The good, the bad and the ugly

[benali]

Here's my thoughts:

Good

Friday's ridiculous line up. I was dashing all over the place. 

The people again at this festival are just so amazing. Extremely low twat count and everyone I spoke to was just so lovely.

Food was great, found that eating mid afternoon meant no queues. I didn't drink much from the bars, especially considering how much I did at Green Man. £6 a pint is fine when it's decent beer. I liked the ale tent in its new position.

Music wise my highlights were Deathcrash, Black Midi, Bright Eyes, Modern Woman, Umlauts, Shovel Dance Collective, Keg, Wu-Lu, Jockstrap, Scalping, Ross From Friends, Grove, Porridge Radio, Yasmin Williams who was criminally only given 30 minutes. Joe & The Shitboys were a great opener and really should have done a secret set, as should Fat Dog. 

I found the sound better on all stages than last year.

The WhatsApp group.

Bad

Soundclash on Talking Heads stage was horrible. I went to see Karima Walker but may as well have been watching Kurt Vile. Felt a bit for her and she was great but that type of music needs to be somewhere with less interference.

Having a huge act like Pixies with not much else on meant the Woods stage was rammed and a lot of people chatted all the way through most of the set and then clapped the hits. They were fine but I wasn't overly excited by their set.

The Boat stage was a great addition. Campaign for the stage to be more than a foot high next year if possible and also not to book bands who are too big on there. I didn't see Snapped Ankles but Jockstrap was rammed. Maybe they should treat it a bit like the Rising stage at Green Man.

Tipi secret set line up was a bit underwhelming as was Sunday during the day although obviously it's all personal preference and I'm sure others thought differently.

Rough Trade being back. Stranger Than Paradise had better stock and nicer, more knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff. I know RT are independent but they are the kings of that scene, why not let the smaller companies have a go?

I didn't see them but one of our group saw Lounge Society and said they were absolutely terrible. Did anyone here see them?

[Al2006]

The Good

Landlord gate

The bad

Not being able to get into the grotto to see yard act

The Ugly

Adrienne Lenker’s Sunday night secret set being called off by the storm

[SweepingTheNation]

1 hour ago, ljsawyer said:

Battles - Some say they're not as engaging live as they used to be when they were a four-piece, but I thought it was incredible. John Stanier is the best drummer I've ever seen live and the atmosphere in the Big Top for 'Atlas' felt totally euphoric.

The split second everyone simultaneously realised they were playing Atlas was probably my favourite moment of the festival.

Quote

I only caught the last 40 minutes or so of their set, but from what I witnessed, Pixies seemed to be phoning it in a bit. I was a bit perplexed that 'Wave of Mutilation' was so devoid of energy, but apparently they played a more upbeat version earlier on in the set.

Yeah, they've been playing both the original and UK Surf versions since they reformed. I don't know if they regularly play encores but it did feel like they were planning to do so before realising it was too late, as there were still some classic songs they didn't do (seems they've been playing Gigantic live in recent years, which is unexpected)

For my own list of highlights, in rough chronological order: Joe & the Shitboys, Sudan Archives, M(h)aol, Soccer Mommy (solo and full), Battles, Grove, Lynks, Perfume Genius, Ural Thomas & the Pain, Cassandra Jenkins, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Lucy Dacus, Aldous Harding. I don't know if I was really disappointed by anyone - Nilufer Yanya never really got going but it looked like she had technical issues. Mostly the musical gaps, Emma-Jean Thackray's bad back aside, were the people I heard were great but didn't see (Kevin Morby, Wu-Lu, Yasmin Williams)

Edited September 5, 2022 by SweepingTheNation

[benali]

Did the Cider Bus get told to turn the music down on Saturday night? If so then it was a great move because I really don't want to be laying in the tent at 2am listening to that.

We camp at the back of the Family field and it was really loud there considering how far away we were on Friday but I didn't hear it at all on Saturday. It's not like it needs to be that loud, it's just a DJ playing generic, average party music. 

[SighMo]

1 hour ago, benali said:

That was superb.

