So how was it for you 2014?

[Fareham Grecian]

Home and back to boring real life. Had the most amazing time, still such a cool festival. Musical highlights for me were Gruff Rhys (including the shooting star that went across above the stage), Richard Thompson, Benjamin Booker, Black Lips, BSP, Samantha Crain, Ezra Furman. Jenny Lewis was a disappointment (just too clean and shiny, too much from the new record) and Flaming Lips I thought were dull musically (though the stage set was amazing) but almost everything else was good and sound as usual superb.

Particularly enjoyed the literary stuff in the library this year - excellent way to spend the mornings if you are an early riser. Every talk was good but Mark Ellen and Viv Albertine were special.

Non-musical points:

Good: excellent new real ale tent, and in fact all the bars seemed to work better than last year (except the Tipi bar on Thurs which was a shambles. Soon sorted though). Fab new toilets though ladies' queues looked huge. Good new water supply. Usual excellent food and ale, range, quality and value. Just as much attention to detail in the grounds as ever - loved the straw bear and the individually stencil-cut leaves in the woods.

Less good: Thurs eve a bit of a mess - arena was 40 mins late opening but even then Tipi bar was not ready. First film (Llewyn Davies) cancelled with no explanation. And most ridiculously of all, a panic tweet in capital letters from the organisers telling us how muddy the site was - 'WELLIES ESSENTIAL!!!'. There was no mud. What was all that about?? Some of the stage times seemed to be varied without telling anyone - what happened to Phox on Fri morning? The WQ (w*nker Quotient) I thought was a little higher this year though not a problem generally. But that last one is just a Grumpy Old Man thing of not wanting anyone else to come to my special private festival. Especially young people enjoying themselves. BAH! Met so many lovely people.

Anyway, overall still the best festival there is and Early Birds will be purchased tomorrow for 2015. Thanks End of the Road!

Edited September 1, 2014 by Fareham Grecian

[zahidf]

Really good time this year. Loved flaming lips, erza, British sea power, richard thompson and St vincent. Musically was pretty great throughout

Def more w*nkers around though. Not reading levels mind you

[MattL80]

Really good time, one of my favourites despite relatively low excitement levels beforehand, and fairly nonplussed by the line up.

Musical highlights were Gruff Rhys, Flaming Lips, The Rails, Deer Tick, Richard Thompson, White Denim, Mazes, Israel Nash.

Main disappointment were the Felice Brothers, the sound in the Big Top seemed particularly poor this year. The sound on the two outdoor stages was exceptional.

Food was excellent, good to see a much better selection for devoted carnivores this year. New white toilets were great, but seemed fewer of them. Great condition throughout. The bar situation was mixed, generally very quick to get served, but a little disappointed everything ran out so early last night.

Big queue to get in compared to previous years, did it open late? And also, why was almost every guitarist playing a Fender Jaguar? I've never seen so many!

[paulwa]

We got in quickly, having arrived bang on 3pm on Thursday. The queues seemed to build rapidly after that, though I met some who said they'd got in without queues at 6pm. So there seems to be a busy window between about 3.30 and 5pm.

[ivan]

Could not make it this year.

Did anyone watch Wild Beasts or The Horrors ?

If so any comments or views would be appreciated

[5co77ie]

loved it

a few improvements over my last visit in 2010, and a great loss - the outdoor crowd. Gone are the days of being able to listen to acts replaced is some (usually American accented) w*nker 30 people away who feels the overriding need to talk total bollox at full volume. Tossers!

At one point I started watching a band near the bar at the Woods - kept trying to move out of earshot of first one and then the next, and then the next of them, not talking but shouting crap about anything from the guy in the office to pets - and found myself against the fence on stage right - so gave up and went to watch someone else - great pity really ruined it for me.

After repeatedly moving during the Flaming Lips I lost it turned to thump one of the twats, and without me saying a word he literally ran off, I guess I looked pretty mad, and I got a kiss and a hug from the two girls behind me who were also fed up with him - result!

