Venue:
Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
Date: 02/09/2016
End Of The Road festival is now an established late summer staple for music aficionados. Held since 2006 in the glorious surroundings of Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset, the focus of the organizers appears to be to improve upon the quality of the audience’s experience each year. A laudable philosophy and one which has me slavering with anticipation from the March announcements of the line-up through to the festival’s opening on the first Thursday in September. The weekend does not disappoint.
Tent pitched and site orientation completed, the first music of the weekend is Margo Price on the Woods stage. Margo presents herself more as a farmhand at a barn dance/hoedown than the Midwest farmer’s daughter, complete with flowery dress, who appeared on Later With Jools Holland earlier this year. She has a blast and, although on occasions the lyrics are dangerously close to sounding like parody, her energy and excitement are contagious. Rambunctious closer “Hurtin’ On The Bottle” surely wins over any doubters.
Young upstarts Whitney have gathered positive press over the summer and their debut album “Light Upon The Lake” has considerable charm. Their performance on the gorgeous, enclosed Garden Stage confirms that they are in possession of several strong songs and the band make some lovely sounds, but they are let down by vocals that are reedy and lightweight.
Next up is a twilight set from Alabama’s Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent. Houck has spent the last five years on a journey from producing workmanlike Americana to cosmic country rock. His journey feels complete. “Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)” from 2010’s “Here’s To Taking Things Easy” is injected with additional beef and dynamism. It rocks. Later the throbbing, bubbling beats of “Song For Zula” provide the weekend’s first moment of towering beauty of the weekend.
Perhaps this cosmic enlightenment means that I approach Animal Collective’s headline slot with too much optimism. Initial signs are promising – the stage set is visually sumptuous, resembling a Pharaoh’s bad trip. The music, however, is disappointing and self-indulgent. Skittering beats and keyboard washes dominate, and the show continually threatens to take-off but never does so. The experience is particularly frustrating as, on the one occasion when the music did come together during recent single “Floridada”, the result is joyous and groovy. But two good minutes out of ninety is not a good enough return. I eventually depart and sooth my brow with a few minutes in the company of Cat Power – her smoky vocals and a smooth cover of “New York, New York” do the trick.
Saturday dawns cloudy, with the forecasters promising biblical afternoon rain. Perhaps the spoon carving man in the market place will be able to turn his hand to building an ark. The first musical delight of the day is a trip to the woods stage to catch Laura Gibson, and what a perfect start to a Saturday it is. Her recent album “Empire Builder” is one of the year’s best. Laura, dressed in pristine white and seemingly growing in confidence as the set goes on, provides crisp, clear vocals and lovely tunes. “Empire Builder” and “Louis” are particularly moving. Her set is a low-key highlight of the weekend.
Having taken shelter for a while I am drawn out into the late afternoon rain by Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop. Their charming set combines numbers from their collaboration “Love Letter To Fire”, refreshed solo items and a couple of deftly chosen covers. Dressed like Ma and Pa Walton, Sam and Jesca would have seemed at home amongst hay bails on a flatbed at a Midwestern county fair, their easy chemistry illustrated by the ease with which they improvised a harmony when a macaw poos on members of the audience midway through the set.
Macaws and peacocks are frequently spotted on the festival site and contribute to the unique feel of the weekend. The site is beautifully maintained and thoughtfully designed, with a lightness of touch that sets End Of The Road apart from its competitors. The attention to detail is incredible, with messages and lyrics etched into leaves in the woods, eye-catching art installations, games to play day and night and lights that enhance the site at every turn. All of this, combined with a crowd that is polite and considerate almost without exception and an amazing choice of foods, helps to make the weekend a truly relaxing and magical experience.
As does the next act, GOAT, who provide the musical and visual highlight of the weekend. With their tribal rhythms and chants, highlife guitars, funky wah-wah breaks with disco and psychedelic inflections they rock from beginning to end. The band sport headdresses and masks and guitars are played by something resembling a fancy dress ghoul. There is no one else in the world of music making a noise like this. They are utterly unique. An hour and a quarter passes in a flash.
By contrast, Steve Mason feels a little one-paced. The setlist is a selection from his excellent last two albums “Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time” and “Meet The Humans”. The sound remains faithful to the recorded versions but somehow lacks a little spark.
