2024 EOTR - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[Llamasausage]

Good:

 

Loads of music. Particularly liked: BR Jones, CMAT, harp in the folly, Richard Hawley, Slift, Floating Points

 

Folly a new kind of tent this year then? I thought so but couldn't quite recall, yes it is much better now if so.

 

More urinals (for men)

 

Bad:

 

Seemed like there were more queus for folly and big top. Didn't effect me because I is organized.  Not sure it was busier in general though. Bit on Thursday but Thursday always feels rammed. I've seen the tents busier with no queue before, there was a queue on the folly at one point but lots of people sitting around inside. Maybe they had more focus on tent capacity and safety?

 

Bad luck on the cancellations but to be honest I was happy with Floating Points over Fever Ray

 

Ugly:

 

Nope

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hooskerdoo]

5 hours ago, robith said:

SLIFT

Ah, another thing we agree on.

[Hooskerdoo]

GOOD:

Slift, BPB, Richard Dawson, The Tubs, The Shits (despite them trying so hard to be hated), Wine Lips, Thus Love, YLT, Richard Hawley, Laetitia Sadier, Sleater-Kinney, Lemon Twigs, Gruff, Baxter, Lip Critic, Warrington-Runcorn (shame no visuals, but still hypnotic), Ebbb. But most of all Slift.

Pies, momos, espresso from the tea bus. 

New Folly. 

The weather. Most of it.

 

BAD:

Better than last year, and better than expected, but sorry, still hate those bogs.

Cider choices. Basically 2 identical loony juices or alcopop. There's so much good real cider out there, would love to see more choice.

Big Top. Just not a nice place when full. Especially when it's hot and you are hung over. I wanted to see English Teacher but had to leave after a couple of songs. But yeah, probably not much more that could be done about that.

 

UGLY:

Mullets. Mullets with moustaches. And wifebeaters. When did the "cartoon 1970s Australian" look come in? Did I miss a meeting?

 

For me, last year was a great weekend despite a lacklustre lineup. This year was loads better on paper and really delivered. Especially Slift. Early birds purchased. 

[SweepingTheNation]

GOOD
- that it felt like one of the best ever, and I've been going since pretty early on
- Lankum, Cornelius, Bonnie Prince Billy, Julia Jacklin, Yo La Tengo (piano set was up there with Okkervil River and Angel Olsen as best ever), Laetitia Sadier, ML Buch, Clarissa Connelly, Lip Critic, Slift, Snooper, Sanam, MC Yallah, Billy Woods, Florence Adooni, The Orchestra (For Now), Senyawa at midday being precisely as insanely inspired an idea as hoped. All speaks well to the broadening of the stylistic bookings which I hope continues, I know people who couldn't come but are keener on following who gets announced for 2025 because of that.
- The new Folly layout (wonder if moving Cinedrome means they're planning on doing something with Boat)
- having five out of six pullouts replaced by entirely new additions (compare to Green Man taking two days to announce a replacement and it being someone already there who'd played a bigger stage two hours earlier)
- the food

 

BAD
- the Jason Molina tribute queue. It did seem weirdly busy at times this year, especially given how long it took to sell out, but as far as I know there was no capacity increase.
- how heavy that one shower got given how short it was
- not experiencing the CMAT set
- saw the first aiders and ambulance a few too many times for comfort on Sunday (not around the sets I saw, though I heard about Ty Segall)
- would have quite liked to see Mozart Estate, wonder what happened given Lawrence was there for the book talk and signing

 

UGLY
- bacterial pneumonia
- actually, on that topic, I passed the boards a few times on Sunday and overheard people confused about the headliner situation and at least one surprised that the Garden stage didn't sound very like YLT. It's very likely that with Fever Ray's post at about 11am on Thursday and Floating Points announced 24 hours later that some won't have heard at all, especially as we all know the terrible state of the wifi around the festival, so I wonder why they didn't put up a whiteboard on Friday reading something like 'unfortunately Fever Ray has had to cancel, YLT are now on Woods, Floating Points joins us on Garden' rather than rely on people spotting it on the boards.

[accordionandvoice]

3 hours ago, noisenoiseandmorenoise said:

 

 

I get my proper grandad slippers out here- the musical variety is great but with it, there feels like a loss of roots/spirit. Every review mentioned the importance of Bonnie Prince Billy to the festival but when you are surrounded by a crowd who have never heard of him, there is a disconnect there. I see some discussion of electronica on the garden stage. Not for me. have today (Green Man last year was worse). Little organisation and everyone blaming someone else. 

