EOTR 2016 - How Was Yours?

[SweepingTheNation]

I can't quite believe I've been to EOTR nine times, but the appeal doesn't seem to pall. There did seem to be a lot more people there than usual this year, I can't think there can have actually been because the capacity hasn't increased and I think it sold out last year. I don't think I saw anyone I fully disliked, which is a good sign of a great time, weather notwithstanding. Only real regret is not getting to say thank you to Marc Riley when I walked past him twice on Sunday.

Best stuff:
Broken Social Scene (all-time great EOTR set, and Kevin recognised it for that too)
Weaves
Martha (as a longtime fan and Indietracks-goer, I love when bands from that little cult sphere get to play to and win over a big audience in a more mainstream setting - Spook School next year, please!)
Savages
Shopping
Bat For Lashes
Teenage Fanclub
Meilyr Jones (absolutely commands the stage)
Amber Arcades
Cat Power (surprised it was all southern soul, but the reworkings of I Don't Blame You and Metal Heart were great)
Field Music

[Lord Buckley]

4 hours ago, RustySpanner said:

There were also far fewer beards this year, and many more small moustaches.

I noticed the trend for seventies porn 'taches too

[lamstonite]

loved it 

Thought the sound quality was excellent this year. (Although could have done with a bit more volume at the disco ship to get my tired legs grooving)

Highlights for me were Broken Social Scene, Animal Collective, Steve Mason, Anna Meredith, Basia Bulat, Steeling Sheep, Dr Dog, Phosphorescent, Ezra Furman!

The whole place seemed a lot less busy to me. Was put off by the tipi queues a few times but otherwise thought it was generally pretty quiet. 

 

[smudger]

2nd year for me and it was great over all. Savages were utterly fantastic, one of the best performances I've ever seen (and I've done a few festivals over the years too).  As was Ezra, Saw him two weeks ago at beautiful Days and he did a very different set, also brilliant too, which was nice to see. The comedy was top again this year, particularly Tom Bell and his magpie poem!

 

Dislikes -Queues? WTF? Prices. Its already one of the most expensive festivals at near £200, but that can be justified somewhat by the quality of the sound alone, let alone the art bits etc. But £4.50-5.00 a pint is too much. BD was £3.50 a pint. Food was more expensive too. Also whist BD was only £140 a ticket the toilets there were always good. The ones at EOTR around the stages became unusable each evening. If your charging top dollar then the loos should at least be serviced regularly to keep them functioning.

 

Overall though a top festival and if I'd been quicker I'd have bagged a tier 1 pair of tickets this morning.

 

P.s. Does anyone know the name of the band doing the secret set on Friday night in the little tipi?

[RedRockRick]

Big Thief.

[Wiggso]

1st time there and loved it.

Highlights were leaving the wishy washy snooze-fest of the Shi*s to go to Yak and Ezra, great great decision.

Savages, GOAT, Flamigods twice, Thee Oh Sees, Thurston Moore, Ezra again; Animal collective, Dr Dog, rotisserie chicken, Ale tent and Beavertown (once it got going) toilets were incredible (compared to other festivals).

Not many negatives but the festival should really try and promote people making their way to the festival greenly and not give priority to cars. Coaches (shuttle services etc) were dreadful.

[The Nal]

Think I may do this next year. 

[DaveT]

My fifth year in a row. First really wet one but despite being a fairweather camper I coped. With the site being on chalk downs even Saturday's downpour didn't threaten to turn it into Glastonbury.

Highs and lows (highs mostly)

Musical highs

Savages - I struggle to be objective having watched them grow from tiny venues 4 years ago to the monster they are now. I was disappointed they were put on the Woods stage but they absolutely nailed it. Astonishing set.

Teleman - lovely start to the festival. 'Glory Halleluyah' was the moment I put the real world away for a few days.

