95 bands on 4 stages, a silent disco, a forest disco, a comedy tent hosting some 20 acts, a cinema tent showing 30 films, 27 workshops, 6 bars, 10 art installations, a woodland library, a healing retreat offering 36 treatments, countless stalls and 29 different food outlets. Not a bad wee set up for four days!
I arrived by plane and auto mobile in sunny North Dorset (I decided to forego the train!) at about 14:30 on Thursday 29 August, having set off from Glasgow at 06:00 and the queues were already forming at the check-in tent. There was a palpable sense of anticipation which rippled along the lines of eager festival goers and there was a feeling of good natured camaraderie as we snaked our way along the dusty country lane that led to the end of the road!
Once there, the surrounding fields were quickly transformed into an army of tents of all shapes, sizes, colour and designs as people marked out their territory that would be 'home' for the next four days. As I was 'glamping' it didn't take long to get settled in and I was soon out exploring the 'festival village' getting my bearings and sussing out the various bars and numerous food stalls, although, as the festival proper didn't start until the following day, some outlets were still setting up. No matter, there was still plenty on offer for the 'early birds'!
At this point I would like to mention the extremely well designed guide book which became essential as the days went by. So a big thank you to the editor Rich Thane and the 'all too numerous to mention' crew of writers, illustrators, photographers etc. who produced the book.
On the first night, there was a limited amount of music on show, however, there were still 5 acts to be seen in the Tipi Tent (in association with Communion Records on the Thursday) and I caught a few of the early bands from a distance but saw my first act at 22:00 and so the weekend began.........
Deap Vally in the Tipi Tent
The band hails from L.A. California and consists of Lindsey Troy (guitar, vocals) and Julie Edwards (drums, vocals). These two are a striking pair, having Jimmy Page hair (coloured flaming red - Edwards and blonde - Troy) and I just loved the fact that the duo first met at a needlework class where Edwards taught Troy how to crochet! Given that their music is a crashing blend of Led Zeppelin and the White Stripes and the singing style leans towards a raucous Tina Turner, it says a great deal that they bonded over their love of the blues from such an inauspicious start. The gig was exhilarating, energetic and vibrant and just what 'the doctor ordered' to kick start my festival!
7 / 10
7 / 10
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Lindsey Troy |
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Julie Edwards |
Meanwhile outside, there were revellers with wine boxes, walking sticks, 'stagecoach' style baby trolleys with solar powered fairy lights, bandanas, people sitting on hay bails round a fire, bright lights around funky food stalls................
Mark Mulcahy on the Garden Stage
Mark, on electric guitar, performed with bass and drums which provided a tight, compact sound to fill out his songs. These were mainly from his latest album "Dear Mark J Mulcahy, I love you" and by the end of the set, judging from the audience's reaction, that was just what those listening thought! Mark, who took to the stage at 15:00 with a bright afternoon sun overhead and butterflies flitting about, was dressed all in white which made me think back to the Devo days of yore. I was much taken with the drummer who also added poignant keyboards to many of the songs and this was a combination that I had not seen before, a drumming keyboard player! Their sound was good, the chat between songs entertaining and there was a wonderful Dylanesque quality to much of the music.  |
Bass |
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Drummer / Keyboard |
Check out Mark Mulcahy here......
A quick 'hello' to Martin, Simon & their pals who we met during this set and were great fun throughout the rest of the festival whenever we met up. Thanks for the tips & advice! Also, a passing comment on the lad who performed an impromptu juggling act after the gig. Great stuff and all part of "the show".
Doug Paisley on the Garden Stage
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Mother & baby peacock |
This set was a one man band and I felt that Doug was somewhat dwarfed by the stage. However, he held our attention by playing some great guitar (some of which sounded quite Spanish!) and he regaled us with humorous stories between songs. One of which included offering to sell us some peacocks which had wandered along in front of the stage at one point! Doug, a 'left hander' from Toronto, Canada, played a great alt. country set which showcased material from his up and coming new album along with some fine renditions of earlier material. At times his singing reminded me of Kenny Rodgers although he looked more like a young Kris Kristofferson or Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater Revival!
8/10
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Doug Paisley |
After some R&R and sampling a few wonderful local beers, including Zig Zag, Red Hunter and Sundancer to name but a few, I made my way back to the Garden Stage at 20:00 to catch some more music........
