2024 EOTR - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

8 minutes ago, riverlodge said:

Barring (sorry, no pun intended) Green Man with the Courtyard real ale festival?

Yes, sorry I had typed out a bigger gushing response praising both as being in a league of their own (shout-out to Greenman for actually introducing me to Tiny Rebel beer many years ago with Cwtch) but the page refreshed and I couldn't be bothered to type it again 

 

 

[Neville Street]

 

Cockmill Bar, 27 June 2013. A much better range than these days, but agreed not as diverse as EOTR real ale bar.

[killyourtv]

53 minutes ago, Neville Street said:

 

Cockmill Bar, 27 June 2013. A much better range than these days, but agreed not as diverse as EOTR real ale bar.

 

I'm reluctant to criticise EOTR real ale efforts as they focus on local breweries like Langham and Downton and Hop Back, the bar team are lovely and £6.50 isn't that bad, but goodness me they taste dull in comparison to the stronger craft from Lost and Grounded these days, variations on a pale theme which suffers in those plastic glasses. It was still better than the Butcombe in Tollard Royal and Farnham, mind.

[CassieN]

Good - CMAT, Slifts, The Lambrini Girls. More camping space. Asking at information and getting a secret tip about an ultra fast wifi spot.

 

Bad - The garden seemed a bit overcrowded all weekend. Feel the whole site is getting an over crowded vibe now.😔

Too much easy listening music (other people loved it obvs).

I think they should label some bogs 'sit down only' - as they are terrible for people with short legs urine wise.

 

Ugly - Putting Stewart Lee on a tiny stage. The guy has filled the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I even wrote to them and said they were better off putting him somewhere else. Anyhow we turned up at the utterly titchy venue about 1.5 hours early to see him and felt the queue was still too long for us to get in, so we missed him. Ergg

[LalanaCat]

Good:

The music, as everyone has said really. Special shout-outs to English Teacher, Jeffrey Martin, Slowdive, Bonnie Prince Billy, Nation of Language, Palehound, Colossal Squid, Yo la Tengo, Sprints and Lankum. But it was nearly all brilliant, and the sound quality as ever was fantastic. Great bands aren't guaranteed to sound great at a festival, but at End of the Road they nearly always do.

 

Bad:

I've been wracking my brains but I really can't think of anything I'd go as far as saying was bad. There weren't very many marbles in the marble run. Does that count? And I should give up on the burritos because they're always disappointing. 

 

Ugly:

I did notice a few more people who looked like they'd had a few, and I say that as someone who isn't impartial to the odd pint from the real ale tent myself. I didn't experience rudeness but a few too many loud conversations during bands, certainly. 

 

 

[SweepingTheNation]

On 9/6/2024 at 9:54 PM, CassieN said:

 

Ugly - Putting Stewart Lee on a tiny stage. The guy has filled the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I even wrote to them and said they were better off putting him somewhere else. Anyhow we turned up at the utterly titchy venue about 1.5 hours early to see him and felt the queue was still too long for us to get in, so we missed him. Ergg

 

That he wasn't in a headline slot, even among the afternoon acts, and was trialling new material suggests he requested to keep it as low-key as a Stewart Lee set can ever be. I don't think a comedian/purely spoken word act has ever been put on any other stage apart from John Cooper Clarke doing the Big Top one year, and he's done that at a lot of festivals.

[kaosmark2]

On 9/6/2024 at 8:21 PM, killyourtv said:

 

I'm reluctant to criticise EOTR real ale efforts as they focus on local breweries like Langham and Downton and Hop Back, the bar team are lovely and £6.50 isn't that bad, but goodness me they taste dull in comparison to the stronger craft from Lost and Grounded these days, variations on a pale theme which suffers in those plastic glasses. It was still better than the Butcombe in Tollard Royal and Farnham, mind.

See, I find Lost and Grounded incredibly dull nowadays. I think almost any beer can get repetitive, and L&G's stuff is pretty samey within itself.

[Caspar201]

On 9/6/2024 at 10:54 PM, CassieN said:

Ugly - Putting Stewart Lee on a tiny stage. The guy has filled the Queen Elizabeth Hall. I even wrote to them and said they were better off putting him somewhere else. Anyhow we turned up at the utterly titchy venue about 1.5 hours early to see him and felt the queue was still too long for us to get in, so we missed him. Ergg

I agree the queues aren't great. But they are longer than they look. We started queuing at most 30 minutes before the comedy started that day and easily got in. The queue had got to the cinema pavillion when we joined, but there were still lots of people behind us who got in too. I hope this helps people not get too discouraged in future years by the long queues!

 

The only issue however is that you really need to come to see all of the comedy. If you just wanted to see Stewart Lee and started queueing when the other comedians had already started, you probably wouldn't be able to get in. It isn't necessarily advertised as such, but I think we should see the comedy as one single programme rather than a series of comedians you can drop in and out of.

 

All that said, it would certainly be much better if at the very least there was a system by which you could know when the queue is full so you don't need to worry that you are queueing for nothing.

[The Nal]

1 hour ago, Caspar201 said:

I agree the queues aren't great. But they are longer than they look. We started queuing at most 30 minutes before the comedy started that day and easily got in. The queue had got to the cinema pavillion when we joined, but there were still lots of people behind us who got in too. I hope this helps people not get too discouraged in future years by the long queues!

 

Yeah we queued for Nightmare Live and it was almost back to the path near the cinema and we got seats about 7 rows back. Can actually fit quite a few people into the Taking Heads. 

[staffop]

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 fun
CMAT - hilarious, brilliant, infectious and joyful
Lankum - 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











 

 

 

 

[robith]

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

 

Edited September 9 by robith

[The Nal]

Sunday was "Whitey day" on the Garden Stage it seems

[accordionandvoice]

6 hours ago, robith said:

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

 

Aren't Idles more shouty than Lankum 🤨

[The Nal]

So anyone who saw Stuart Lee - was he any good?

[robith]

12 hours ago, accordionandvoice said:

Aren't Idles more shouty than Lankum 🤨

Sorry, didn't land the point very well. After a few hours of straight post punk, I would've crashed if I changed tone so dramatically so carried on

[killyourtv]

On 9/9/2024 at 11:36 AM, kaosmark2 said:

See, I find Lost and Grounded incredibly dull nowadays. I think almost any beer can get repetitive, and L&G's stuff is pretty samey within itself.

Fair enough, what did you enjoy at eotr ? 

Edited September 10 by killyourtv
typo