Subgiant bring the dub to a sunny scrumpy soaked Endorse-It
Endorse-It In-Dorset 2009 review
Thursday 13th August 2009
For those who don't want a corporate festival, and don't like to be smothered in the cotton wool pampering of the bigger festivals, who like their music punky flavoured, and away from the mainstream, then this old school festival, where real men wear dresses, is for you.
What goes around comes around, and in a bizarre twist of fate Dorset has had the month's quota of rain in just two days, and we arrive at Endorse-It In-Dorset to discover the access is just as muddy as when we left last year. So, it's queues for the tractors, and a time to chat to arrivals, crack open a can, and wait for a tractor to tow us in, and a free 'fun' mud ride, to go with our free flavoured water.
Once through the muddy access we're delivered to dry land, and the live-in area is vast. It seems there's almost as many campers as those bringing their homes with them. The car park back behind us, has a tractor with a passenger trailer type thing bringing those on foot with tents on site. First thing of note is there's lots more loos around and a lot more organised use of space. The loos do get rather full at times, but there's always another working one nearby.
The exact location of the campsite seems a bit tricky for some as it's not signposted, with a few heading off, dragging their stuff, in the wrong direction, and many asking to be directed to the family camping area. Turns out it is a handy distance away but quiet for those wanting a bit of kip over the weekend away from the bangin' late night tents, which are able to pump music out until the early hours because the lovely rural site is in the middle of nowhere.
Despite the numbers being capped, it felt and looked busier than last year's inclement weather blighted event, with lots of people chilling out in the open spaces. The sunshine had brought more revellers out of the campsites. The indoor stages all work well, and there's lots of scrumpy, ale and sunshine, plus music to dance until dawn to. The weekend left this reviewer feeling like he'd had a fortnight of festivaling rather than a weekend.
The comedy in the evenings proved a bit hit and miss, with Friday's unorganised impromptu session proving the highlight, although there were a few other comics over the weekend who just weren't funny. During the weekend the bands in the Wig On Casino proved riotously entertaining, offering us punk karaoke, talented young kids, and the 'Drink Resopensibly' (sp) mayhem of scrumpy Sunday, with marrows, apples, scrumpy, informative videos of the dangers of becoming a crustie scrumpy drinkin' layabout, moustache competitions, town criers, a love of all things Dorset, fluffettes, and more. The anti-ketamine is happily rammed home by a few bands over the weekend including Zion Train who seem pleased to arrive at a festival that's not full of the horse tranquillizer lovin' zombies, "stick to your weed" they suggest.
There's a good choice of food, although our daughter is a vegetarian and finds the choice for her more limited, and quite a few people forget to eat over the weekend thanks to the scrumpy. I don't tend to spend a lot over the weekend, although we did try out a tasty meal at Malinkeys, the 'posh' restaurant, which proved a refreshing break from the festival hubbub. Elsewhere, I thought £6.50 for a pie at Pieminster was a bit steep, but have since been told they were so delicious it was worth every penny. I'm not convinced but for those on a tight budget there were not much choices, new potatoes for £3, and the crepes stall. No 'Toast' seller or snack places this year as such.
The alcoholic drink was most appealing, I can't recall the choice of lagers but there were various real ales and ciders, including a few surprise guest scrumpys. Bars were plentiful, including the Dorset Bus, and each offered its own speciality. One of the best thing about the festival was the fact there were no real queues, not even for the loos. Shopping stalls proved good eye candy, but we didn't have funds to do any festie shopping this year
Having said that, whilst at the merchandising stall buying a reasonably priced £4 programme, with sticker, badge, and bag we ended up buying a selection of band CDs including the annual EiiD line-up sampler compilation.
Musically the fare consisted of bands who entertain, bands who are funny with lashings of crowd participation, and bands offering a good sing along and dance about. Trouble was the standard was so good, you went to see a bit of a band and invariably ended up watching the whole set.
Stand out act of the weekend was Subgiant who proved immense, an awesome crunching bass lined, fusion with glowing drum beats, and overlaid beats, punctuated by live fiddle from organiser Ffi. They totally immersed the crowd in a scorching set including some Metallica. By contrast headiners Zion Train sounded flat.
The best of the rest to skank along to over the weekend include Dreadzone, Pronghorn, Eat Static, Sham 69, Back To The Planet, The Urban Voodoo Machine, Blaggers ITA, Guns of Navarone, Circle J and stand ins Alfalfa fronted by a crazy Ronald Mcdonald. They all provide fantastic dance along sets. Although I didn't see a poor act all weekend. Pama International would have been in there, but seemed to struggle through a personnel change, and a keyboard failure, still providing an adequate set, but it could have been so much better.
Strummerville looked lovely but I never saw a single act actually playing the sofa circled fire and flag strewn area all weekend. I must have been unlucky. Beside it the Purple Stage provided a good platform for young bands (often watched by their parents, and a gran or two). There was even a random disco gazebo replete with vinyl decks and glitter ball which provided a few dance tunes before vanishing, leading to the inevitable, "Did that just happen moment?"
The kids area has expanded, really well, making a lovely area, and there's plenty of kids about, although the site isn't over run with them and the push chair count is down, parents preferring to carry them in papooses or let them toddle. Beside it is an even nicer healing area. Pixie Chill looks wonderful at night, with it's mood lighting, mushroom groves, and domed areas to play a traditional board game in or get a massage.
This year had a lovely friendly vibe, the site stayed pretty clean and tidy, with the bands hanging out around the site, and a lovely family camaraderie about the acts playing. A big thanks to the organisers, the stewards, the hardly noticeable security, the tractor drivers, the bar staff, the caterers, the bands, and all of those who went.
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