 

 

I'd disagree, strongly - Bonnie Prince Billy, Bonny Doon, Cat Clyde, Phosphorescent, Sam Amidon, etc - loads of folky Americana-y music. There's always been other music - in the earlier days it was rock and psych, so what's the problem if it's now more leftfield and interesting?

 

I thought it was amazing that I could watch Bonnie Prince Billy (one of the best sets of the weekend) and then also see three rappers across the weekend. The move also reflects Simon's taste: if you see his interviews and 'picks' they are increasingly more leftfield.

 

The reviews mention the importance of BPB, but almost all of them also talk about how eccentric and eclectic the line up is. Long may it continue!!!

[carwynnen]

Missed 2022, so back this year for my twelfth.

 

THE GOOD

 

The music: Jesus, the music was so good. Beforehand I had nailed on that Slowdive would be my band of the festival, and actually I think they were extremely narrowly pipped to the post by the Lemon Twigs' secret set in the Folly, covering the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Del Shannon, The Byrds, The Left Banke, &c. I cried. Which was my partner's reaction to that moment when Richard Dawson held that scream so hard during "Scientist" you thought he could have a stroke. And the bass drones at Lankum? f**k.

 

Big up the new(ish) breed: Classy sets from Gustaf, Deary, Sprints, Elsy Wameyo and Freak Slug

 

Brilliant stuff from left of centre, too: Mary Lattimore, Joanna Sternberg, Tara Clerkin Trio, Ex-Easter Island Head, Ichiko Aoba

 

I actually adored the IDM stuff that swapped in off the subs bench. Great and spellbinding stuff from Floating Points, James Holden and Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan, alongside Jockstrap

 

Also mentioned in despatches: Bill Ryder-Jones, Gruff Rhys, Phosphorescent, Palehound, Alabaster dePlume, &c...

 

Really liked the new Tipi/Folly. Loved how it seemed almost expected that if you sat next to someone out back during the secret sets, the lingua franca was bands of the day/of the festival so far. The people attending, on the whole, are fantastic. Had some lovely conversations. While not at the front for a band, that is.

 

Big up The Curry Shed, which, as always, kept me going pretty much all weekend; and the lovely coffee from 13th Floor Coffee, over on the breakfast strip, without whom my day is usually over before it's begun. Also, Laser Juice from Bristol Beer Factory, which was a damn fine pint and my pint of choice. Also, the bar staff and staffing, all round; I went for a pint during Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and there were 21 serving; and still 8 on out back of the tipi at 1am Monday morning. Never had to queue, really. Muchos gracias!

 

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

 

Special Garden stage shoutout to the trio who arrived just at the beginning of Floating Points. They looked like and had the demeanour of socially awkward extras on The Vicar of Dibley or Miranda. The youngest of them had some experience of modern culture, as she kept doing a kinda Statue of Liberty 360-degree kinda dance in between persuading her two friends to stay. But finally even she'd had enough, exclaiming: "SOME people here could really do with a BATH and that's only ONE of the three bad smells I can smell!" (There being herb in abundance, it being Floating Points, as well cigars/blunts).

 

Also to the quartet on the beer and the sniff stage left for Camera Obscura, featuring three guys of 6ft 3 or so, who pushed in front of my 5ft 1 partner and started yabbering about mortgages. When you have to shout to make yourself heard over the band, lads ... maybe f**k off somewhere else?

 

Some of the food didn't really have a bang that matched the buck. The Indonesian curry stall veggie number was delicious, but once that tub had been well padded out with rice, you got maybe most of one ungenerous ladle of the main event. For £12.

 

The toilets were nowhere near as bad as I'd feared after the hooha about last year, but more urinals, please! Particularly near the main stage, stage left, and in the back of the Folly. 

 

Here's to 2025 ....

 

 

 

 

Edited September 3 by carwynnen

[Mardy]

41 minutes ago, carwynnen said:

 

 

Also to the quartet on the beer and the sniff stage

 

 

I've never found that stage. Where is it exactly? Somewhere in the woods? You'd think it would be mobbed.

[BlackFoxx]

The Good 

Excellent sets throughout the weekend, highlights being Slowdive, Lemon Twigs, Julia Jacklin (lovely surprise!) and CMAT. In a way I'm sort of glad Militarie Gun dropped out as it resolved a nasty clash and meant I went with my partner's choice of seeing CMAT, who were resoundingly one of the best sets of the weekend. Excellent work from the organisers to cope with the drop-outs as quickly and effectively as they did too.