Yak - chosen over The Shins. Glorious racket

Ezra Furman covers set

Dillly Dally - grungy riot grrl, great stuff

US Girls - concept piece, part entertained, part disturbed

Anna Meredith - classical electonica, sounded great

Julia Jacklin - one of my finds. Final song 'Don't Let The Kids Win' had grown men in tears

Bas Jan - only stayed in Tipi after Julia Jacklin due to the weather but really enjoyed them

The Big Moon - won't change the world but indie punk pop fun by the bucket load

Jeffrey Lewis - genius, worth getting soaked for

Martha - been on my must see list for ages. Great fun, absolutely charming

Steve Mason - long term fan here, great set

BE - what a lovely way to see in sunday. Field recordings and gentle inprovisation.

Feels - new favourite band. Due to getting stuck in traffic, arrived on site 20 minutes after they were due to start. Straight off the bus onto the stage, sound was sorted in half a song, and they took out their frustrations of being stuck on the road with a blistering performance

Hard Skin - Oi Oi!

Devendra Banhart - enjoyed the half hour I caught

Sunflower Bean - excellent boy/girl vocal indie rock

Teenage Fanclub - great ending to the weekend

Lots more sets and part sets I enjoyed too.

Didn't have anything I hated totally, but Animal Collective bored me more than the bits I enjoyed. Bat For Lashes may well have been great but I was knackered and realised I needed something more uplifting so dashed off to catch the last half hour of Ezra Furman. My mate was thrilled for Wild Beasts, thought they were pretty good actually but was secretly hoping for SFA. I did enjoy Joanna Newsom but don't understand why she's pandered to to such an extent.

Other good things

Sound was excellent on all four stages and stage management was great.

I didn't go before the Woods stage was there so can't compare but it's still magical to me. It's the little touches that seem to get added to every year - the animal scenes on the sides of the Woods stage this year, how much nicer is that than some sponsors' logo. Glad I didn't see any destruction to the installations as a couple have mentioned as I love a wander checking them out.

Lower dickhead count to me I thought (though see exceptions below)

Security - yes they are badged up and have to do their job but seem to understand the vibe and don't come across as night club heavys. We got on chatting terms with the Tipi and Big Top ones, decent people.

Downs

Beer prices, when I first went I was happy to drink the ale all weekend, it compared very well to pub prices. Seemed to have shot up this year in particular. £4.50 for a session ale and £5 for stronger stuff isn't pub prices where I come from. We took a few cans to save us a bit of money, but my mate ended up doing a Tesco beer run, so we spent nothing in the ale tents.

Some of the queuing - I can only think that when they undertook their Health & Safety review after last year that the Tipi tent/stage was flagged up as a problem area, hence the changes. It was fine when you were in, and in fact I never had to queue myself, but a couple of times I went in a lot earlier than I needed to make sure of getting in, when you used to be able to rock up at any stage at any time and wander in and out of bands.

The woman right at the front of Savages who chatted very loudly to her mate throughout Dream Baby Dream. She was even wearing a Savages shirt ffs.

Lazy people who leave all their crap behind on monday morning for other people to clear up. At least put it in a bag.

 

Look forward to next year.

Edited September 7, 2016 by DaveT

[lamstonite]

Thought Anna Meredith was excellent too

She was really appreciative of the love she and her band were getting which was lovely to see. She seemed genuinely touched

 

 

[shoebox]

Only caught the last couple of songs from Anna Meredith and wish I'd seen more of her set. Varmints has REALLY grown on me as an album.

Sorry, haven't written up my review yet as I've returned to a bit of a work monsoon. But needless to say, I had a great time. I'll try and write up a bit more later.

[DaveT]

I don't know if some performers say the same thing at every festival they play (I'm sure a lot do) but there still seems to be that feeling that the majority are genuinely happy to be playing EOTR.

[5co77ie]

my review is online here:

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/endoftheroad/2016/review-overview.shtml

photos to follow

 

Edited to add- damn it ranks as #1 for me this summer

Edited September 7, 2016 by 5co77ie

[retromoz]

11 hours ago, smudger said:

The comedy was top again this year, particularly Tom Bell and his magpie poem!

