First EOTR acts to be announced soon

Pretty sure it’s no bigger than last year. Although there were some queues for the tipi/big top, these seemed more precautionary as the areas weren’t totally full (even on the rainy Sunday). I kept looking at the crowd sizes too and they seemed no different…and didn’t wait in line for food/drink any longer than previous years.

I would be very surprised if the capacity was any more than the 14,000 it has been for a few years

As was everything he said. Adam had to carry the whole conversation.

Good guardian review here: End of the Road review – irony versus revolution in majestic musical battle | End of the Road festival | The Guardian

Gets most of the highlights right (the popular ones, at least), but it’s way off the mark to call the Julie Byrne shambles “sublime”

It also probably says a lot about my juvenile humour that I found Mac’s cover of A Thousand Miles (but only using the words “Walking my way downtown”) really funny.

Great
Bill Callahan
The crowd for Bill Callahan
Father John Misty
Real Estate
JC Satan
Alvvays
Car Seat Headrest
The range of non-music activities, food and toilets

Good
Foxygen
Girl Ray
Japandroids
Brix and Extricated
Slowdive
Omni
Pond
Rolling Blackouts

Ugly
Band of Horses (have they heard of subtlety?)
Jens Lekman (too twee by far for me and seemed a bit smug)
Mac DeMarco’s crowd (though he was ok)
Clashes

Very pleased with:
Jens Lekman - was so happy and dancey for his Garden Stage set. Disappointed if I have missed him in the Tipi later, but I’m never going to queue/camp out there late at night on the offchance that I’ll like one of the bands.
J. Bernardt - a really good performance from him early in the Tipi, the crowd seemed to enjoy it also. Nice new discovery for me.
Lowly - Lovely short piano set on the Saturday, and their Big Top gig was good also.
Douglas Dare - really enjoyed his piano set. Would be nice to see him with a fuller band/sound also.
Alex Cameron - I only popped in to catch the last two songs of his, and enjoyed it a lot more than my pre-festival listenings suggested. Am disappointed I didn’t catch more.
Bill Callahan - I only recently bought a couple of albums of his, having loved his song Rock Bottom Riser for a long while. Love his voice, and was extremely happy to hear RBR live also.

Mostly Pleasing:
Aldous Harding - although I guess I sometimes change between loving some songs and being a bit bored by others.
Sinkane and Bill Ryder-Jones were nice on the main stage
Nadine Shah
Let’s Eat Grandma - have seen them once before, and they definitely have bits they could improve on, but they’re interesting enough to watch and have a lot of potential for future albums I hope.
Father John Misty - I really haven’t listened to much of him before, but he was quite good. Would have preferred to have just been sat down and watching him in the afternoon though I think.
Hogni - on the piano stage. Very happy to see him, and that he played Ethereal, but not as good as when he’s with his band Hjaltalin
Timber Timbre
Perfume Genius

Meh:
Julie Byrne - I arrived and heard the one song of hers that I really liked, then she had a five minute break for sound issues, and then the next song sounded soso, so I left.
Amanda Bergman - saw her on the piano stage on Saturday, but again got a bit bored, and left after the song I most liked had been played.
Kelly Lee Owens - another lady who I seem to only like one song of (Lucid). Not too fussed with her.

Non-music highlight - the Ganesh / Elephant God meal from the curry shed. Giant portion, and very tasty. Had it on two different days, despite wanting to try other food.

Really enjoyed the festival again, despite the constant rain on Sunday.

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THE GREAT
Amidou and Mariam
Bo Ningen
Jens Lekman
Sinkane
Vaudou Game
Tides Of Man
Deerhoof
King Khan And the Shrines
The Burning Hell
Alvvays
The Jesus and Mary Chain

THE GOOD
Starcrawler
Car Seat Headrest
The Night Flowers
All We Are
The Moonlandingz
Nadine Shah
The Lemon Twigs
TootArd

THE NOT SO GREAT
Father John Misty
Band of Horses
Rolling Blackout Coastal Fever
Nadia Reid

Not my favourite EOTR (Friday was a bit weak for me), but lots of good stuff, great food, excellent facilities and despite seeming busier than usual, it still retained its relaxed and friendly vibe.

My first EOTR and I had a really really great time! What a wonderful festival.