 

Great food and good range of different cuisines and veggie options. Highlights being Curry Shed and Indonesian Coconut Curry. Although I was sad that my arepas fell apart on first contact.

 

Lovely conversations and interactions with strangers throughout the weekend. Anytime we shared a bench or stood in a queue we got talking with our neighbours and shared lots of music talk and recommendations of who to see over the weekend.

 

Toilets weren't nearly as bad as expected based on the previous thread and having only gone before in 2022.

 

The Bad

As discussed above, talking through sets, especially quieter acts on the Garden Stage. Not sure why folks can't move to the bar or the central areas around the food trucks if they just want to have a catch up.

 

Demand for some of the Talking Heads sets. It meant you had to plan your whole day around seeing comedy and potentially miss out on acts earlier in the day to queue. We just about got in for the start on Friday and then didn't even bother for Stewart Lee or Josie Long on the Sunday. 1 hour plus queues takes away from the vibe of feeling like you can wander from stage to stage and explore rather than meticulously pre-planning everything.

 

Small children in the general/quiet camping instead of family camping. Meant we had an early morning wakeup each day, which feels unnecessary when there is a dedicated part of the site for families to camp in.

 

The Ugly 

The state of my fantasy premier league team which I only checked on the way out of the festival due to the lack of mobile internet. Why did I think going without Haaland was a good idea...

[airwaves]

This was my 15th EOTR, a straight run from No3 to now, with just 2017 missed. 

The Good:-

My headliners choices - Bonnie Prince Billy, Lankum, Slowdive, YLT - all delivered bigly. 

Other highlights Richard Dawson, Phosphorescence, CMAT, Ex-Easter Island Head, Joanna Sternberg, Molly Lewis. 

Shame about Fever Ray but fortunately had seen the set at The Park, Glasto, last year. 

The food, as always. 

Campsite space, not crowded as per usual. 

 

The bad:-

Maybe it was the choices I made but seemed to be a distinct reduction in the amount of pure 'Americana' (of the Bonnie P Billy type as an example). Saw some lovely bands but I think this is the first time I've left EOTR without a 'must buy this' list. 

I got some good signal occasionally, otherwise hitty/missy. Late night eg 1am, and early morning eg 7am, worked fine, otherwise patchy (for comparison ArcTanGent had 2 or 3 signed "WiFi Hotspots“). 

 

The ugly:-

The child trolleys are just getting ridiculous. Even with a "not after 5pm" rule, getting into or out of the Garden Stage at that time through the Waggon Circle of trucks (and chairs) either side of the mix desk is just plain silly - and see photo. 

Medical emergency during Ty Segall (and my view on this is from point of view of being only around 6 feet behind all 3 incidents). Around midway through Ty's set a gentlemen front-left of me collapsed, literally fell like a plank, backwards. It is not the incident(s) that themselves were "ugly" rather the what happened next. The initial ugly was the lack of EOTR staff action. Absolutely no action from anybody stage-side of the crowd barrier. Don't EOTR have stage manager / security with radios? So it took what seemed far too long for any steward to arrive from the back of the crowd. When, eventually, this first person was being guided away towards my right side, but before any medical staff had arrived, a second person collapsed to my front-right. Very shortly after this there was a 3rd collapse but this may have been the first person collapsing a 2nd time. Somewhere amidst this 2nd/3rd collapse medical staff had arrived and were seeing to the 2nd incident. Still no action apparent from any one stage side. In total around 15 minutes elapsed before the incidentees had been guided away and the gig restarted, and no action from anyone stage side during this whole time. During this episode, two related uglies - the rubber neckers who came from elsewhere in the crowd into the vacated space around the incidents to look at what was happening, and those who called to the stage during the first incident trying to say "all ok, restart" whilst the bloke was still being attended to!

And then, to top this, I now have a "really ugly" - but separate post as I need to quote from this thread, so see below. 

 

The smugly

I found an electric extension cable in the grounds that I could readily access, so could keep my phone charged whenever I wanted to. 

 

 

[airwaves]

8 hours ago, The Nal said:

The Ugly - The three idiots who got mashed and collapsed in the middle of the Ty Segalls gig.

See my G/B/U post above

I'm categorising this reply as REALLY UGLY. 

Heaven forbid, Nal, that you should find yourself having a medical incident during a gig/Festival. 

