End of the road festival 2008

[GTG]

Wish I'd been aware of this -- I love Jonathan Richman!!

Edited September 18, 2008 by GTG

[GTG]

Whoops! Did I break the forum?!?

[Elfy]

Still recovering..........

Had a fab time and met some lovely people.

Thanks to Geofelgie for the loan of the airbed pump!

Highlights -

Musical -

Friday

Hawk and a Hacksaw - Suitably weird and a great moustache.

Conor Oberst - Liked all the "fake" announcements eg "We are The Decemberists" (if only....) and "Thank you, that was Modest Mouse". Good set, altho' I was falling asleep on my feet by this point due to an excess of hot cider.

Saturday

Noah and the Whale - Lovely sunny afternoon stuff, and got to chat to some nice people afterwards.

Bon Iver - Can I make a confession? We didn't actually *watch* him - we were sat on the "Peacock Lawn", listening, playing Scrabble, and drinking hot cider while the peacocks strutted around - and it was fabulous

British Sea Power - Of course!!!

*INTERLUDE* - we then went off for a "brief nap" and woke up about 4hrs later *eeeek* - at least we heard Goddess on a Hiway from our tent!! But this meant we got up, re-energised, to see.......

The Modern Ovens - Who were great

Sunday

Billy Childish - Wonderul mad punky stuff.

Tindersticks - Nice chilled stuff to eat our Mexican food to.

Calexico - Only saw a bit as we needed to hed off to the Big Top, but they sounded great.

Brakes - The highlight for me - but then they are one of my favourite bands - Great set, especially with the new Mrs Hamilton coming on for Jackson

Woodpigeon - in the Bimble Inn, spotted Sofia looking happy, good fun but I was almost asleep standing up again......

But if I'm honest, great tho' the music was, the best bit for me was just Being There!

Particularly *loved* the woody area - the fairy lights (just gorgeous and romantic), the book tree, the Piano Stage, the Enchanted Disco, the hot cider , the FOOD - the Food Groove sold the best breakfast I've ever had - possibly anywhere, but definitely 1000 x better than anyother fezzie breakfast Oh, and the Ringo (musical bingo) was a great laugh - that man needs to be on stage - or TV Sitting and chilling / playing games on the Peacock Lawn was also a highlight.

And finally...... the people..... We were camped near Geofelgie and his friends, really nice bunch of people. Also a group of students nearby, who played fab music and were quite happy to natter to a couple of oldies for an hour or so on Sunday night

I'm looking forward to next years already - have bought our Early Bird tickets and we're trying to persuade a whole bunch of new people to come along too

[endoftheroadro]

Quick note about EARLY BIRD tickets....they are sellying very quickly....So if you are after one.......perhaps best to get in asap.

Rx

[marooned]

Surely EOTR will win this year's BEST SMALL FESTIVAL AWARD

Although not my No1 of the year (Wychwood is) it HAS surpassed the original Larmer Tree Festival, which seems to have become rather stale - just my opinion!

Having been to the first EOTR, when there were more peacocks than punters, may I just wish Sofia and Simon all the best for 'hanging in there' and turning EOTR into a roaring success.

......but, c'mon get your own Forum - wading through 40 odd pages on E-fest's minor sites tells it's own story......

[endoftheroadro]

Surely EOTR will win this year's BEST SMALL FESTIVAL AWARD

Although not my No1 of the year (Wychwood is) it HAS surpassed the original Larmer Tree Festival, which seems to have become rather stale - just my opinion!

Having been to the first EOTR, when there were more peacocks than punters, may I just wish Sofia and Simon all the best for 'hanging in there' and turning EOTR into a roaring success.

......but, c'mon get your own Forum - wading through 40 odd pages on E-fest's minor sites tells it's own story......

Edited September 22, 2008 by endoftheroadro

[wolfamongwolves]

what a festival just beautiful. highlights for me dirty three the drumming by jim white was something else.

bon iver. calexico.a hawk and a hacksaw.akron family.sun kil moon. jason molina.

got my early bird ticket.

[Marblehead]

Hi All,

1st time End of the Road-er & like everyone else here, thoroughly enjoyed myself. Great to see a load of reasonably obscure bands that I love on the same bill play great music in a great setting. I second / third / fourth everyone else's highlights & recommendations here so do them the diservice of rehashing their words.

The point I wanted to make was about stage entrances: Was it me or did the majority just seem to amble on stage, mess around with their tuning / amps / microphones etc & just start playing without so much as a 'hello' or acknowldegement of the crowd?

I'm all for a low key approach if it fits with your sound / look / vibe but, call me old fashioned, I do like it when there's a bit of an entrance. Eg stage clears of roadies, lights go down, quiet hush of expectation fills the arena, band come on, crowd cheer / clap / whoop, band wave, say "hello / we're such & such / what a wonderful crowd you are etc " then launch into the 1st song. On more than one occasion we were there waiting for the next act, chatting away to each other thinking the techs were still fine tuning before we realised the band were actually on & halfway through the 1st song! Gazing around we clearly weren't the only ones caught cold.

It's a minor quibble & didn't really detract from the weekend & I'm not expecting them to swoop on on trapezes or anything but goddammit is a bit of theatre & suspense too much to ask?!