 

THEY'VE GOT PAUL!!!

(aside : i didnt go this yeah due to having a baby (not me. my wife.) But i love Tom Bell!!!)

[lamstonite]

1 hour ago, DaveT said:

I don't know if some performers say the same thing at every festival they play (I'm sure a lot do) but there still seems to be that feeling that the majority are genuinely happy to be playing EOTR.

I got that impression too. Loads of bands seemed grateful. And I have pretty good bullshit detection

[riverlodge]

couple of reviews on 'our' forum. brilliant as ever for me.

some reviews from regulars occuring here

[gigs]

Okay...controversially... i know that closing down the site was a bit "diva" and she is most certainly the dictionary definition of musical marmite but... (wait for it..)...i actually enjoyed Joanna Newsom.

I have none of her albums, and prepared myself all weekend for hating her, but on the night and notwithstanding the demands, i enjoyed what she did. She is obviously talented, and strongly believes in what she does, and whilst i wont be rushing out to buy her back catalogue it worked for me.

 

 

 

There, I've said it...

[Blannyboy]

Went not expecting much from this year's line up, particularly the headliners, but was very pleasantly surprised, especially:

Thurston Moore

GOAT

Bat For Lashes

Cat Power

Savages

BEAK>

Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop (complete with the macaw flypast)

JD McPherson

Scritti Polliti

Actually went to see Joanna Newsom out of curiosity, the wife thought that she was excellent, I must admit that although she writes good songs I was quite bored , and that voice, a poor Kate Bush from back in the '70s

Not a great deal to dislike - the price of beer seemed pricier this year, there seemed a lot more queuing this year, oh and the weather after such a good Thursday (but at least thanks to the rain it wasn't too cold at night!!).

Finally, I know that some found a few that were in a badish state, but well done once again to Andy's Loos for keeping the loos in so clean - I never found a dirty one the whole weekend.

Broken Social Scene

Devendra Banhart

 

[beckstrous]

On 05/09/2016 at 10:40 PM, benali said:

First EOTR for 3 years for me so it was good to be back. Now the kids are slightly older (10 & 7) and are more into the music it's far easier for us to watch more bands. (I have a theory, possibly misguided, that since EOTR started maxing out the site they have purposefully not provided much for kids to do to discourage their attendance in favour of adults who spend more money. I don't understand why they don't book the Flying Seagulls who play at loads of other festivals, are a charity, and therefore free

I think you are right. I've always enjoyed EOTR - we started going pre-kids. Our daughter is 3 and I really felt there wasn't that much on for her. And yet we paid £45 for her ticket compared to nothing at Green Man (a festival that laid on SO much more). Flying Seagull Project are great. Last year EOTR had a singer for kids (Nick Cope), but very little this year. I do think it's a good festival but as a family with a young child I don't really think it offers enough anymore. We didn't feel unwelcome but we didn't feel embraced either (total contrast to GM). So I don't think we'll be back next year,although if the opportunity for my husband and I to go on our own ever came up, that would be quite fun. Beer is crazy overpriced though - and the range of cider is limited. 

[paulwa]

I think beer was either £3.50 or £4.00 last year and it was £4.50 to £5.00 this year, dependent on strength. London prices! Well, certainly not Wiltshire/Dorset prices.

I really wanted to try more of the ale festival beers, but the pricing meant that I stuck to my own cans most of the time. I wonder if the 'bring your own booze into the arena' policy will be the next one to change? I notice that they've already stopped the discounted pre-booked car park tickets for next year.

On the family topic, I've often described EOTR to friends as kid-friendly but not at all geared towards them. I enjoy the odd family festival with my lot and wouldn't want to take them to EOTR (which is about the music, man). Camp Bestival was the best of these so far, but boy THAT was expensive!

Edited September 12, 2016 by paulwa