There is a whiff of sixth form drama project about “The Bride”, the latest album by Bat For Lashes. The songs lacked the power to fully engage, especially as the headline act on the Woods Stage. Natasha Khan seems altogether too happy to be at the festival to convincingly play the character of the recently bereaved bride essential to the concept of the album.
On arrival at the Garden Stage we spot Mrs. Mangle from Neighbours checking the sound coming from a microphone. This turns out to actually be Ezra Furman, sporting a blue rinse and a flowery dress, preparing for the last show of the evening. And a fine headliner he is. The delivery of his spiky pop songs might lack some of the bounce of his records, but this is compensated for by a sense that he is the “real deal”. Backed by his band “The Boy-Friends”, who sound like a mix of Television, The Velvet Underground and the E Street Band gone slutty, he opens with the lead track from his latest “Big Fugitive Life” EP and romps through his set at a breakneck pace. The crowd loves him and he returns the favour, breaking free of the grip of his band to rush back to the stage for a final encore.
Having partaken of too much fun in the Woods on Saturday night, a gentle start to Sunday was required, and Imarhan did a fine job. Playing desert blues in the mould of Tinariwen, their rolling riffs that gently rock us into the day, accompanied by a percussionist apparently getting improbable rhythmic sounds from a large marble globe.
Bill Ryder-Jones is less impressive. He provides a receptive audience with a pedestrian trawl through a number of mid-paced indie tunes. With his understated persona, he seems desperate to be just one of us in the audience. It’s all just a little dull.
Kevin Morby has much more to offer. His punchy performance largely consists of songs from his excellent “Singing Saw” album. Live his voice is stronger and more resonant than on the record. One or two numbers would benefit from the gospel choir vocals and horns that feature on the latest record, but his tight band give a stirring performance.
As the sun goes down, Devendra Banhart makes drifts onto the Woods Stage. His show is more jazz and blues inflected than was expected. A fairly slow start is carried by Devendra’s excellent voice and impish charisma. The band set up very near to each other in the centre of the large stage and, contrasting with his slightly shambolic reputation of old, are perfectly in tune with each other throughout.
I unexpectedly find myself in the Big Top watching Scritti Politti, but it turns out to be a happy accident. If on occasion an avuncular man in his fifties name-dropping Mos Def and Jeru The Damaja can feel a little jarring, Green Gartside somehow carries it off and makes the performance more cool uncle than embarrassing dad.
It was disappointing to hear of the apparent imposition of noise restrictions on the rest of the site by Joanna Newsome, a move that makes her seem a little precious and diva-ish. I am won over to a degree by her obviously huge talent during what feels like a classical/baroque recital. It is, for me however, more to be admired than enjoyed.
And then, all too quickly it is time to go home. In the blink of an eye and a puff of smoke the best weekend of the summer, which coaxes and drags us through long weeks in anticipation, is over. When do the Early Bird tickets for 2017 go on sale? Tuesday at 7am. Then there are only 51 weeks to go till the next one.
The audience:
Polite and generous people, probably about 90% Guardian readers.
It made me think..
The whole world should be like this. All the time.
Apologies for the long article. – many congratulations if you make it all the way through. I did try to put the artists names in bold to make it easier to find any that interest you but that doesn’t seem to be possible.
Great review. We had our ninth EOTR this year, fifth with Little Paws who had a great time. I have really enjoyed the vibe in the family camping and actually quite like the way that different stages can be heard all the way up there. For example I heard Ezra Furman twice this weekend, without seeing him once. Sounds like a missed a treat though with the blue rinse.
I really enjoyed Field Music, Cat’s Eyes, Imarhan (what was that thing the bloke was hitting?!) and Teenage Fanclub, who very much played a greatest hits set. Any act with ‘The Concept’ ‘Sparky’s Dream’ and ‘Everything Flows’ as an ending salvo aren’t doing too bad. As always the festival itself is something to behold, the vibe generally relaxed and the people all nice types.
Mrs. Paws was less impressed by the weekend. She felt that the festival is now too populated. Despite pretty much covering the same performance areas for 10 years the festival has nearly trebled in numbers and at times it showed. Queueing up to get into areas, queueing to get back into the big top and on one occasion feeling quite claustrophobic/crushed there did not help. Also she felt that the comedy is not accessible to anyone with a buggy (or perish the thought if you are in a wheelchair or have difficulties with mobility) and the number of ‘Secret Shows’ are frankly annoying.
