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Come back into work which has been maniacally busy so the first chance I've gotten.   My 5th End of the Road - and by some distance the best. The music programming was absolutely stellar - I was exhausted, the most bands I've ever seen there. I've complained in recent times that the festival has felt a little worn down and shabby; not so this year. The energy was amazing, it felt like a rebirth of sorts. Maybe it's just cos so many acts cancelled each day at Primavera Porto that not even the cancellations fazed me, and I felt the festival navigated them superbly.   The Good:   I mean this could go on forever!   Vibes, audience, energy artists, all on point We arrive in campervan on Friday morning. Arrived, set up, cans, then MRCY and Sextile really got out energy up Hot Wax were good fun CMAT - wow! Was telling everyone we saw her open the Garden Stage a few years ago was super funny to hear her then recount events from that. Smashed it. Superstar Was gutted Mdou Moctar cancelled but it solved a 3 way clash, that meant I could enjoy Gurriers and Sprints. The future is Irish. Both killed it, Sprints particularly felt very special After a few hours of being shouted at, I had to miss Lankum. Not a huge fan of IDLES as Ive said (I'm so petty, but I'm like lolo you can't even bring yourself to say Free Palestine in English) but they smashed that. Very enjoyable, even as a neutral Heartworms were great but slightly ruined the amount of talkers who were squatting for Sextile and Sprints   Waking on Saturday morning and finding out the ??? was Julia Jacklin. We basically ran in our PJs. What a surprise, fantastic set.  Sanam were a bit of a mind melt but my wife loved it and got a t shirt We were confused walking into Palehound thinking we had the wrong stage but once accustomed it to being a one person show, they crushed it I was a bit disappointed by how little actual vocals Master Peace did, but we were down the front and having a blast and my mates told me to stop being a pedant and enjoy myself Jockstrap were a blast My mates weren't into Billy Woods but I loved it, so proper hip hop Slowdive were absolutely majestic   Saturday took its toll (in bad) so Sunday began with Florence Adoomi. I actually went on holiday to Ghana last October and a driver we had for the day basically spent the whole trip giving a me a lecture on the history of High Life & Hip Life so this was a proper blast  I planned to leave Slift halfway through to go to NoL. 5 minutes in I was going nowhere. Honestly, I'm still stuck in the wormhole they put us in. What an experience. Luckily EOTR being what it is, we basically got to the front for NoL's second half without even having to push. Saw them at Porto last year and have loved them since, but they're really elevating the stage show now, the lighting looked like a movie Water From Your Eyes - saw them at Porto where I went for a bit and stayed the whole time cos it was mesmeric. This wasn;t quite as good but it's still an exhilarating experience  Lambrini Girls is a subtley free zone and I'm here for it   Otherwise, loved pints "only" being £6.5, good food, and getting to share this wonderful festival with my wife for the first time was amazing   Bad: caveat - I had the best time, this is just nitpicking   Food was a bit pricey imo. Jerk Hut was so so so good but I felt a bit jipped by the volume Main stage sound remains crystal clear but just a little too low Had a couple of weird experiences where slightly older men would be talking loudly over the music then be disrespectful to the artist if people told them to be quite. Stuff like "who cares, they're sh*t" etc. Only happened a couple of times, and always 50+ men, but weird none the less People making big piles of bags in the Big Top then getting agg if people walked near. My brother in christ, it is pitch black in here, have some common sense People making a giant queue for the craft bar instead of standing at it like a bar Them not putting having a GF lager on the main bar as they seemed to advertise before the fest meaning my missus had to drink cider The music being so good I didn't have enough time to arse around in the woods Was unable to get into neither Casisdead nor English Teacher Accepting I was exhausted 30 minutes in Jon Talabot, which I was so gassed for, and going to bed to save my Sunday. Arriving on Friday so I had internet access and was sadly the person to break the news to a guy at the water point in the campervan field that Mdou Moctar had cancelled   Ugly:   I'll leave this up for a bit then take it down but a friend of a friend tagging along with us and then pulling a whitey and collapsing right down the front for Floating Points. Thankfully he was fine, a doctor in the crowd started attending him but he woke up immediately like "why are there fingers in my mouth!!!!" but we had to miss Floating Points which was just getting good and he hadn't told us he was doing anything, so when he collapsed at my feet I legit thought he was dead which was a pretty crumby ending all told  

Will Rachel Reeves still be chancellor by next election? BET NOW!

