2019 Predictions

[Jeel]

2 hours ago, WM Hall said:

6th EOTR. Very good fun but can't help but feel it's lost a bit of that which made it feel special - too many people, too many chatterers!!!

Highlights:

Kero Kero Bonito - God. Damn. Not had that much fun at a gig for years. Came out of it laughing with joy. The extremely friendly circle pit was the high point.

Parquet Courts - absolutely fantastic, high-energy with an elated crowd.

KOKOKO - Wicked, really really good. Hadn't heard even a full song of theirs beforehand, but loved it. Real Konono no.1 feel as someone said above.

Let's Eat Grandma - Was wondering how it'd work out on the Garden Stage, but loved their set. Lovely to see me pals killing it!

Jockstrap - Amazing band and a great set ruined slightly by fucking chatterers (more on that in a sec.)

Serpentwithfeet - Mesmerising and beautiful

Bodega - the Charmander to Parquet Courts' Charizard

Ata Kak - Scooby dooby dooby!!!

The drunken pummel horse competition in the woods on Friday night

How friendly 99% of the punters are - struck up so many lovely conversations with people over the weekend

Mega jenga

Garden stage silent disco

The rotisserie chicken place

Other good bits: Goat Girl, Martha Skye Murphy piano stage set, Jessica Pratt, Nov3l, Pom Poko, Mary Lattimore, Kelly Moran, Metronomy, Deerhunter...

Lowlights:

FUCKING CHATTERERS!!!!!!!!! So much more chatting during sets (particularly in Tipi) than any previous year. In the one instance I asked people to be quiet, they responded with "why don't you move" and got rude. Just fuck off to another festival you morons. There's so many times and places to talk at the festival - during the bands is not the time.

Martha - Hated what I could hear from the shower queue. And then it started raining. And then when finally I got into the shower there was a used tampon on the floor.

Serpentwithfeet only playing 30 minutes of his hour set. Felt like it could have been right up there with the sets of the weekend, but was far too short!

My radical manifesto for a new EOTR:

Scrap the Big Top (no one actually likes being in there) and reduce the festival capacity by, I dunno, 3000. Reduce ticket prices by £30-odd quid. Keep booking weirder and more diverse line-ups (as is the trajectory of the festival).

So dark, so badly managed and so horribly humid. I can see the value of that kind of tent (the Far Out tent at Green Man is much nicer) but they need to at least change the design to remedy the obvious problems. 

Edited September 2, 2019 by Jeel

[Sean1234321]

8 hours ago, Yesiamaduck said:

Hard Skin (second surprise set) - Ruined by a crowd full of people missing the obvious irony and being utter pricks as a result. Throwing the term 'Nazi' like it was going out of fashion and trying to start a fight with the band. There music is bog standard but they're a comedy act, the problem with half the crowd not knowing this means this show paled in comparison to the fantastically fun 2016 set. I actually learned a worryingly large number of EOTR faithful are disappointingly hypocritical and honestly it put me off the crowd.  Now to be fair they shouldn't have been a secret set as the joke was lost on most people, but at the same time, fuck a good portion of the people in that crowd. YOU. ARE. ASSHOLES. AND. HYPOCRITES. As I'm sure a lot of these people would've gotten angry at someone talking a tad too much during a show they're enjoying but you guys were out there verbally yelling at the band, booing and saying really nasty things and it soured the experience for people enjoying themselves

 

Oh come on...as you said they are a "bog standard" band and people in the tipi had waited up late for a good secret set, but they got that instead.

It was a terrible booking...and yes some people's behaviour was not on, but to pretend you don't understand the reaction is pretty laughable.

[domjon]

6 hours ago, Tomos_ said:

3rd time for me, and loved it as usual! Weather was good, atmosphere was great on the whole, and the beer and food was excellent (the pasta and dosa places were my joint favourites). 

Highlights

Ohtis

How did Ohtis go down? Decent crowd? 

Missed EOTR this year but just seen Ohtis in the back room of a pub in Manchester in front of literally 23 people. They were great but felt bad for em man, fucking love the album, deserved a big audience. 

[Yesiamaduck]

36 minutes ago, Sean1234321 said:

 

Oh come on...as you said they are a "bog standard" band and people in the tipi had waited up late for a good secret set, but they got that instead.

It was a terrible booking...and yes some people's behaviour was not on, but to pretend you don't understand the reaction is pretty laughable.

At no point did I say 'I didn't understand' the reaction. I was specifically targeting the poor behaviour. If a band I didn't like came on stage I wouldn't start booing, jeering and yell offensive things at the band. Don't excuse poor behaviour. 