Everything was impeccably organised and arranged and was just such a lovely environment to listen to bands and investigate around. The only real gripe was the weather on Sunday, but that was largely because I didn’t have much in the way of waterproof material…

Good:

Jens Lekman - A really tight and fun set; first time seeing him and it really brings his songs to life

Aldous Harding - Really beautiful, made slightly less beautiful by Parquet Courts

Spook School - So so much fun. Toyed with the idea of going to see Blanck Mass instead but glad I didn’t as they were excellent.

Bill Callahan - Only recently got into him/Smog, and after a day in the rain I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about listening to him. But it was haunting and amazing. It sort of washed over me, but was also mesmerising and haunting and the set went incredibly quick.

Perfume Genius - Great set, new stuff sounded incredible and Queen is just such a banger.
Pixx - Whoever shouted out “You’re fucking amazing!” was spot on

Father John Misty - Think
Slowdive
W.H. Lung
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fevers

Little bit disappointing:

Julie Byrne
Waxahatchee
Japandroids

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Surprised no one had brought it up but there is one massive gripe I have with the fest - the amount of drunk teenagers - they weren’t of the ‘lad’ variety but a few of them were still massive twats.

At first, I thought it was just a one-off when I was being constantly butted in the chest by one girl but by the fourth time some kid was massively ruining a set (in that case I got punched in the face, albeit accidentally and then the guy’s mate became aggro with me), I realised it was a theme. In each case it was at the Woods Stage.

Not only were they smashing into people during the gig (I’m not talking about moshing bands, happened even at Real Estate) and pushing people out the way to get to the front, they were also talking (though shouting would be more accurate) incessantly through songs and often were disinterested in the music despite being in the second sodding row. Never experienced this at the dozens of festivals I’ve been to outside the UK.

Going to Bill Callahan last night with the impeccably respectful crowd made me realise that it doesn’t have to be this way. All the adults I spoke to over the 4 days were genuinely some of the nicest folk you could hope to meet (and of course there were some nice young kids too). Didn’t ruin what was a fantastic festival overall. Can’t say enough good things about the organisation and I loved the lineup.

Ffs. Clicked reply too early and it’s too long to edit apparently!

Father John Misty - Think his music all clicked into place for me with this set. I’ve enjoyed his music but never really got the acclaim, but it all makes sense now. A brilliant choice as headliner and he absolutely nailed it.

Slowdive - Started off a bit boring, but came to life eventually and the last 45 minutes were stunning.

W.H. Lung - Saw them mentioned in the thread and went and checked them out. Wow.

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fevers - Great stuff, and love that they just rolled through the songs. Really tight live too.

Little bit disappointing:

Julie Byrne - Was really excited to see her and the technical issues really spoilt it. What even happened?

Waxahatchee - Nothing really wrong with the set, I think I just couldn’t be arsed getting soaked at this point and was finding it a bit boring despite really loving her stuff. Preferred Allison in the Tipi Tent earlier.

Japandroids - Again, after a long day of getting wet, and a quiet introspective set from Bill Callahan beforehand, I don’t think I was in the right mood for it. A couple of sound issues too and it seemed a bit like the lead singer’s voice had gone a bit too?

Cinema - Really wanted to see My Life As A Courgette on Sunday morning at 12, but couldn’t get in as it was full - seemed like people just went in early and stayed there for ages to stay dry.

But on the whole everything was amazing. The art dotted around the festival, the games tent (which I was incredibly shit at), and the re-filming of Labyrinth were also little highlights in their own right.

Good food, good beer, good music. A perfect weekend.

Doesn’t surprise me this happens at the woods stage. I almost always take a position further back there, and it’s fine. The only time I’d change that is for a really special set (e.g. sufjan) or when it’s too wet for the idiots to be bothered.

Never had any trouble at the garden, big top or tipi. The big top, especially, is pretty remarkable as you get a lot of faster/heavier stuff but everyone still manages to be respectful

I agree, the twats were only at their most twattish at the Woods Stage. Unfortunately Father John Misty and Real Estate were for me in the ‘special set’ category and they ruined both (as well as two others).

No problems at Foxygen when It was chucking it down so yes, rain, does seem to drive them away. And no problems anywhere else, only relentless friendliness and good atmosphere.

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Waah, you mean he doesn’t double up as a stand up comedian?!

Preposterous!

throws Mac Demarco collection in the bin

Sorry bro.