[Sipperana]

Sounds like you wouldn't like Half Man Half Biscuit then

I think actually it's quite a refreshing change from what has become a very stale rawk&roll live format - big intro with either ominous or ironic backing music, band comes on, waves, plays three songs then finally says hello - or in the case of some bands, nothing at all - then goes off for the excruciating fake encore.

To see bands just get up there and do it, strip out the trappings of "the biz" is a refreshing change.

[sadwitch]

Sounds like you wouldn't like Half Man Half Biscuit then

I think actually it's quite a refreshing change from what has become a very stale rawk&roll live format - big intro with either ominous or ironic backing music, band comes on, waves, plays three songs then finally says hello - or in the case of some bands, nothing at all - then goes off for the excruciating fake encore.

To see bands just get up there and do it, strip out the trappings of "the biz" is a refreshing change.

[Elfy]

Conor Oberst did introduce his band......

He came on and announced, "We are The Decemberists"

[rseamer]

Conor Oberst did introduce his band......

He came on and announced, "We are The Decemberists"

[Elfy]

He also said that his band were "Called Arcade Fire and we've come all the way from Canada to play for you." He also introduced his band as The Killers and Death Cab For Cutie.

I know some people thought it was a bit knobby but I thought it was funny.

[angelheaded hipster]

Hey all,

If anyone's still reading this forum now ( ) I've just got my pictures up from the fest. Meant to have them on here sooner, but have been having some difficulties with flickr!

Anyway, they're now here if anyone wants to relive the lovely times

[William of Walworth]

Some nice pix, but why were some of them so pink??

[angelheaded hipster]

Some nice pix, but why were some of them so pink??

[geofelgie]

Lovely pics Angel,

Still got a warm feeling from this festival. So glad I've got my ticket for next year!

[angelheaded hipster]

Lovely pics Angel,

Still got a warm feeling from this festival. So glad I've got my ticket for next year!

[geofelgie]

Thanks Geof, did you spot yourself in there?

I'm ticketed up for next year too, so I'll be seeing everyone back there next September!

[GTG]

Geofelgie - As you'll see, I've been doing a lot of soul-searching since I got back from that wonderful weekend - thanks for the tip!

Angelheaded Hipster - nice to have some visual evidence that I was actually there, it all seems a long time ago now, but I've been putting together a little montage of your pics and the following link is a soundtrack to go with it. Basically my Top 25 performers of EOTR 2008, MOST of the songs in this were performed at the festival, quite a few of which I was hearing for the first time. Any thoughts/comments appreciated.

The walk up the hill from the carpark will be a doddle next year after a full year's training with the Royal Mail! I've lost nearly a stone already!

Anyway, enjoy!

End Of The Road 2008 Soundtrack

Edited October 29, 2008 by GTG

[GTG]

I suppose a tracklist might be appropriate in case anyone's interested:

Christopher Rees – Bottom Dollar

Clare & The Reasons – Pluto

Conor Oberst – Milk Thistle

American Music Club – The Windows On The World

David Thomas Broughton – Weight Of My Love

Kurt Wagner – Chelsea Hotel #2

Jeffrey Lewis – Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song

The Dirty Three – Everything’s f**ked

The Miserable Rich – Pisshead

Bon Iver – Skinny Love (Live)

Magnolia Electric Co (Jason Molina) – Hard To Love A Man

Micah P Hinson – On My Way

Kimya Dawson – Lullaby For The Taken

Richard Hawley – Cry A Tear For The Man In The Moon

Noah And The Whale – Shape Of My Heart

Shearwater – Rooks

Sun Kil Moon – Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes

Calexico – Victor Jara’s Hands

Robyn Hitchcock – Trams Of Old London

Mercury Rev – Holes

Bowerbirds – Bur Oak

Young Republic – Girl From The Northern States

Brakes – Jackson

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Important In Your Life

Thee Headcoats (Billy Childish) - Punk Rock Ist Nicht Got

[William of Walworth]

Nice tracks, will upload them once I have my new PC installed next month, my current ancient one is full!

Angelheadedhipster, sorry if I sounded rude about your pictures, they were fine! You did far better than me, I didn't bring my camera at all. I'll rectify that next year ...

[angelheaded hipster]

Geofelgie - nonsense, you all look lovely!

GTG - I'm still having trouble listening to things on Megaupload, do I need to be a member to hear stuff? I like the sound of the montage + soundtrack though, I want to see it now! And the tracklisting is great - so many lovely memories in there... Anyway, I believe I owe you a mail which shall be coming your way soon!

WoW - There was no offence taken at all! I often get asked questions about my photos as I still use film and like to experiment with it so don't see it as rude in the slightest - in fact talking photography is always a pleasure for me You didn't drunkenly start an argument telling me that my still using film is pointless and ridiculous, so trust me, I've had worse

[GTG]

GTG - I'm still having trouble listening to things on Megaupload, do I need to be a member to hear stuff? I like the sound of the montage + soundtrack though, I want to see it now! And the tracklisting is great - so many lovely memories in there... Anyway, I believe I owe you a mail which shall be coming your way soon!

Edited October 29, 2008 by GTG

[GTG]

Well, I seem to be having problems with Megaupload as well but the Sendspace link seems fine so just use that (I've edited the original one too).