As we left the site on Monday lunchtime I noted that it didn’t feel like it had been 12 months since we last drove down the road away from the festival (great view over Dorset and Wiltshire). I also asked two questions- Would you come back? Would you come back next year? I got a three hour answer (condensed above for you all), but her general thoughts were that the festival does not feel family friendly (despite great camping area) and in some ways discourages families. This saddens me as EOTR is one the nicest places to go to, Little Paws seems to have a great time (she also has had three birthdays there and first walked whilst there back in 2012) and I would like to go back. I suspect it may take some convincing Mrs. Paws.
It’s interesting what you say about it feeling more crowded – I felt there was an increase in the population three or four years ago ( we first went in 2010 – the last year before the introduction of the Woods stage) but I still think it is as relaxed and roomy as any festival I have ever been to. As for going next year, we have already secured tickets. I guess that’s a measure of how much we (i.e. my wife, two friends and I) enjoyed the weekend.
Thanks for the positive comments by the way – and welcome to the site. I, like you, have lurked for years before starting to get more involved.
Have a great time next time. We may be there yet.
Thanks for a very enjoyable review Paul. No need to apologise. All the names and the detail were great. I’ll browse through the new ones on Spotify.
My big treat of the year is going to the Roskilde Festival in Denmark which, despite being a lot bigger manages to keep a very friendly atmosphere. I saw Goat there and I share your enthusiasm. A magnificently pagan, tribal experience, especially so at 1.00 a.m. in a crowded tent reeking of jazz tobacco.
I take my hat off to you Mr Paws for taking Little Paws along. My daughter who is 10 would love it if she came with me to Denmark. But that would mean that ´Dad couldn’t go off and watch Ghost at 3.00 am.
No way that Mrs KFD would go. She thinks that 10 people is an over-large crowd. 90,000 slightly tipsy Danes? Not a chance!
Thanks for the review Paul – pretty much sums up my view of what is my favourite weekend of the year. This was my ninth year and yes I have already bought tickets for next year. Senior daughter is now 14 and has accompanied me for every one. The rest of the family are sprogs of seven completions. It has felt increasingly crowded over the last few years – and with no noticeable increase in basic facilities with which to cope with the numbers. At times the area of the Garden Stage felt very crowded and I wasn’t happy with the new ‘security arrangements’ at the Big Top and Tipi tents. There was a fifty metre queue at each entrance to the Big Top when King Gizzard were playing. I walked away but by all accounts the interior of the tent was nowhere near full. Due to the possession of a trolley for the youngest member of our group our musical entertainment was largely restricted to the Garden and Woods stages. Highlights for me were Margo Price, Broken Social Scene and Thurston Moore. On Saturday afternoon whilst heavens opened I sat out under my brolley and took in Meilyr Jones and then Jeffrey Lewis – these two combined probably produced my most enjoyable couple of hours of the weekend. Food and beer outlets were as interesting as ever but the fruit cake at Cafe Dish was particularly memorable – again on the damp Saturday afternoon and accompanied by a fine mug of tea – in real china. The main headliners on the Woods stage – The Shins, Animal Collective, Bat For Lashes were largely uninspiring and I quit after one song by Joanna Newsom. My sense of warmth towards here dampened by the knowledge that the noise abatement notice she issued prevented Teenage Fanclub appearing until well after my bed-time. We bedded down in the campervan field which was quite peaceful but I was again disappointed at the limited number of facilities available for which we are charged an extra 50 quid. On Friday morning – 7am – no queue for one of the 8 showers, Saturday morning I woke up at 8am so made do with a wet-wipe wash down. Sunday morning at 06.50 I joined the shower queue in 14th place. I then spent the next twenty minutes or so pondering exactly what people do in showers that takes up so much time. A mixed gender couple went into one together and emerged long before cubicles were vacated by individuals of either gender who had been in front of them in the queue.
Fab review, Paul. Picked up the atmosphere perfectly, aided and abetted by the additions from what was clearly a vibrant hotbed of AW evanescers. Grand reading.