[Mardy]

My hot take: get rid of the comedy. I love comedy, probably go to more comedy than music over the year, but it doesn't really work at lunchtime in an outdoor stage where you've got to queue for ages. I love the Talking Heads stage, but think they should use it for more acoustic stuff, more Q&As, more literature. There's what, 3 or 4 comedy acts a day? Keep comedy in the dingy cellar bars where it belongs. Also, it's not like comedians never tour, or are had to see or get tickets for or any of that. If you really want to see Stewart Lee, he'll be coming to a market town near you in the next year, do a full 2 hour show and won't cost the earth. 

[noisenoiseandmorenoise]

1 hour ago, accordionandvoice said:

I'd disagree, strongly - Bonnie Prince Billy, Bonny Doon, Cat Clyde, Phosphorescent, Sam Amidon, etc - loads of folky Americana-y music. There's always been other music - in the earlier days it was rock and psych, so what's the problem if it's now more leftfield and interesting?

 

 

Just to clarify, I love leftfield and interesting (I'd be delighted if they brought back the Late Junction slots).

I guess these were meanderings on whether such a change has impacted the demographic and this is why you get more groups standing around talking and more substance fuelled shouting.

If you have a crowd not that well versed in the music, for some it will be a discovery but for a lot it will be something on in the background while you chat with friends. 

Anyway, I won't derail more with negatives as I had a bloody great time.

[carwynnen]

36 minutes ago, airwaves said:

 

The ugly:-

The child trolleys are just getting ridiculous. Even with a "not after 5pm" rule, getting into or out of the Garden Stage at that time through the Waggon Circle of trucks (and chairs) either side of the mix desk is just plain silly - and see photo. 

 

 I mean, I'm with you on this. We usually use the sculpture at the top of Woods as a common denominator meet-up - known by all as 'Foxbase Alpha' from previous years. You couldn't get within 200ft of it this year. We sat pretty close once, but got fed up with six-year-olds yeeting over our bags/hands/feet as this particular family had claimed about 400sq ft as their own, seemingly.

[Stillill42]

Brilliant reading all the reviews folks. I was there last year for the first time, absolutely loved it but switched to Green Man this year as the dates didn't suit. It's a real hoot listening to you guys and the Green Man efestival contingent trying to find things to complain about. Just accept that ye have the two most beautiful, friendly, lovingly curated festivals on earth and be done with it. 

[majormajormajor]

2 hours ago, Stillill42 said:

Brilliant reading all the reviews folks. I was there last year for the first time, absolutely loved it but switched to Green Man this year as the dates didn't suit. It's a real hoot listening to you guys and the Green Man efestival contingent trying to find things to complain about. Just accept that ye have the two most beautiful, friendly, lovingly curated festivals on earth and be done with it. 

 

Truth.

[accordionandvoice]

5 hours ago, noisenoiseandmorenoise said:

 

Just to clarify, I love leftfield and interesting (I'd be delighted if they brought back the Late Junction slots).

I guess these were meanderings on whether such a change has impacted the demographic and this is why you get more groups standing around talking and more substance fuelled shouting.

If you have a crowd not that well versed in the music, for some it will be a discovery but for a lot it will be something on in the background while you chat with friends. 

Anyway, I won't derail more with negatives as I had a bloody great time.

Sorry I totally mean to pile onto you - I get what you're saying!

[noisenoiseandmorenoise]

7 hours ago, accordionandvoice said:

Sorry I totally mean to pile onto you - I get what you're saying!

 

Ah no problem at all. I was fully aware that my comment could come over like a luddite/music snob/gatekeeper/man yelling at the clouds/all of the above!

 

Back to the positives -The Jerk Yard was fantastic, always quiet and pretty much giving away wings by the Sunday. Top tip if they are there next year.

 

 

 

[accordionandvoice]

8 hours ago, accordionandvoice said:

Sorry I totally mean to pile onto you - I get what you're saying!

*DIDN'T mean to ... I should have said 

[Wooderson]

My 3rd viz:

 

Good: Weather! Slift, Paranoid London, Floating Points, CMAT were ace. Guinness in the Badge was unreal. General organisation, vibe as usual really peerless. Gluten free food was top notch. No queues. Toilets deece.

Bad: Music still teeters on meh at times. Saturday in partic was grim enough fayre.

Ugly: Richard Dawson's falsetto. Phone signal laughable for a big established event.

[accordionandvoice]

1 hour ago, Wooderson said:

My 3rd viz:

 

Good: Weather! Slift, Paranoid London, Floating Points, CMAT were ace. Guinness in the Badge was unreal. General organisation, vibe as usual really peerless. Gluten free food was top notch. No queues. Toilets deece.