Matthew E White on the Garden Stage
As a 31 year old from Virginia Beach, Virginia, Matthew E White has shot to fame in a short period of time on the back of his cleverly titled début album Big Inner (say it quickly!) Amongst other accolades it was Uncut Magazines' Album of the month on its release last year. The 6 piece band filled the stage and were well spread out which gave us a more interesting visual experience compared to the earlier shows and, as night was now falling, the light show added to the overall experience. The band were on great laid back form and the keyboards and lead guitar were particularly good filling in the spaces between Mr White's sonorous, soulful, passionate singing.
8/10
Check out Matthew E White here.....
Check out RM Hubbert here..... |
Matthew E White |
RM Hubbert in the Tipi Tent (in association with Uncut)
My first gig on Saturday morning was the talented, technically gifted solo act of RM Hubbert who hails from Paisley, Scotland although, as he explained during his between songs banter, he now lives on the Ayrshire coast. Robert took to the stage bare footed and proceeded to play some excellent soft, soulful 12 string Spanish guitar based on flamenco structures and techniques and sung some thoughtful lyrics as he played his way through his 45 minute set. Along the way we learned a bit about his emotional and mental states as he recounted various stories about his life and loves. Most of it was funny and humorous but clearly he hasn't had his troubles to seek. In parts I was reminded of early Lloyd Cole and the late Jackie Leven and his latest album Thirteen Lost & Found won the Scottish Album of the Year Award in 2013 beating albums by Emeli Sande, Calvin Harris, Django Django and The Twlight Sad amongst others.
6/10 |
RM Hubbert |
Pokey LaFarge on the Woods Stage
Next up was Pokey LaFarge and his snappily dressed 5 piece band. Pokey hails from Bloomington, Illinois and he was somewhat taken with the wonderful late summer weather that had hung around all day. I have to say, he wasn't the only one! The band were a wonderfully visual experience as well as sounding great and I would have awarded them the best dressed band award, if there was such a thing! Their sound is steeped in roots music and they are ambassadors for the 'old-time' genre, expounding the glories of early jazz, hot swing and ragtime blues. I would make special mention of the thoroughly entertaining Ryan Koenig on harmonica, snare drum and wash board. His thoughtful beard stroking was a joy to behold! He had a cool, cowboy thing going which contrasted well with Pokey's RAF style suit outfit. As I said a visual experience to behold!
8/10 |
Pokey LaFarge |
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Ryan Koenig |
So now we get to the reason why I had travelled over 400 miles to get to the festival: Dawes! However, when I booked the End of the Road tickets back in May I did not know that the band would be stopping off in Glasgow 2 days after this gig. However, fear not, I made it back in time to see them on the Monday night! (See my review of their gig in Broadcast, Glasgow). Also, a quick hello to Ken Beveridge (the alcohol researcher!) who I met at the Dawes gig. Thanks for the tips about various bands!
Dawes on the Woods Stage
Like Deap Vally, Dawes are from L.A. California and are a 4 piece band who play folk rock and to date, they have 3 albums to their name. As they took to the stage at 15:30 the sun was starting to shine directly on the audience. This gave us an outer warmth to go along with our inner glow which was being stoked by the combined talents of the lads on stage. In particular, the lead guitar solos by singer/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith and the animated drumming and facial expressions of his brother Griffin were note worthy! However, Wylie Gelber on bass (looking like a latter-day Ramone!) and the cool, laid back Tay Strathairn on keyboards were also top notch. The set was mostly taken from the new album 'Stories Don't End' of which 'Someone Will' was a stand out but we also had the sublime 'Peace in the Valley' from the début album 'North Hills'. It was well worth the journey!
9/10
9/10
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Dawes |
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Taylor Goldsmith |
One thing that appealed to me over the fist couple of days was the fact that most of the bands on show were from the lesser known reaches of popular music. No Miley Cyrus or One Direction here! The 'up shot' of this was that there were no TV cameras present. This meant that there were no 'wannabes' cluttering up the first 10 rows from the stage therefore those of us who wanted to get 'up close and personal' could do so without much hassle.