I told my son about it and later that day he was in the queue for food telling his mate. His mates dad then pipes up and says "I'm in that group" to which the guy behind in the queue said "so am I" and they all had a massive laugh about it.

I can’t help thinking I probably triggered the whole episode by my drunken over excited Grove > Simz comment.   🤣

[Justiceforcedave]

How do I get involved in this thrilling WhatsApp group?

[Mardy]

6 minutes ago, Justiceforcedave said:

How do I get involved in this thrilling WhatsApp group?

We're going to need two month's deposit, a month's agency fee and at least two references. 

[Jeel]

15 minutes ago, Justiceforcedave said:

How do I get involved in this thrilling WhatsApp group?

1. Are you a landlord?

[SighMo]

17 minutes ago, Justiceforcedave said:

How do I get involved in this thrilling WhatsApp group?

There’s a link in the secret sets thread. 

[Justiceforcedave]

7 minutes ago, Mardy said:

We're going to need two month's deposit, a month's agency fee and at least two references. 

How about two Lagerittas and a chilli cheese burger from Smoking Buns?

[Mardy]

27 minutes ago, Justiceforcedave said:

How about two Lagerittas and a chilli cheese burger from Smoking Buns?

Fucking hell, were you following me? Yeah, that’ll do it. This weekend’s discovery- a Lagerita is better with just a little bit moe lager than you think necessary. And goes perfectly with an early afternoon Margo Cilker set on the Garden Stage.

[gigs]

Good-

Pigs x 7 on Thursday. I am a 55 year old fella and I moshed my fragile heart out for the entire set..sweaty excellence.

Sunday afternoon on the garden stage. From the magical Katherine Priddy, Jake Xerces Russell, Alabaster Deplume, Ryley Walker...sublime.

Kevin Morby, Ale, Food etc

 

Bad-

the continuing saga of the latrines...just sort it out, pay the money and get enough toilets, and clean them regularly..

 

Love.

 

Edited September 5, 2022 by gigs

[Justiceforcedave]

The Good:

Food. Incredible. Those burgers at Smoking Buns are up there with the best I've ever had.
Drinks. Never really had to queue. Decent amount of choice. Lagerittas and cocktails went down a treat.

Music. Where to start? I was very busy but highlights included Black Midi, Grove, Perfume Genius, Cassandra Jenkins, Christian Lee Hutson, Pigs x 7, Porridge Radio, Bright Eyes, Lynks, Hooray for the Riff Raff, BCUC, Keg, Yard Act, Lucy Dacus, Sophie Jamison.

Special mention for Grace Cummings who was unreal.

The Stick Competition.

The Weather.

The Bad:

Toilets were awful. Hand sanitiser bottles kept getting knocked off/running out and no one seemed to be checking on them. It was as if they were replaced every morning and that was it. Don't get me started on the lights which turned off if you didn't move for like 10 seconds. Not enough loos either.

The Tipi sucks as a day time venue.

The heat in the big top.

The Ugly:

Nada.

[killyourtv]

10th EOTR, and sadly not a happy one, bar Sunday evening.

On Thursday night got a call to say Dad (87) in hospital with infection, so had to leave Mrs KYTV and 23 year old lad with 2 tents and whizz camper back to Cambridge.

A tricky 3 days, but thanks to Addenbrookes Dad's now back on form, so whizzed back again Sunday afternoon to pick up family and catch 5 hours of magic.

Singing "Nightshift" as a few raindrops fell at Lucy Dacus was cathartic, Aldous was sensational, the Dosa bhajis unbeatable,the beauty of the gardens made me well up this morning.

My lad was making a first trip since the years of Plunket and clay modelling. He loved the Chisel, Black Midi, and pretty much everything in the Big Top. He's in love with EOTR again.

Can't wait for 2023.

 

 

 

[riverlodge]

10 hours ago, Justiceforcedave said:

Special mention for Grace Cummings who was unreal.

That was really quite alright wasn't it? One of our mates had been going on about her St M's church gig for a few weeks, but personally didn't really believe she could possibly be that good. She more than was. You know an artist is 'something' too when Simon Taffe is taking time out to be sat watching from the barrier step.