[Fareham Grecian]

Matt, I think that (as last year) it actually opened early. We got there at 3 and drove straight in but there were two rows of cars parked already. I also met someone who had queued for an hour and I think paulwa is prob right about the 'window'.

Interested in your view of the Felice Brothers - didn't see them but a friend said they were his highlight of the whole weekend! Takes all sorts I guess...

[zahidf]

loved it

a few improvements over my last visit in 2010, and a great loss - the outdoor crowd. Gone are the days of being able to listen to acts replaced is some (usually American accented) w*nker 30 people away who feels the overriding need to talk total bollox at full volume. Tossers!

At one point I started watching a band near the bar at the Woods - kept trying to move out of earshot of first one and then the next, and then the next of them, not talking but shouting crap about anything from the guy in the office to pets - and found myself against the fence on stage right - so gave up and went to watch someone else - great pity really ruined it for me.

After repeatedly moving during the Flaming Lips I lost it turned to thump one of the twats, and without me saying a word he literally ran off, I guess I looked pretty mad, and I got a kiss and a hug from the two girls behind me who were also fed up with him - result!

Yeah, lot more talkers this year. They looked like hipsters to me...

[ivan]

loved it

a few improvements over my last visit in 2010, and a great loss - the outdoor crowd. Gone are the days of being able to listen to acts replaced is some (usually American accented) w*nker 30 people away who feels the overriding need to talk total bollox at full volume. Tossers!

At one point I started watching a band near the bar at the Woods - kept trying to move out of earshot of first one and then the next, and then the next of them, not talking but shouting crap about anything from the guy in the office to pets - and found myself against the fence on stage right - so gave up and went to watch someone else - great pity really ruined it for me.

After repeatedly moving during the Flaming Lips I lost it turned to thump one of the twats, and without me saying a word he literally ran off, I guess I looked pretty mad, and I got a kiss and a hug from the two girls behind me who were also fed up with him - result!

I had to tell my friends to shut up last year during Sigur Ros ,

got chatting to a couple next to em and it all went downhill from there. After two or three requests from me I ended up moving forward and when that did not work went even more forward into the crowd .

I know there will be no headbanging , moshing or dancing to Sigur Ros but anyone should be able to keep quiet for 90 mins !

[killyourtv]

Highs

A few great discoveries - Hookworms, Benjamin Booker in particular, and a few expectedly great sets - Yo la Tengo, Marissa Nadler,John Grant, Israel, DTB especially. I thought the sound in Big Top was great.

The No Other band rehearsal of Strength of Strings was very moving, but the main set was just a bit too shrill for my delicate little ears.

A lot of great food -dosas a highlight, and beer tasted really good this year.

The appeal of Larmer Tree fades a bit over time, but the countryside looked gorgeous, and the pub I walked to in Farnham on Thursday was a classic.

On the downside, my wife & 2 young teenagers were bored, having outgrown the toddler attractions and weren't interested in much of the line up(bring back Ichi!), so next year gives me a dilemma.

Quite a lot of what I heard was just competent, with less genuine discovery, but that may be me.

Biggest downer was the chatter, much worse than, say, 2011, and impossible to avoid by moving. Ruined the acoustic sets for me. DTB in the Tipi, a magical set, was a disgrace of chatter.

A real mixed bag, but worth every pound.

[MattL80]

Ah cool, probably felt worse because I had to queue twice due to my own stupidity.

I think I'd have enjoyed Felice more if I hadn't seen them several times before, and knew they're capable of much better (as hopefully will be the case on Wednesday.

Ivan, I saw the Horrors, they were one of the bands I was looking forward to most, and did enjoy them but they were eclipsed by a lot of other bands there. Didn't see Wild Beasts, but they sounded good as I as passing.

Lots of seriously good guitarists and drummers this year.