A few more observations as the days passed by were: post men and women on bikes; folk playing chess under the stars; families spread out on the slopes in front of the various outdoor stages, some sitting on camping chairs, others on the grass; wasps; an overheard snippet as I passed a security personnel "The lost teddy has now been found"; wasps; a Tudor style house; people on tandems; 'toy town' fire engine; wasps; kids using crushed beer cans as 'roller skates'; people over come with fatigue and more wasps!
Fossil Collective in the Tipi Tent
Martin had told me about Fossil Collective so I headed into the Tipi tent to catch them at about 22:00 on the Saturday night. This folky two piece had swollen to a five piece and I was much taken with their tight harmonies and their great guitar work and melodic piano to accompany their singing. To my ear they sound like an English version (they hail from Leeds) of the Fleet Foxes (no bad thing) and I really enjoyed their excellently crafted harmonies and their luxuriant, vibrant singing all put to floating, wispy melodies. A relaxing, swaying Saturday night was enjoyed by those of us who had packed out the tent.
Daughn Gibson in the Tipi Tent
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Daughn Gibson |
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Drummer |
Another serendipitous find for me was the next 'band' up in the Tipi Tent, the enigmatic Daughn Gibson. A singer-songwriter and former drummer from Carlisle Pennsylvania, with a smidgen of Jim Morrison about him but very reminiscent of Scott Walker. He was an intriguing performer who sang and played a mini keyboard from which he extracted some weird and wonderful sounds! On the night, Daughn was joined by a drummer and a guitarist who played both lead and slide guitar to great effect. Both guys (sorry I couldn't find out who you were!) added great additional layers to the overall sound which was close to that found on the two albums released to date.
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Guitar & Slide |
Check out Daughn Gibson here.....
I felt I was on a roll now and decided to catch the last of the night's official acts so next up were Joe Gideon and the Shark, great name..........
I felt I was on a roll now and decided to catch the last of the night's official acts so next up were Joe Gideon and the Shark, great name..........
Joe Gideon and the Shark in the Tipi Tent
Quoting from the wonderful programme here is what it says about Joe and the Shark:
"A semi-regular at the End of the Road, London siblings Joe and Viva (the shark) eke out an inventive take on post-punk - one that draws out involving narratives that reference Nick Cave's apocryphal catharses".
I wasn't too sure what to make of that. It didn't read as a 'ringing endorsement', however, I am open minded, especially where music is concerned' and so I gave them the benefit of four songs by which time I had noted the following:
"tub thumping lunacy from over active Shark. Joe played lead and bass guitar, neither to great effect and the spoken/singing style was derivative and dreary. The Emperor isn't wearing any clothes"
One review I read (http://thequietus.com/articles/11215-joe-gideon-the-shark-freakish-review) whilst generally extolling the virtues of the band's album 'Freakish' described Joe's delivery as an "unremarkable monotone". Maybe I was just too tired by then as after all I had been on the go for three and a half days!
2/10
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Viva Gideon aka the Shark |
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Joe Gideon |
(PS:
As I said, I am open minded so I have given the new album 'Freakish' a couple of listens since, however, I am still less than convinced)
By now it was 02:00 on Sunday morning and the festival was really thrumming. The beer and food stalls were still doing brisk business and there was a crescent moon out in a clear sky. Dew lay heavy under foot and those still about were wrapped up against a cold late August night. Time to turn in........
Sunday started early thanks to some noisy neighbours but that's camping for you! However, I made good use of the ear plugs that we had bought on the first day and was able to get a few more precious hours of sleep! After a great shower and a well received bacon roll and coffee, I was ready to tackle what was next up on the agenda. I caught some of Frontier Ruckus on the Woods Stage whilst enjoying a pint of some local real ale, of which there were 57 to choose from! I was really looking forward to hearing Houndmouth on the Garden Stage at 12:30 but for some reason they were unable to perform, so things kicked off with Damien Jurado.