[Yokel Again]

20 minutes ago, riverlodge said:

That was really quite alright wasn't it? One of our mates had been going on about her St M's church gig for a few weeks, but personally didn't really believe she could possibly be that good. She more than was. You know an artist is 'something' too when Simon Taffe is taking time out to be sat watching from the barrier step.

What a voice. The White Stripes cover was sensational. 

[Skip997]

16 hours ago, JHad said:

• People smoking in crowds (please don't do this).

And just exactly where are people supposed to smoke?

[rwa]

Good:

Pretty much everything, especially Lucy Dacus and Magnetic Fields 😍 (I heard no chatting from where i was).

To Improve:

Toilets.  While I found them fine apart from my first visit to the arena on Thurs, a festival can always do with more urinals to reduce queues elsewhere.  Also screens for the urinals would be good, as mentioned earlier.

Ugly:

F*cking wasps.

[The Nal]

16 hours ago, Mardy said:

We dodged an absolute fucking bullet with the weather. From biblical predictions of doom to sunburn in a matter of days. Once again, @The Nalworked his wonders.

Yes yet again the utterly insane industry that is weather forecasting couldn't have been more wrong. 

At one point I glanced at the weather app and it told me "heavy rain" and I looked around and people were putting suncream on in the ice cream queue. 

[Punksnotdead]

Good: The headliners, was looking forward to Fleet Foxes, Pixies and Bright Eyes - none of them disappointed me! The day time music was less to my taste than usual, although I did love Shovel dance collective, Apollo Ghosts, Heavy Heavy & Purling Hiss - none of which I'd heard before.

Bad: I didn't find the toilets in the arena too bad, but the campsite ones were horrific! I think they only cleaned them once a day (about 6 in the morning, they woke me up every day!)

My neighbours were absolute dicks on the first night and I thought about moving my tent on the Friday, but in fairness they were OK after that - I put it down to first day excitement & youthful exuberance!

I'm getting a bit bored of Squid-like, angular post-punk bands with no tunes - there seemed to have been loads of them this year! It doesn't help that I was around for the original post-punk stuff (The Fall, Wire, Gang of Four, etc), all of whom did it far better!

Ugly: as mentioned before, fucking wasps - I was watching The Bug Club (ironic!) & trying to eat a delicious cinnamon bun, every time I tried to take a bite, I got dive bombed by 3 of the wee bastards!

[rwa]

Bloody nature, spoiling the outdoors for us humans.

[wolfamongwolves]

14 minutes ago, Punksnotdead said:

 

 

I'm getting a bit bored of Squid-like, angular post-punk bands with no tunes - there seemed to have been loads of them this year! It doesn't help that I was around for the original post-punk stuff (The Fall, Wire, Gang of Four, etc), all of whom did it far better!

Nailed it 🎯

Edited September 6, 2022 by wolfamongwolves

[Llamasausage]

good: the not-headliner acts that I never heard before (again), food/drink (again), people (again), and just a general lack of the things that make festivals hard work.

no bad and/or ugly

Beer request please. If you want a round mix of lager/ale you are stuck. The ale bar is great but no lager. So you need to queue twice. Please just have 1 lager tap in the ale bar or even cans. Having said that, queues were generally avoidable by picking your time / place.

Toilets a bit odd around the woods stage for urinals, and that metro beer loves urinals. But considering the universal festival toilet scale and the distance to other options, meh. Often the toilets in the 'arena' were better than camping which is saying something.

off to get tickets in a minute

 

[Fat_Buddha]

2 hours ago, Skip997 said:

And just exactly where are people supposed to smoke?

Away from others, who may not wish to share your habit. There’s plenty of space

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, Fat_Buddha said:

Away from others, who may not wish to share your habit. There’s plenty of space

Pretty sure there's not enough time in a weekend to say "excuse me, although we're outdoors and therefore the smoke will drift off, I'm aware you may have a problem with me smoking, do you mind" to everyone near you every time you fancy a smoke.