As you can see here I specifically said that I DID understand 

"Now to be fair they shouldn't have been a secret set as the joke was lost on most people,"

People who don't know who Hard Skin are and wanted to see a band instead of a social commentary or parody band would rightfully disappointed. They worked in 2016 specifically because the crowd knew what they were in for. And I think putting them on as a secret act was always asking for trouble, Apathy I'd understand, but there was appalling behaviour and those people should be ashamed of themselves. 

I don't care one eyeota if you turned to your friend and went 'fucks sake, lets go'. Mr problem is squarely with those who bomb ed the set for everyone else

Edited September 2, 2019 by Yesiamaduck

[Sean1234321]

No excuses...I said right there that it's not on.

I'm just wondering in what other situation would you accept booking a band that are bog standard (your words)?

Would you pay to attend to a festival full of bog standard acts? They are bog standard for a reason...certainly not fitting of EOTR.

[Tomos_]

7 minutes ago, domjon said:

How did Ohtis go down? Decent crowd? 

Missed EOTR this year but just seen Ohtis in the back room of a pub in Manchester in front of literally 23 people. They were great but felt bad for em man, fucking love the album, deserved a big audience. 

Yeah, they got a decent crowd considering how early they were on - thought they went down pretty well. I loved it. They also apparently played a secret set at the piano stage which I annoyingly missed...

Probably my favourite album of this year

[Yesiamaduck]

2 minutes ago, Sean1234321 said:

No excuses...I said right there that it's not on.

I'm just wondering in what other situation would you accept booking a band that are bog standard (your words)?

Would you pay to attend to a festival full of bog standard acts? They are bog standard for a reason...certainly not fitting of EOTR.

I mean they aren't Bog Standard overall. The music deffo is. They played in 2016 (the Joanna Newsom year) and tore the tent down. And yes, you did say it was not on, but you also implied that it was acceptable by saying that I shouldn't have been 'surprised' at the reaction. The whole appeal of the band is the banter, which wont be for everyone OBVIOUSLY, and to have an excuse to literally yell OI OI OI OI and have a laugh. It's not for everyone, wont pretend it isn't, but I shouldn't have to 'understand' a tent full of grown adults behaving like that

Edited September 2, 2019 by Yesiamaduck

[domjon]

1 minute ago, Tomos_ said:

Yeah, they got a decent crowd considering how early they were on - thought they went down pretty well. I loved it. They also apparently played a secret set at the piano stage which I annoyingly missed...

Probably my favourite album of this year

 

Was mine too for most of the year... Although some decent competition released last few months... Murder capital, Blanck Mass, Purple Mountains etc. 

[Sean1234321]

7 minutes ago, Yesiamaduck said:

I mean they aren't Bog Standard overall. The music deffo is. They played in 2016 (the Joanna Newsom year) and tore the tent down. And yes, you did say it was not on, but you also implied that it was acceptable by saying that I shouldn't have been 'surprised' at the reaction. The whole appeal of the band is the banter, which wont be for everyone OBVIOUSLY, and to have an excuse to literally yell OI OI OI OI and have a laugh. It's not for everyone, wont pretend it isn't, but I shouldn't have to 'understand' a tent full of grown adults behaving like that

That's all fair enough and I get it completely, but maybe book acts like Hard Skin in slots like they had in 2016 instead of a late night Tipi slot where a lot of people will be drunk and expecting to just have an easy good time.

Not everyone wants to have to analyse stuff at 1.30am

As I said...not excusing anything, just being realistic.

[Yoss]

Anyways, what a fucking great weekend, as ever.

Highlights - Stella Donnelly, Parquet Courts (despite the Honey Hahs thing), Kikagaku Moyo, Pom Poko

Also very good - Pottery, Wand, Bodega, Mitski, Sweaty Palms, Kero Kero Bonito, Lewsberg, BC Camplight

Enjoyed Piano Stage sets from Kelly Moran and Jade Bird.

Underwhelmed or just wasn't feeling it for - The Beths, Goat Girl, Gazelle Twin, Viagra Boys.

Jockstrap divided opinion, though I quite liked them; The Honey Hahs are still beyond awful; Hard Skin do nothing for me - left after a couple of songs but hadn't seen anything untoward beyond a bit of sparring up to that point.

Ended up missing Squid and Fontaines DC. I'm told Squid were great.

Can't think of any gripes worth mentioning about the festival or its organisation, maybe I'm just easily pleased. See you all next year.

[Mardy]

Yeah, was another great year, but more the company and weather than the music. It just wasn't a bill that really excited me this year, and for the first time in living memeory I haven't come away buzzing about a really special performance or a performer I didn't know about before (previous years it's been The Burning Hell, Richard Dawson, David Thomas Broughton etc etc) . However, I had a blast and Stella Donnelly, Mitski, Bodega and The Beths were all fun. it's no reflection on Simon and the rest of the team -  I can see a lot of people here were made up with the music, but I'm not really a fan of shouty, sweaty punk or arty angular, spiky post punk and there was quite a lot of both this year. But no matter, that's more about me than the bill. 