My first time at EOTR, but I’d like to go again. All the Earlybird tickets have sold out today. Compared to Glasto, I found it low key and definitely not in your face. I loved the setting of the Garden Stage and spent quite a bit of time there. Even at the Woods Stage the crowds were never Too large and you could stand or sit near the back and still see and hear perfectly well.
I thought the main stage headliners were the least exciting of the lot (except the latter part of The Shins set, which I enjoyed). I watched all of Joanna Newsom’s set (do I qualify for an award for persistence?). The sound was occasionally shrill and that was not just her voice.
Highlights: Phosphorescent, Goat, Imahan, Throws, Seratones, Devendra Banhardt, Dawn Landes, Pinegrove, comedy with Phil Kay, Simon Munnery and Stewart Lee. I enjoyed Teenage Fanclub and what I saw of King Gizzard (bonkers and featuring a flute playing lead singer).
We camped with Paul Waring of this parish which was great fun. We also caught up with a few other friends and acquaintances at various points over the weekend, so it was a very convivial weekend.
Nice review, sounds like a wonderful festival. Great line-up!
I’ve only been to “my” annual festival for four years in a row (to be fair; it’s only been going for five years) but I suspect I’ll be back for as long as my knees holds up.
I went to EOTR three (I think) years ago and loved the line-up, although I found that there wasn’t quite enough to do after the bands packed up for the night.
If there had been a little more to stumble upon throughout the woods late at night, it would have pretty much been my perfect festival.
I do understand what you mean Scarlet, though I think there was more to do late at night this year than in previous years.
A group of friends and I used to go to The Big Chill regularly and, early on, bemoaned the lack of late night entertainment available. As it grew there was a definite change in tone, and there were DJs and acts on throughout the night. The festival seemed to lose its soul at that point, becoming populated by large numbers of late teens whose parents possibly judged that it was a relatively safe first festival for their offspring. As a result the previously relaxed, pleasant and gentle atmosphere was completely destroyed.
I know that it must be possible to provide more appropriate and considered late night entertainment, but prefer that the organisers are careful to retain the civilised atmosphere they have nurtured. It seems that such a feel is hard to generate and easy to lose.
Yeah, there’s definitely a delicate balance to be struck, @paul-hewston.
I’ve certainly done enough of the bigger festivals to be put off by the crowds of drunken teenage attention-seekers that populate so many of them now.
I remember being reluctantly collared by a TV crew at Glastonbury one year while waiting for at the front of the Pyramid stage for a Bad Seeds set.
They asked me about the ‘special atmosphere’ that Glastonbury has.
I gave ’em both barrels about how it was just as full of drunken arsehole kids as any other festival and there was no longer anything special about it to set it apart from any other gathering in a field. I’d gone on my own, believing all the hype about how friendly it was, and had had precious little interaction with anyone, meeting blank-faced disinterest in basic communication from a range of ‘revellers’.
Not quite the response they were seeking…
Your review has convinced me to try and get tickets for next year. Hope Joanna Newsom isn’t there – dreadful music from someone who sounds like she is stuck up her own arse.
You seldom find good tunes up there!
That might be why she is struggling.
my 7th EOTR and despite rather poor bill and headliners, bar Joanna Newsom, who despite popular opinion here and elsewhere, i found utterly spellbinding. again.
i can see the attraction for many, but sadly Teenage Fanclub, Thurston Moore mean nothing to me. ditto Broken Social Scene, but i’m thinking i might have missed out there now.
other highlights for me would be Goat, Margo Price, Beak, King Gizzard and Hard Skin – pretty shit music, but top marks for between song banter.
i was lucky to see both shows by Ezra Furman. never heard him before, but now a convert.
i don’t understand the comment about lack of late night entertainment. i was in the Tipi Tent until late on Thursday, Friday and particularly Sunday when the superb set from Flamingods went on until 2:30am. if anyone was kept awake by our 4:30 “afterparty” in the camperfield i do apologise, but only a bit. it is a festival after all.
Sounds great – would love to go. Went to the venue for the smug Larmer Tree festival once but never managed EOTR. I did think the line-up looked a bit blah – and as for Joanna Newsom – but last years looked great so hopefully 2017 will be an option.