End of the Road Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset 3-4/9/11
5/5
By: Jacob Dunkley
This was my first English festival in years. In fact, I haven’t been to one since Truck 2008. You could say I’d sort of lost faith a bit in festivals in this country – recent ones never seemed as attractive as their swanky European counterparts. However, this year’s End of the Road line-up was particularly special. I’ve been frequently attending Scandinavian festivals for years, and was drawn in by the Scandinavian influences running through this Dorset festival’s ethos and its selection of bands, alongside the idea of having something much more intimate than I've been to in a while. Needless to say, End of the Road more than delivered.
I arrived late on Thursday afternoon and was immediately drawn in by the beauty of the site and its surroundings, tucked in the woodland of North Dorset, and the space I had to pitch in. A couple of ciders (a running theme through the weekend) later, I headed to watch Jose Gonzales’ new offering Junip on the intimate Tipi stage. I was really taken aback by how good they were, with far more punch than his solo work, mixing icy Scandinavian soundscapes with acoustic Krautrock style riffs. Following this I had a Pieminister pie, mash and gravy combo - whoever dreamed of putting goats cheese and butternut squash in a pie deserves a medal. Thursday ended out with bumping into old friends and hanging in the tipis, doing Jagerbombs and drinking mulled cider.
Friday and cue hangover number one of the weekend, the start of the festival proper and a scorcher of a day. The first thing I caught was Colours, who played catchy, reverb-saturated noise pop aceness, followed by cinematic indie types Dry The River who delivered an excellent set on the Woods stage, the main stage and new addition this year. Best Coast followed, yet unfortunately I found their slightly over-tame songs to be lyrically naïve and a not a little repetitive.
Later, it was a warming experience to see Clap Your Hands Say Yeah as though I’d almost forgotten they existed I quickly realised I knew most of the songs. Sweden’s Lykke Li followed and she absolutely killed it with an incredible live show filled with dark, sexy pop songs and an unexpected cover of ‘Silent Shout’ by The Knife. I managed to the catch the last four songs of The Walkmen also, and really enjoyed what I saw, seeing them play ‘The Rat’ (thank God they still do!) was definitely a highlight of my weekend. Closing the night was Beirut who was fantastic with his Balkan folk-tinged songs, featuring the biggest horn I’ve ever seen on stage. Zach Condon’s show was made more enjoyable thanks to the copious amounts of mulled cider I had been consuming. The stuff is amazing.
Saturday was a new day that began with fried egg sandwiches for breakfast along with trying our best to complete the G2 crossword (although our hungover minds were not up to the challenge). Twin Shadow were the first thing I caught properly on the Saturday afternoon, and despite harking back to slightly too many 80s influences in their sound, I really enjoyed their set. I then caught most of Gruff Rhys’ show, a gig from a man who has carefully balanced himself on the line between musical genius during the songs and comedy genius between them. Wild Beasts then really got the evening going - I’d never ‘got’ them on record before seeing them this time round, but tonight they were truly special, delivering a perfectly balanced set leaving me addicted to listening to their records since my return.
The time that elapsed following Wild Beasts ended up with me being thumped at table tennis in the woods by Rockfeedback’s Thomas Hannan, I officially was terrible and I blame the raspberry vodka (don’t ask) and lemonade fusing in to some unholy cocktail along with all the cider we were drinking. The final band of the night was Mogwai, a wall of beautiful noise, comprising mostly of songs from the latest offering Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will. Yet I was ecstatic they played ‘Friend of The Night’, and equally thrilled when ended with a crushing version of ‘Batcat’.
Sunday began with veggie burritos for breakfast, definitely a great start to the day. Emmy the Great kicked off musical proceedings with a set that was enjoyable during songs but slightly irritating in between them. I missed the beginning of Willy Mason’s set as I was playing Kubb, an old Viking game involving throwing bits of wood at other bits of wood, which was very addictive. After tearing myself away, I watched the rest of Mason who was surprisingly enjoyable, and very much suited to the warm sunshine we found ourselves in. I only managed to catch about half of Kurt Vile’s show, but he was great as always - although has yet to master the art of talking between songs. The reason I only managed to miss the other half was because I was keen to catch every note of Laura Marling, and she didn’t disappoint although I would have liked more from the first album. The weather then took a turn for the worse and I decided to shelter with more mulled cider in hand and as a result only caught one more act of the evening. John Grant was the final thing I saw, and what a way to go out - he was incredible, haunting and intense. His music gripped and permeated the audience magically, providing a wonderful way for me to see out my festival.
So my first End of the Road had finished. An outstanding festival with a great line-up, it was a special weekend that I won’t forget in a long time, and I would recommend going to anyone who hasn’t been. Clean, well organised, great food and mulled cider all helped make the experience more enjoyable. And special thanks goes out to whoever handed in my digital camera after I stupidly put it down somewhere on Saturday - you’re a lifesaver, and your friendliness typifies End Of The Road.
Artists in this article: Dry The River, Best Coast, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Lykke Li, The Walkmen, Beirut, Twin Shadow, Gruff Rhys, Wild Beasts, Mogwai, Emmy The Great, Willy Mason, Kurt Vile, Laura Marling, John Grant
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