Always one of the highlights of the festival scene, this weekend will see the 11th edition of End Of The Road. The festival, set in the beautiful Larmer Tree Gardens, continues to showcase the best in Americana, folk and basically anything they like the sound of, and this year’s line up might just be one of the best yet.
Joanna Newsom, Bat For Lashes and Animal Collective are set to headline this year’s End Of The Road festival.
The festival, which takes place at Larmer Tree Gardens in Wiltshire, is consistently one step to the left of its peers when it comes to line-up and headliners – and this year is no different.
Alongside those three brilliant headliners (and this’ll be Joanna Newsom’s only UK festival date), Cat Power, Goat, Phosphorescent, Shura, Dilly Dally, The Big Moon, Field Music and many more are set to perform.
It’s going to be a magical weekend, and not just because of the exceptiona Headliners including The Shins‘ first show in four years, plus the only chance to see the dazzlingly talented Joanna Newsom in the UK this year, the Technicolor genre-hopping Animal Collective and the otherworldly Bat for Lashes – as everyone who has been to End of The Road knows, it’s all about the new discoveries and secret performances. Who will be popping up at the Piano Stage or singing on the Disco Ship? Anything could happen… Including one more headliner still to be announced for the Big Top on Saturday night, who will be revealed on site!
Bands to see
Mothers: Kristine Leschper, the creative force behind Athens-based indie band Mothers, is the most impossibly mesmeric frontperson. She orchestrates, acting as the fine balance between the twee-weaving and explosive chaos that dominate her band’s sonic blueprint in equal parts. “I don’t like myself when I’m awake” she croons on ‘It Hurts Until It Doesn’t’, the band’s cue to ramp up the reverb-heavy motifs and blast into a head-spinning outro of flailing guitars and raw emotion. Mothers headline the Tipi Tent on the Friday night.
Younghusband: I’m delighted that EOTR thought to book London psych collective-turned-power-pop gang Younghusband, they’re a band too often overlooked by festival organisers. Their 2015 effort, Dissolver, saw the band team up with Bad Seed Warren Ellis to craft an effortlessly ornate collection of Big Star-indebted cuts essential to any festival. They may have shedded the psych freak-outs that brought them all initial attention, but Younghusband have morphed into an unstoppable force of power-pop freedom and organ-led melodic bliss.
U.S. Girls: Meghan Remy’s warped pop project U.S. Girls play evocative earworms, projected onto funhouse mirrors and wrapped in an unsettled haze – and the results are breathtaking. Utilising feelings of discomfort and unease – in both sound and lyrical narrative – where other artists might aim for familiarity and warmth, U.S. Girls is a thrillingly unique (and often incredibly catchy) proposition and I can’t wait to hear tracks from this year’s wonderful/brutal Half Free launched into life.
Savages: I’d say I’m most excited about Savages. There’s an almost demented sensibility that you can hear in each song as they repeat powerful chords and start and stop in moments of stillness and eruption leaving you feeling like you’ve been sucked inside out.”
Sunflower Bean: There’s a propensity for heaviness reminiscent of Led Zeppelin accompanied by tender vocals about life and love similar to Shangri Las or something that make their set enigmatic as they take you down a psychedelic rabbit hole.
Thee Oh Sees: With their unique brand of psychedelic garage rock .In turns face-meltingly fast and hauntingly subdued, the relentless rhythm section tightly interlocking with frontman John Dwyer’s macabre croon, with an enjoyable recorded output. This August’s A Weird Exits is their 11th album in 8 years. It’s a predictably strong record, and there’s no doubting that Dwyer and co will be rattling just as hard as ever when End of the Road comes around.
Teenage Fanclub: It’s hard to think of a better way to say goodbye to EOTR 2016 than with a hits-packed set from Scottish indie rockers Teenage Fanclub. In an ideal world, the Bandwagonesque masterminds would be the most popular band in the world. They’re likely to grace the Big Top stage at around 11:15, and their myriad of indie pop anthems are sure to see out the festival on a massive high. Whether you choose Thee Oh Sees or Joanna Newsom before hand (and I’m not looking forward to making that decision), end your weekend dancing to some generation-transcending pop songs.
This year for the first time, we welcome cult national treasure Adam Buxton to the festival, who will be recording his much loved ‘ramble chats’ podcast with very special guests to be announced on Saturday. Other one off events include the first in a series of very special pre-release album listening parties for Wilco’s tenth studio album Schmilco, on Saturday morning at the Tipi Stage. The new record will be played on vinyl in full from 11am, before anyone else gets to hear it.
As if that wasn’t enough, there are many delights to be seen and heard on this years Comedy Stage line up, lead by Bridget Christie following her well received show at Edinburgh Fringe, the inimitable Stewart Lee, alternative comedy hero Josie Long, acclaimed newcomer Lolly Adefope and Radio 4 regular Andy Zaltzman performing his Political Animal show. Other highlights include the legendary comedian and Comedy Club host Arthur Smith, along with comedy writer turned celebrity Masterchef Hardeep Singh Kohli, hugely respected and wildly popular Adam Bloom and Benedict Cumberbatch’s pal John Finnemore making his debut at the festival.
There’s something to please all tastes in the Cinema schedule this year, whether your after an acclaimed documentary such as the visually stunning Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures or one of the year’s best independent films Everybody Wants Some!!!, Richard Linklater’s semi-sequel to his 1970s high-school comedy Dazed and Confused. Alternatively if you want to catch up some of 2016’s box office hits, there’s The Jungle Book and Nice Guys, as well as some old hit classics such as E.T., Kes and Being John Malkovich among many others. We also have a very special screenings of the music documentaries The Sad And Beautiful World of Sparklehorse and Invisible Britain: Sleaford Mods, both preceded by Q&As with their directors Bobby Dass and Paul Sng respectively.
Along with our usual stellar selection of workshops and activities taking place in the Wonder Lands and the ever impressive line up of Food and Drink on offer, including Beavertown taking over the Courtyard Bar this year, End of The Road is set to be one of the best weekends of 2016. and even the weather is expected to be fair all weekend.
The Fat Angel Sings 