Bad: Music still teeters on meh at times. Saturday in partic was grim enough fayre.

Ugly: Richard Dawson's falsetto. Phone signal laughable for a big established event.

Music teeters on meh??? What festival were you at!

[Wooderson]

2 minutes ago, accordionandvoice said:

Music teeters on meh??? What festival were you at!

 

At times! The Sat wasnt for me - enjoyed Powerplant, Masterpeace and Flamingods tho. Im not trying to be a twat mate.

[xxialac]

23 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

 

At times! The Sat wasnt for me - enjoyed Powerplant, Masterpeace and Flamingods tho. Im not trying to be a twat mate.

I’m with you. There are endless brilliant musicians at EOTR and fantastic variety but for me

some of the acts are mediocre when it comes to writing a good melody - particularly earlier in the day. Still a fantastic festival and of course always good options including non music ones.

[Llamasausage]

Never seen any comedy at eotr, I'm not even 100% sure where it is

 

a bit more ......

 

Chairs - Look. I'm well into middle age. I'm pretty fit and active, well above average in fact, but still a chair makes a big difference to me lasting the whole weekend. I'm as considerate as I can be, stay at the back, try not to get in anyone's way too much etc etc. Please don't ban chairs.

 

Same with trolleys. I think they are cute personally. I wish taking kids that young to festivals was so easy back when mine were that age. Consider those poor parents, why exclude them. Please don't ban trolleys.

 

BUT

 

Chairs and trolleys were a bit out of hand.

 

No chairs/trolleys at all in tents.

 

Aaaand I think we need some active stuff eg stewards need to come round and tell people to get back after 5 or whatever it is. They have done this before, I've been asked (not a problem, were planning on moving anyway)

 

By the way - I've been to a festival where they banned chairs. You just get get the same amount of people sitting only on blankets or other 'not a chair' things eg those big blow up jobs. So that is not the answer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[goldengirl]

The good -

hugged CMAT during her set.

My lost shoe during Sprints circle pit was recovered.

The following performances: Gustaf, Idles, Sprints(x2), CMAT, Heartworms, Flamingods, Girl and Girl, Ichiko Aoba piano stage, The Tubs, Altin Gun secret set. 

I am relieved no sweat is dripping from the ceiling in the new folly tent, wonder if any equipment was damaged last year.

The food was great, highlights were the arepas (never had one before) and the green ice cream.

 

The bad -

the toilets have improved, but I did slip on the metal staircase shortly after arriving when fully sober! I think the wooden stepped ones are safer.

Talking at the front of the crowd.

Impossible to see comedy this year, not sure what has changed but whenever we went to the talking heads stage the queue exceeded the 'end of the queue' sign.

I missed English Teacher as it was way too packed, think they should have been put on the woods.

 

The ugly - 

Young children in potentially dangerous situations (no ear protection, at the front of bands where mosh pits are likely, without their parents). This was the first year I experienced this and felt responsible for their safety when I just wanted to dance...

 

 

 

 

Edited September 4 by goldengirl

[Punksnotdead]

The good:

 

My 16th EOTR - that Saturday evening run of Camera Obscura, Phosphorescent and Slowdive might just be the best evening I've ever had at EOTR, absolutely brilliant. 

Other great sets from Bill Ryder-Jones, Sprints,Sleater Kinney, Idles, Julia Jacklin and Yo La Tengo (piano stage & Woods).

Plus some really enjoyable sets from new (to me) acts like Kassi Valazza, Holiday Ghosts, Brown Horse, Gently Tender, Girl and Girl, Bonny Doon and The Tubs.

 

The Bad:

 

Not much to complain about but I was pissed off that I turned up at The Folly 10 minutes before NewDad were due on and still didn't get close to getting in. Could hear them from the barely moving queue & they sounded good but I sacked it off about half way through their set to go back to BPB.

 

Also, the chaos of the shuttle bus this year. Was booked on the 2pm bus & it was an hour late. Time to bin National Express methinks. 

 

The ugly:

 

Whichever DJ was playing that bass-heavy techno at 2 o'clock on Monday morning. I was camping half a mile away and my tent was shaking! Some of us had to be up early to leave. I can always hear music from my tent but that was taking the piss! Impossible to sleep through. God knows how loud it was at the actual venue (The Boat?) but I wouldn't be surprised if it broke noise restrictions. 

Edited September 4 by Punksnotdead