of pace again and enjoyed having a bit of a dance to the second half of their set that we caught. Slowed down again to see Arooj Aftab headline the Garden - that was my other half’s choice, but I’m glad he talked me into it, because it was a show of spellbinding musicianship and I was totally won over. We then stayed out for the first secret set, and The Courettes (who aren’t normally my ‘thing’) totally won a late night drunken crowd over with their high energy 2 piece 60s rock n roll thing.
Sunday highlights were Floodlights who did a nice line in anthemic indie rock stuff but with a distinctly Aussie flavour. Divorce on the main stage were wildly good for a new band - I’m a sucker for close harmonies, but when they did a slower 3-part harmony track I did a little cry. I was tired, that’s my excuse. No idea who they are and what they’ve done before, but I am looking forwards to the debut album for certain. Geese were great, even if some of them looked like they might be 12?? SO HOT in the Big Top but they didn’t hold back on an energetic performance. It was so hot by this stage that we went to recover in the wellbeing garden area and had some excellent salad from the veggie cafe there - honestly, that was my favourite meal of the weekend - I needed the nutrients. Had a quick sunny dance to Alogte Oho & His Sounds of Joy (fun!) before catching a good Kara Jackson set on Talking Heads. Caught a few more unmemorable bits before finishing the festival with Ezra Furman … was torn between that and King Gizzard, but with recent announcements about Ezra ceasing touring indefinitely we opted for that - it was a memorable performance and the Patti Smith Gloria was superb.
Buying early birds for next year again, of course. Hoping for a few more headline names that I truly love next time, but I know that there will always be great things to discover. Wasn’t a fan of the new toilets, but they are what they are. At least there was very little queueing. Biggest mistake of the festival for me was being talked into “staying hydrated” by my other half, which quite frankly made me need to use those toilets too often.
Also weird was bumping into someone who I recognised from secondary school (who I haven’t seen in 17?? years) who also recognised me, but were in different years at school and never actually really knew each other, but then proceeded to go to pretty much all of the same sets at EOTR and have to do an awkward nod chat thing every time.
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it might have been influenced by being surrounded by drunk chatters on all side, but it really didn’t work for me at all.
Not too much to add, had the best time.
Loved Be Your Own Pet.
Nina Nastasia in the woods was amazing. It seems that having bands there has cut back on the amount of comedy though? Might be wrong, and I have comedy festivals coming up for that anyway.
I do hope that Part Chimp, Big Brave, Divide and Dissolve etc. were part of a conscious attempt to bring a bit of that certain type of niche scene to EOTR and make them stand out a bit more from Green Man.
Weirdly the worst drunk chatters experience I had was for Part Chimp, somehow!
I’m sure the Green Man-style toilets are Better™ but that doesn’t mean they’re not fuckin’ disgusting. The cut back number of urinals didn’t seem to have as big an effect on queues as I’d feared though.
Infinity Knives might have been given the single worst slot in the UK festival calendar.
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Oh at one point, the wind was blowing up through the toilet and the toilet paper wouldn’t fall in, it just floated there like some weird American Beauty remake.
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think it’s time for me to return to festival-ing next year - getting the urge
not been since 2019
that whatsapp group man, absolutely turgid
It was moderately useful last year, very little chat and people actually used it to confirm the Piano Stage and Tipi surprise sets in good time.
Just stinky banter this year. Not fun at all.
People were actually able to use WhatsApp on site?
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Think that’s my 7th and it’s a sign of how good the festival is that despite actively disliking three of the main stage headliners (especially King Gizz, who I’m not convinced are some huge joke I’m not in on) and finding Wilco a bit boring on the night, it was still an incredible year, so many good new discoveries that I wasn’t remotely bothered by the lineup on paper being the weakest in years.
Feels like every year some new people end up coming, alongside lots of returners, to the extent I was in a loose group of about 20-25 people this year. Which in combo with the great weather probably meant I ended up seeing fewer bands and doing more exploring and chatting, and what a lovely place to do that.
Music wise, been waiting to see Charlotte Adigery and Boris Pupol for about 18 months now as they only seem to do festivals and to say it worth the wait is an understatement. Just one of those special, special shows, the audience’s reaction to them and theirs back made me quite emotional at points. Overmono was heaving and a sweat box, once I got into a good spot from 10 mins or so in it was sensational though, great visuals and loved the drop of Turn the Page. Alogte Oho and his Sounds of Joy, Greentea Peng, Say She She, Angel Olsen, Bodega, Kokoroko, Bar Italia, Lee Fields, Deerhoof and Last Dinner Party (camped near us and incredibly excited) all great. Really like the move they’ve made to a more diverse and experimental lineup and think the audience are on board with it. Green Man seems to be able to book “stronger” lineups based on the last couple, the last couple of EOTRs have arguably been more interesting and I think it’s a smart route to go down if they can’t compete with GM on budget.
Also, having been to enough now to judge this as not a fluke - they must have made some deal with the gods about the weather, right? Never known a festival with such reliably perfect weather. Even the predicted Thursday washout wasn’t more than a couple of hours here and there.
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My first EOTR (and first festival since Bestival 2014) and I had a wonderful time. It’s an amazing site, loved the stages being so close together. Food really good, drink selection even better. Was also amazed at how nice everyone was and how quiet the campsite was - worlds away from what I’ve experienced in the past.
Along with others I wasn’t that fussed by the line up beforehand but in reality it was incredible. Really enjoyed nearly everything I saw and I saw 27 bands which is probably more than all the other festivals I’ve been to put together.
Favourites were Say She She, Kokoroko, Moin, Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul, MADMADMAD, Panic Shack and University.
Have already got my ticket for next year.
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First time and it was… alright?
The Garden stage is beautiful, even more so at night or when the peacocks would occasionally get involved, the lineup (besides some of the headliners) was great, and I had some proper highlights (Adigery/Popul, late night Mary Wallopers, Ezra Furman, person who did “Working as a waitress in a cocktail bar” on the karoake)
Maybe I’m getting old, or wasn’t fully in the right headspace due to ongoing personal life shenanigans, but I feel like what it wasn’t quite what I expected (Green Man without the rain). Maybe it’s a different demographic, maybe it’s just the same demographic that’s been going for years and everyone’s got on, but the overall tenor of the crowd was really often just so staid and tepid, and that kinda made it hard to view it as more than a 7/10 weekend for me.
I’ve not seen that many people in chairs at a festival since I went to Cornbury about 15 years ago, and I’m aware this is probably much more of a me problem than a ‘people at EotR’ problem, and it was my first time going, but a lot of my enjoyment of festivals has always come from there being somewhat of a hint of chaos to proceedings - not disorganisation, just a bit of mania, and to me EotR doesn’t seem to have that.
The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced it’s way more my issue than the festival’s, but I still can’t say I’m particularly desperate to go back.
PS Also I think I prefer working at festivals in some capacity than just attending, and this has probably fed into me not enjoying it as much
End if the road isnt a chaotic festival its arguably its main selling point. To be that festival of that size lower/mid sized and for it to be so chill is a my fav thing about it. I like my share of chaosbl but these days at a camping festival for 4 days id like a lot more stability than i did when i was in my teens and twentys.
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Clearly you weren’t in attendance for my karaoke performance of Murder On The Dancefloor at 2am on Saturday night
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I swung by there for the first time in a while the other day. That place seems to have gotten pretty dark.
I didn’t make it till 2am in the karaoke tent but did spend an hour or so in there after it opened at 9pm on Saturday night. It was about as close as I’ve ever seen eotr to a hen do. Just needed a few inflatable penises for the full hen vibe.