Agree about the talkers, it's definitely got worse every year. I try to move away if possible and not let it piss me off, but not always possible.

[paulwa]

Could not make it this year.

Did anyone watch Wild Beasts or The Horrors ?

If so any comments or views would be appreciated

I saw The Horrors, who I like, but I realised that a lot of their sound comes from studio production and I thought they lost something live. It might have been the sound mix on the day. Their moody teenager stage presentation, which I guess you have to do if you're called The Horrors and started off as goths, was quite a contrast with what followed from The Flaming Lips, who provided sensory overload and plenty of smiles from start to finish.

I agree with MattL80 about the number of good guitarists on show this year - some serious shredding action.

Edited September 1, 2014 by paulwa

[SweepingTheNation]

Almost can't fail to enjoy EOTR, despite everything.

Musical highlights: St Vincent and how everything written about her stage show is spot on, Wild Beasts, Perfume Genius' comedy stage secret solo set (eleven songs in half an hour ending with Bright Eyes), Hookworms, David Thomas Broughton, Kiran Leonard, Daniel Rossen, Cate Le Bon, Radiophonic Workshop, Wave Pictures, Three Trapped Tigers. Ivan: Wild Beasts basically played a greatest hits set, which is fine by me, showed they're a wonderful tight and adaptable unit playing together. Should have ended with End Come Too Soon (though it used to need an extra synth), but never mind.

I'm not one of those who likes to complain about how EOTR is too crowded now and it's lost everything good, mostly because I never recall it being too busy (and I like the Woods stage, especially at night with the trees lit up behind), but some parts did seem quite populated early on, though the worst seemed to ease off throughout the weekend up to the quite sparse turnout for Wild Beasts, especially the encore, but White Denim wasn't that busy either. Was everyone in the silent disco? Liked the straw bear, the leaves and the weird blind table tennis set-up. Agree with the annoying shouter quotient - also too many people in fancy dress on Saturday, which is almost certainly just my hang-up but surely that's for *pinches nose* other, lesser festivals. Just as long as there isn't an organised official fancy dress theme next year.

The Big Top sound on Friday was all over the place, there seemed to be a problem with sound leakage that's been around for two or three years now but the levels didn't seem to be right all day - the Wytches' hi-hat was louder than their guitar.

Biggest annoyance: missed meeting Mark Ellen at the signing as Rough Trade had sold out of his book and he decided not to hang around.

[_r_]

4th End Of The Road for me - can't say if it was better or worse than any of the others really, because it's just been routinely excellent every time. I honestly can't think of anything more that I'd want from a festival!

Musical highlights for me - British Sea Power (I got a hug off the bear!), The Horrors, Flaming Lips, Felice Brothers, Richard Thompson, Lau, Sam Lee and many, many more. Shame Wild Beasts had such a low turnout, especially since they were the last big thing happening at the festival, but they were great too. Walking back through the campsite after their set it was a lot more sparsely populated than it had been earlier in the day - maybe a lot of people had just gone home early?

Other highlights - The Garden Stage and the Peacock Bar still being the two best places in the world to hang out. Better toilets. JP Bean's talk in the Woods Library on Saturday morning. I actually didn't notice any knobheads at all - maybe I wasn't watching enough hipster bands? And the weather held off nearly all weekend - Sunday in particular was a beautiful day. The rain this morning made having to leave even more depressing... No problems with mud though, it turned into a bit of a quagmire around the taps in the campsite but that always happens!

Minor gripes - I agree with the problems with the sound in the Big Top, it was awful for Archie Bronson Outfit which was a shame because I'd been really looking forward to them! Queuing to get in was a bit of a mare but we did arrive at peak time at about half 3... Also there seemed to be a general lack of organisation across the weekend - the Garden Stage running about an hour behind schedule for most of Friday was really annoying when it came to resolving clashes, sudden cancellations of various things and every single bar selling out of every single drink by the time Wild Beasts had finished on Sunday was a bit of a downer. Oh, and the lack of Pucket was quite disappointing!