I still find the Big Top a terrible venue to watch music. Humid, sweaty, oppresive and 'orribie.

[Jeel]

31 minutes ago, Yoss said:

Anyways, what a fucking great weekend, as ever.

Highlights - Stella Donnelly, Parquet Courts (despite the Honey Hahs thing), Kikagaku Moyo, Pom Poko

Also very good - Pottery, Wand, Bodega, Mitski, Sweaty Palms, Kero Kero Bonito, Lewsberg, BC Camplight

Enjoyed Piano Stage sets from Kelly Moran and Jade Bird.

Underwhelmed or just wasn't feeling it for - The Beths, Goat Girl, Gazelle Twin, Viagra Boys.

Jockstrap divided opinion, though I quite liked them; The Honey Hahs are still beyond awful; Hard Skin do nothing for me - left after a couple of songs but hadn't seen anything untoward beyond a bit of sparring up to that point.

Ended up missing Squid and Fontaines DC. I'm told Squid were great.

Can't think of any gripes worth mentioning about the festival or its organisation, maybe I'm just easily pleased. See you all next year.

What was that all about? It was one of the strangest and borderline disturbing things I've seen. There seemed to be a number of bands not on the bill doing this and that to presumably get in for free!

[The Nal]

Kikagaku Moyo. What a setting for them and the festival gave them every opportunity to nail it. Dripping Sun at sunset was well, yeah.

Parquet Courts - First 30 mins was as good as live music gets for me.

Stella Donnelly - Huge surprise no idea she was that good. 

Sleaford Mods - After a meh set at Glasto gig this was great. Jasons interview at the Literature tent a lovely bonus. Met him too. Nice fella.

Other shout outs to Lewsberg, Charlie Parr, Pom Poko, Bodega and Squid. Really keen to see what Lewsberg and Squid do next. 

Food was decent. The Thyme and Tide place and the pizza place being highlights. Seems the put newbies into the Tipi field. 

One stall that can fuck off is the Bao bun place. 9 quid for 2 small Bao buns and then on Saturday they increased it to a tenner! lol. 

Another great year, the depth of the lineup is what does it for me. Roll on 11am.

 

[Jeel]

6 minutes ago, Mardy said:

Yeah, was another great year, but more the company and weather than the music. It just wasn't a bill that really excited me this year, and for the first time in living memeory I haven't come away buzzing about a really special performance or a performer I didn't know about before (previous years it's been The Burning Hell, Richard Dawson, David Thomas Broughton etc etc) . However, I had a blast and Stella Donnelly, Mitski, Bodega and The Beths were all fun. it's no reflection on Simon and the rest of the team -  I can see a lot of people here were made up with the music, but I'm not really a fan of shouty, sweaty punk or arty angular, spiky post punk and there was quite a lot of both this year. But no matter, that's more about me than the bill. 

I still find the Big Top a terrible venue to watch music. Humid, sweaty, oppresive and 'orribie.

Same really. There's normally at least one act/band which blows me away. Whilst there were several good performances and I'm glad to have seen the likes of Pottery and Squid now, there's were very few 'wow' bookings. Poor headliners down. Always more than enough to keep a music fan happy but personally I'd expect more for a festival with such a good rep. 

[The Nal]

Sunday kinda fell away a bit this year. Tried some of Jarvis and the music was good but hes such an off putting pretentious twat when he opens his mouth I only lasted a few tunes.

2019 was a notoriously bad year for festie lineups though.

[Mardy]

5 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Sunday kinda fell away a bit this year. Tried some of Jarvis and the music was good but hes such an off putting pretentious twat when he opens his mouth I only lasted a few tunes.

2019 was a notoriously bad year for festie lineups though.

Yeah, it was really noticeable this year that there was no stunning headliner every evening to build towards. I always mouth off about 'It's not about the headliners, maaaan', and you're right, the strenght of eotr is in its depth, but I missed having something special to look forward to and finish the evening off with. 

Anyway, regardless of these minor carpings, I'll be ready for 11am this morning.

[IBee]

It might be a case of familiarity breeding contempt but this year felt flat to me. I was annoyed that they have cut down the amount of comedy. The Big Top is just horrible, I have to really want to see a band to go in there. If it is true that the capacity inched up then if they keep doing that it is going to cause problems. I didn't suffer many chatterers, the crowd annoyance for me this year was people barging in front of me. More searches on the way in- I was not searched but it is bloody annoying when you are. That little spell of rain we had bought traumatic memories of that Sunday 2 years ago. Thank god it didn't last.

I didn't see anything new which really made me go wow, which I think is a first for me. Low and Jarvis Cocker were good though.