Bit late sorry:     EOTR 24 Well, well, well, wasn’t that a blast!? 16th now I think and maybe one of the best - the curation, attention to detail and overall loveliness are second to none. Was so nice to catch up with old friends, as well as new, and leave the real world behind. We arrived Thursday lunchtime, set up quickly then headed in for a general mooch until the action started. Caught Plantoid (decent enough) at the newly laid out Folly. Liked the new opened out space and overall layout, just don’t get me started on the toilets. Over to the Woods for Laetitia Sadier - lovely but blended into the background, Richard Dawson - majestic as ever but felt drowned by staging - and then Bonnie Prince Billie….  He’s been on my (and many others) list since the beginning and smashed it out of the park, set of the weekend.  Tried to get into the Cinema stage, but it was already full and we were told we’d be lucky to get standing room even if anyone left. Personally I miss the old tent style cinema where you could wander in and chill rather than the prim, library feel of the new set up. Then again, what do I know… ? Finished off with a late night smash burger (something else) and ended up on Baby Spice from the cider bus talking nonsense until 3. God(dess), I love End of the Road... FRIDAY Up and at ‘em, started off with home-made Bloody Mary's to take into the fest which were mint. No more queuing, blended to personal preference, and less delay in seeing the first band. Grabbed a bacon and egg roll from the Tea Bus (a bit meh, room to improve) and over to Ex Easter Island Head at Boat stage - such a beautiful, dappled, bucolic part of the festival, and EEIH were a lovely experimental way to ease us into the fun to come. Over to Garden for Sahra Halgan, running late, but some great Somali guitar shredding when they arrived. Then Mary Lattimore on harp (just lovely), followed by Bill Ryder Jones, (lush and melodic as expected) and over to one of the sets of the weekend for CMAT at the Wood stage. Pure infectious, unadulterated joy - so much fun. Her cover of Wuthering Heights was exceptional. Back to the van for a quick change for layers/wine etc and back to Garden stage. Mdou Moctar cancelled unfortunately, but Alabaster de Plume picked up the baton and did what he does best - divide the audience into those who think WTF?! and those who are with him all the way. I was very much the latter. Picked up some duck fries - meal of weekend, possibly, for convenience, taste and cost - then came the mighty Lankum (just exceptional). Listened to Baxter Dury from outside the Big Top (closest we came to actually going inside) and off for more hot cider and the secret sets - tonight was Sextile (bit like AK/DK, enjoyed them) and Sprints who were fun. A slow meander back to the van around 3am and there goes the first full day. SATURDAY Rinse, repeat (which is part of the joy). Couple more Bloody Mary’s. Then over to Garden for the ??? reveal. Turned out to be Julia Jacklin which was a coup. Just beautiful (and Happy Birthday BTW!) Made one of our rare moves from the Garden and saw Brown Horse at the Woods stage. Some lovely Americana (from Norfolk), had seen them previously at Green Man and was suitably impressed again. Great name, is double heroin reference deliberate?  Back to our sanctuary at the Garden and saw Cat Clyde (just beautiful), then Sanam - joyous Ghanaian dance hall, and a quick food break for duck noodles (lush). One of my must sees, Lisa o Neil, also cancelled unfortunately, but was replaced with the incredible Mermaid Chunky. I also saw these at GM and was blown away - they were even better today possibly, which is incredible considering they stepped in at the last moment. It seemed to split the audience (one of the chat messages asked 'what the f**k were they were on?’ and someone responded ‘I was on mushrooms and they were great’). I was fully immersed and definitely sided with the latter.  Quick change back at the van, then in for Camera Obscura (nice enough, albeit a bit polite), followed by Phosphorescent who was, unsurprisingly, exceptional.  