However, I’m now able to do a perfect impression of some of Mac’s famous expressions:

“Yes”
“No”
“Maybe”
“Uhhhhh, I suppose”

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Ha ha!

I had a truly fantastic weekend, may have been my favourite yet if I’m honest

First things first. I consistently amazed at how well this festival is ran on a year to year basis. The only thing that went ‘wrong’ (aside from Julie Byrne tech issues) was the gates opened 25mins late… and that’s about it.

Great.
Jens Lekman
Blanck Mass
Bo Ningen
Moon Landingz
HTMLTD
Omni
Pixx
Perfume Genius
Timbre Timbre
Jesus & The Mary Chain
Father John Misty
Deerhoof
Romero
Vadou Game
Tootin Ard
IDER
Alvvays
Sinkane
Catching Lego Batman Movie at 10am on Sunday was a GREAT hangover cure. Also the new Cinema is really good, completely dark, tiered seating, powerful soundsystem and great screen. Could comfortably hold 150 - 200 people (seated) I reckon.

Good
Slow Coaches
The Surfing Magazine
Waxahatchee
Parquet Courts

Meh
Mac DeMarco (found the constant stream of ironic covers played poorly really tedious) and his sound doesn’t transfer to a large stage
Shane
Let’s Eat Grandma

Bad:
Julie Byrne :frowning: I felt so bad, appeared to have catastrophic issues with their monitors whenever the 2 supporting band members were on stage, ran 20mins late and when they came on the set abruptly stalled after 2 songs. I couldn’t wait for a second longer and decided to bin the set despite being one I was very excited about.

Biggest Surprise: IDER were so charming <3 I love them
Jesus & Mary Chain are the best headliner I’ve seen across the 3 EOTR’s I’ve been to (2015,2016,2017) and considering I almost binned them off to get more cheese because I wasn’t fussed that’s saying something.

ALSO… no wasps this year? That was pretty rad but I missed the dopey drunk bastards bumping into my pint in a strange way.

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Are earlybirds today?

Hang on… They sell cheese?

A lot of melted cheese anyways, ended up getting polenta balls later

My second EOTR after last year, and I absolutely adored it once again. Did feel a little busier than last year, but I’m not sure if that’s just my mind playing tricks on me. Thinking about it, it didn’t seem any busier in the campsites (and we were camped very close) or for toilets, bars, food etc. Sunday combining downpours with the weakest day of music for me made it a challenge, but still not enough to taint it overall.

HIGHLIGHTS
Father John Misty - was incredible. I’ve gone off him a bit after Pure Comedy, and only really went to see him on the back of how good he was on the Honeybear tour. Thank God I did, just a sublime headline performance from him and I was quite surprised by how modest and humble he was.
Bill Callahan - Really considered fucking off when the weather was at it’s worst on Sunday, but Bill kept me there and I’m glad he did. Could listen to him singing a shopping list and I’d enjoy it. Closing on Riding For The Feeling will stay with me for a long time.
Japandroids - A great closing set, and enjoyed their obvious love for the festival. Would go and watch them every year at a festival.
Mac De Marco - Was really quite drunk by this point so enjoyed singing along and just having a pretty fun time with my mates. Not convinced that his music or shtick is built for headlining spots in the long term, although he’s undeniably massive these days.
John Moreland and Courtney Marie Andrews were a nice way of bringing in early Saturday afternoon on the garden stage
Gold Panda

Good
Parquet Courts
Alvvays
Waxahatchee
Nadine Shah
Band of Horses - Really like the singer’s enthusiasm, and a great last 20 minutes or so.

Mehs
Slowdive - bit underwhelmed, was expecting a bit more.
Foxygen - didn’t enjoy them at all
Julia Jacklin - Was fine, but just couldn’t be bothered by that point

Ughs
Alex Cameron - Came across as a massive twat, rubbish music to go with it too
Julie Byrne - Probably out of her control, but a real shame that she played for such a short time, especially as I didn’t think it sounded that bad on the second song. Especially embarrassing as I’d spent all day building her up. Glad I’ve got tickets to see her in London again.

Just such a great festival overall. So relaxed, great knowing you can sit down and chill relatively near to the stage, or turn up five minutes before bands start and get a good spot. Always get a vague feeling that I want to do Glasto again when tickets come on sale, but now I’ve found EOTR I just can’t see it happening.

It’s midday today.

(talking to myself here)