Maybe I just need a break from it, or go to a really annoying festival to remind me of what EOTR has.

[Vamagus]

Overall a great festival with some outstanding sets  

We actually love the big top and that middle of the night feel all day - the crowd control aspect is a plus for us as similar tents at other festivals (Green Man & Latitude for example) have on occasion become dangerously overcrowded. 

We hate the Garden stage to the point where we avoid if possible - this is down to the chatterers, picnickers and cocktail set. Really ruins the music. 

Tipi Tent - love the tent but just take the bar out as it completely ruins quiet sets with the chatting & ordering. 

Like others there seemed to us that there were more “need to be insta’d at a festie” people this year. 

[Jeel]

On another note, I feel Thursday has become big now. I was shocked by the number of people on site. There's probably a reasonable argument to have more on. There were queues for Du Blonde between the main stage acts. 

Does anyone know if there's any ability to make the festival site any bigger? The number of attendees seems to rise every year but the space for the festival sire rarely changes.

[changingman]

Definitely a different (busier and younger?) vibe than a couple of years but still absolutely blows other festivals out of the water in my opinion. 

Parquet Courts delivered the headline set I'd always hoped they were capable of (opening trio and She's Rolling>>Outside were stunning). Pottery, Crack Cloud and Lewsberg confirmed as my new favourite bands. Wire played a surprisingly upbeat set, Bilge Pump create melody from seemingly impossible combinations of guitar virtuosity and Wand gave it the pysch/T-Rexian star quality. 

Main stands out though were Kikagaku Moyo (perfect) and Deerhunter (their set highlighted everything great about the band and sounded flawless). 

Enjoyed the first 3/4 of Low but really think I need to see them indoors next for the full experience. Caught some Scalping secret set which showed promise but I couldn't help thinking "Battles do this better". 

Food wise, shout outs for Pad Thai, Persian Street Food and Raclette/Poutine thing. Chatterers weren't a huge issue for me although I think we made the barrier for every band we wanted to see. 

Oh, and 2019 is clearly the year of the yellow Fjallraven back pack!  

[WM Hall]

Hang on, did people seriously have a problem with the Honey Hahs making an appearance during Parquet Courts' set...!? That song ('Death Will Bring Change') has a children's choir on the studio recording, and the one previous time they've played it live they've brought children along to sing with them. This was the second time they've played it live, so they brought their label mates (and former EOTR performers) along with them... It was a sweet addition and contributed nicely to an amazing set. Wtf is wrong with people that they're upset/complaining/irritated about it!? In what way could it be considered "borderline disturbing" or "beyond awful"?

Edited September 3, 2019 by WM Hall

[benali]

50 minutes ago, Vamagus said:

We hate the Garden stage to the point where we avoid if possible - this is down to the chatterers, picnickers and cocktail set.  

The Garden Stage was always amazing. Loads of room to sit and relax and watch some bands. It's just too busy now to do that, even early afternoon there's barely any space to be found. 

Still love it in the evening though, it was magical when Low played and part of that was because of the setting. 

[Jeel]

8 minutes ago, WM Hall said:

Hang on, did people seriously have a problem with the Honey Hahs making an appearance during Parquet Courts' set...!? That song ('Death Will Bring Change') has a children's choir on the studio recording, and the one previous time they've played it live they've brought children along to sing with them. This was the second time they've played it live, so they brought their label mates (and former EOTR performers) along with them... It was a sweet addition and contributed nicely to an amazing set. Wtf is wrong with people that they're upset/complaining/irritated about it!? In what way could it be considered "borderline disturbing" or "beyond awful"?

Borderline disturbing to me as I have an issue with shrill and singing out of key!

The set was great apart form that (I don't like the recorded version to begin with tbh)

[WM Hall]

I mean, the Parquet Courts' vocalists hardly have the voices of angels themselves! Veeeeeery odd complaint

[Mardy]

16 minutes ago, WM Hall said:

Hang on, did people seriously have a problem with the Honey Hahs making an appearance during Parquet Courts' set...!? That song ('Death Will Bring Change') has a children's choir on the studio recording, and the one previous time they've played it live they've brought children along to sing with them. This was the second time they've played it live, so they brought their label mates (and former EOTR performers) along with them... It was a sweet addition and contributed nicely to an amazing set. Wtf is wrong with people that they're upset/complaining/irritated about it!? In what way could it be considered "borderline disturbing" or "beyond awful"?

I can only speak for our group, but the Honey Hahs have become a kind of in-joke for us of all that is irritatingly twee and middle class about EOTR, or indeed modern life, mainly as a result of this extraordinary article, which is just full of gem after gem, particularly about the dad...

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/08/the-three-sister-pop-group-the-honey-hahs-we-dont-want-to-get-too-massive

Our response to them being introduced was a kind of delighted, disbelieving laughter.