And I have to ask about the traffic situation this morning - we were sitting in stationary traffic on the way into Newtown for about quarter of an hour before we decided to turn round, head up to Shaftesbury and go the slightly longer and less interesting way back to Brighton via the M3. Did it ever sort itself out?

But it says a lot about EOTR that the bars being drunk dry on Sunday should have made the last night a bit of a damp squib but it really wasn't. Stealing Sheep's parade through the campfire/Tipi area before their secret set was just amazing - a proper party atmosphere!

[MattL80]

Also, did the late night tipi sets not happen on Saturday? Turned up expecting to see St Paul & The Broken Bones but it looked like the place had closed up for the night.

[killyourtv]

You weren't the only one who missed Pucket!

[MattL80]

Traffic situation was mainly due to the road being too narrow for a line of traffic going one way and several traction engines from the steam fair trying to come in the other. We were sat with nothing moving for about half an hour, then eventually a couple of big steamy things came the other way and then it cleared.

Edited September 1, 2014 by MattL80

[IBee]

Also, did the late night tipi sets not happen on Saturday? Turned up expecting to see St Paul & The Broken Bones but it looked like the place had closed up for the night.

I overheard the sound man talking to someone the next day about that. I think they couldn't do it because of the limits on how loud that stage can be. Apparently they asked the Flaming Lips and they thought about it but decided against it in the end.

[carlostheturtle]

Completely loved the weekend, thanks EotR. So many highlights and perfect moments. Bar staff and stewards were lovely. Tinariwen were a true joy, Drenge were fantastic, Richard Thompson completely sublime. Wasn't fond of Flaming Lips I'm afraid but full-on respect to Wayne Coyne spending over two hours at his signing event. The literature events were terrific too, but the space is just too small. Got to agree with several of the comments above. The low point for me was standing behind three people at John Grant wearing tutus and party gear, dancing and whooping as though they were at Creamfields. Similar experience with the three loud, laughing oafs by the mixing desk during Chad VanGaalen's set. Special mention to the guy who wore the inflatable woman suit who just seemed to enjoy swearing at the top of his voice and the other sweary bloke who was dancing on top of a car in the car park as we went back to our car. I have no idea how you discourage these guys (assuming you WANT to discourage them) but I agree with the previous posters, not only is there more loud talking during performances, there is a developing sense of turning EotR into a party weekend. Feel like I'm another grumpy old man, but I sense that something truly unique and special is slipping through our fingers...

[SweepingTheNation]

Weirdest thing about the Friday Garden overrun (which was from the start, Phox began about 50 minutes late, so presumably there was a stage issue) was Ezra Furman still started ten minutes early! I assume he'd been told to start whenever he was ready and taken it literally.

Oh, another highlight of Sunday night: the big hit of the forest disco turning out to be Where's Me Jumper?

[LJS]

First time at EOTR so can't compare it with previous years but can compare it with other festivals.

We travelled 450 miles because EOTR had a line up that appealed both to me & my 17 year old daughter.

Overall we both thoroughly enjoyed the weekend with lots of positives. Highlights for me were Richard Thompson. Drenge, Traams, BSP, Lau, Stealing Sheep, Samantha Crain, Flaming Lips ( great show - just wonder how it would stand up without the flashing lights & inflatable stuff?) Deer Tick, St. Paul & the broken bones. Caught the start of Wild Beasts who looked great but had to retire early (see below)

My daughter loved the Lips, St Vincent, Horrors, Drenge, Stealing Sheep, Tides of Man.

Food & Beer were great - if they ran out of beer yesterday, it didn't bother me as I was readying myself for a 7am start!

It seemed to me that there were a lot of people who weren't really bothered much about the music - I have never seen so many chairs in one place as the garden stage on Sunday - I don't mind that up the back - we've all whiled away some time on a sunny day up the hill at a festival having a chat & half listening to the music ... but twenty rows from the stage doing the telegraph crossword seems a bit insulting to the bands. The upside of this is that I have never been to a festival where it is so easy to get right to the front to see the band (this is more important to my daughter than me!)