Richard Hawley headlined, expected him to be good, but he delivered in spades - so much more expansive than expected - phenomenal. Saw 'Big Special' from outside the Folly so missed their essential connection with the audience and was underwhelmed - my loss, others who saw them said they were incredible. Also saw secret sets from Lemon Twigs (mainly) covers set, and then in for NY hardcore/punk/hip hop Lip Critic - much fun was had. At some point had another late night smash burger, bed early at half two. SUNDAY Last day (where does the time go etc?) BMs sorted and good to go. Fruit Tones at the Folly (fun garage rock), over for some Bonny Dune laid back Americana (beautiful, lazy Waxahatchee/Kurt Vile vibes). Heavyish rain for 30 mins, then all was glorious again - luckily the yellow alert skimmed us and went on its way. Florence Adooni followed (infectious Ghanaian high-life), couldn’t help but move. More duck fries (other options including goat curry, chicken katsu had sold out), then Ichiko Aoba - ethereal, sublime, transcendent…  Over to Tara Clarkin Trio at Boat  - phenomenal introspective jazz - then back to Garden Stage for Ty Segall - wasn’t sure what solo show would be like, was just great, hope the medical emergency was sorted successfully. Yo La Tengo were switched to the Woods stage (slight shame as Garden is so more intimate) but were as amazing as always - the penultimate song which just kept going was mesmerising. Their sublime ballads (including an incredible Sun Ra doo-wop cover) were bookended by a squall of mind-bending sonic loveliness. Over to Lambrini Girls from the outside - seemed to deliver, then Altin Gunn (fun Turkish surf rock) and off to bed. Not before I got another burger though and was greeted by a ‘welcome back for your nightly burger sir’ - the shame, the shame... Would have loved to stay up for last set (MC Yallah) but had reached my limit so headed back and drifted off to ‘Hit the Road Jack’ from the Disco stage, It had rained overnight when I woke, but was otherwise dry and sunny the entire festival (apart from a very brief heavy shower) - the wild gods were shining on us throughout. See you there next year… Miscellanea  Curation overall was exceptional as usual, loved the more avant-garde side of the Garden Stage - lovely fusion of experimental and global music in addition to the usual excellent folk/Americana. Sound overall was exceptional from every stage Toilets, freaking toilets - why oh why etc? The amount of money spent on the urinals with flushing loos, mirrors and porcelain etc baffles me. Just add some additional pissoirs at the Folly and Garden Stage which would benefit everyone. Hey, ho, minor gripe overall Food great, beers great, loved the loony juice farmhouse cider Roving Posties dropped a matchmaker ask to a friend - wonder if it will go anywhere? Alice in Wonderland woods were as fun and beautiful as ever Bar queues were minimal and staff always lovely, though did feel a little busier generally overall.  Top 5  BPB  - a shaman, a seer, a prophet… Darkness, then soaring optimism - sublime. Woodwind, harmonies and guitar, just transcendent. And that song about jumping into the water - wow!Mermaid Chunky - totally barking, joyful and paganistic funCMAT - hilarious, brilliant, infectious and joyfulLankum - medieval yet contemporary, apocalyptic murder and drone and doom and… wow!Yo La Tengo - astounding, please play every year Gutted to have missed Dawn Landes Lisa o Neill (hope she’s ok) Molly Lewis (who knew pro whistling was a thing) Anyone see YLT in Talking Heads/piano stage? Jason Molina tribute - any good? Song Gallery - not even sure where it was? Julianna Riolino Craft beer bar to the side of the Garden stage and the general ale bar in the middle - will try harder next time    

Great venue, i love it and have never had even a tiny bit of trouble from the bouncers. I tend to be there for metal gigs though, and not club nights - id imagine the clientele varies a fair bit depending on whats on. Last few bands i've seen there would be Cattle Decapitation, Mary Wallopers and GWAR. Jack White would be proper amazing in there! 

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