Lots of space camping wise, toilets were fine for me but as so often at festivals ..." sometimes its hard to be a woman!!!"

Couldn't see showers but I'm old school & am well used to managing without one for a few days. Wet wipes rule!

[Tmeister]

I've been going to EOTR since 2008 for me this year has just lost abit of love for the place the line up wasn't as special as years gone by but some gems for me were Israel Nash, Bird Courage, Sam lee, The Rails, Horse Thief, Zachary Cale, The Barr Brothers and even though they didn't have a full band The Melodic...i know were in a recession and all but thought as though there wasn't as many stalls whether it was food or clothing maybe it was just me... also wasn't as much going on in the woods this year compared to last year maybe it was just me again....will i be there next year sure i will its a great little festival and will deffo be getting my early bird tomorrow...

just echo what other people have said here about the chatter, i've found it even when going to gigs nowadays people are yapping away which is a bug bearer for me saying that i didn't have to move away from people at the festival this year for yapping maybe i was lucky... also to the idiot (was going to call him something worst) thanks for jumping on my tent around 4/5am this morning n tearing it abit cheers for that...i've noticed a different in the crowd that comes to EOTR seems to be getting worst but guess it can't be helped...

hope i find the spark again for EOTR for next year that i fell in love with in 2008!

sorry for a depressing post lol

[Babyquack]

Could not make it this year.

Did anyone watch Wild Beasts or The Horrors ?

If so any comments or views would be appreciated

Managed to catch Wild Beasts - truly phenomenal performance. Absolutely stunning.

Thurs eve a bit of a mess - arena was 40 mins late opening but even then Tipi bar was not ready.

The arena opened early for sure (being a steward I can most definitely confirm this) so I'm not really sure what you were expecting?

Traffic situation was mainly due to the road being too narrow for a line of traffic going one way and several traction engines from the steam fair trying to come in the other. We were sat with nothing moving for about half an hour, then eventually a couple of big steamy things came the other way and then it cleared.

Traffic was bad this morning due to several things. Firstly some idiot called the fire brigade due to a gas canister catching alight in the live in vehicles area when they could have/should have called a steward over (who was less than 30 metres away at the time) and then we would have been able to get the onsite fire brigade to the area. It was a very minor fire which defiantly didn't warrant a fire engine having to halt traffic to get through the site. The second problem was, as you've said, the steam engine coming by. The final thing was a farmer coming through the lane outside the festival with massive bales of hay as his cargo. As the lanes are tight, he got stuck when one of the coaches met him. Neither could pass one another and neither could reverse (the farmer couldn't see behind due to the hay, the coach had a line of cars behind him). It was frustrating to say the least!!

Weirdest thing about the Friday Garden overrun (which was from the start, Phox began about 50 minutes late, so presumably there was a stage issue) was Ezra Furman still started ten minutes early! I assume he'd been told to start whenever he was ready and taken it literally.

Oh, another highlight of Sunday night: the big hit of the forest disco turning out to be Where's Me Jumper?

Yeah, the friday garden stage ran behind time for quite a while due to the Gene Clark No Other Band's soundcheck taking longer than anticipated. (and Ezra Furman wanted to come on 25 minutes early too but was told no!) haha

I really enjoyed this years festival. It was my first but I can say with complete conviction, I will be back next year no doubt. Not only for the excellent array of music but for the superb, relaxed atmosphere everywhere on site. Loved it!

[MattL80]

Tmeister, I see you're a Greenman regular over recent years. Would you say that has changed in the same way you feel EOTR has? I've never been but always been tempted.

[MattL80]

I saw the fire engine, the hay bales and the steam engines - we really must have timed it badly!! Still only in slow traffic for half an hour or so.