Damien Jurado on the Garden Stage
I had heard great reports about Mr Jurado, a singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington and so I was delighted that his one man show lived 'up to the billing'. He took to the stage mid afternoon and there were high floating clouds dotted about the light blue September sky. With the sun periodically on our backs and shafting into the depths of the stage, Damien Jurado sat, hunched on a chair, regaling us with songs and humour. I particularly enjoyed his finger picking and he produced some wonderfully melodic sounds from his electrified acoustic fender guitar. Things became rather surreal when he asked, seeing as he was in England, if there were any Nigel's in the audience. If there were, they kept quiet! Undeterred, Damien asked if there were any Bernie's, Thomas's or Steve's at which point he hit 'pay dirt'! Steve (if that was really his name) began to over play his part when Damien said he could guess Steve's date of birth. We all waited eagerly to see if he could do it, having guessed April correctly (?) he then chose 24th and on hearing it was 'correct', Damien leapt about the stage like some demented half wit only to find out that Steve was joking. It was then that Damien took control again by saying that for the rest of the show he would sing only to Steve and so he sat staring right at him! It all made for a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining set, not least because of the wonderful, lilting, swaying guitar playing!
8/10
I had heard great reports about Mr Jurado, a singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington and so I was delighted that his one man show lived 'up to the billing'. He took to the stage mid afternoon and there were high floating clouds dotted about the light blue September sky. With the sun periodically on our backs and shafting into the depths of the stage, Damien Jurado sat, hunched on a chair, regaling us with songs and humour. I particularly enjoyed his finger picking and he produced some wonderfully melodic sounds from his electrified acoustic fender guitar. Things became rather surreal when he asked, seeing as he was in England, if there were any Nigel's in the audience. If there were, they kept quiet! Undeterred, Damien asked if there were any Bernie's, Thomas's or Steve's at which point he hit 'pay dirt'! Steve (if that was really his name) began to over play his part when Damien said he could guess Steve's date of birth. We all waited eagerly to see if he could do it, having guessed April correctly (?) he then chose 24th and on hearing it was 'correct', Damien leapt about the stage like some demented half wit only to find out that Steve was joking. It was then that Damien took control again by saying that for the rest of the show he would sing only to Steve and so he sat staring right at him! It all made for a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining set, not least because of the wonderful, lilting, swaying guitar playing!
8/10
8/10
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Damien Jurado
Bo Ningen on the Big Top Stage
Bo Ningen on the Big Top Stage
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Yuki or Kohhei Mochan
Next up was another band recommended to me by various folk I had been speaking to, the extremely energetic Bo Ningen from Japan. To quote from their web site they are:
"enlightenment activists from far east psychedelic underground"
The band are an androgynous 4 piece consisting of drums, two guitars and a singing bassist and they were a riot of acid-punk noise, long flowing gowns and hair. A veritable visual and aural feast which pumped and pulsated at a rollicking pace as they fired through one song after another with little time in between. On stage they were loud and the somewhat high pitched vocals by Taigen were at odds with the deep, brash, thumping, pounding sound produced by the band. Mochan kept the beat metronomically whilst Yuki and Kohhei swirled and danced around the stage lashing out guitar cords and solos like two whirling dervishes! I came out of the Big Top tent feeling as though I had seen Black Sabbath on speed shaken up with a good measure of the Wooden Shjips! A wild, joyous experience indeed and there were plenty of banging heads to testify to this!
7/10
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Taigen
Caitlin Rose on the Woods Stage
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Caitlin Rose & band |
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Caitlin Rose |
Another of the bands I had picked out as ones to see were New York's / Philadelphia's the Walkmen. So I headed off to the Garden Stage one last time.
The Walkmen on the Garden Stage
The 5 piece band set off at a rollicking pace at about 20:15 and tore through their hour long set, rocking & rolling us along the way. I was blown away by the power of lead singer Hamilton Leithauser's vocals which live were especially impressive and over all the band were loud and raucous which was just grand! Whilst the band were excellent, I would like to make mention of Paul Maroon who played guitar and piano. His solos on both instruments were a delight. Combine the quality of musicianship with the pop / rock melodies of the songs and you have a winning formula, I would also add that, as with many bands, catching them live really does add another dimension to their sound. Thrilling, pumping, rhythmic, soaring, pounding, we got it all and the light show helped to add a fabulous visual dimension to the set. At the end I felt drained and exhilarated and a little deaf to boot. Great stuff!
8/10
8/10
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The Walkmen |
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Hamilton Leithauser |
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Andrew Barr |
8/10
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The Barr Brothers |
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Sarah Page |
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Daniel Lefkowitz & Brad Barr |
Check out the Barr Brothers here.....
Next up was Caitlin Rose and her band and they played a less formal set than what we had heard earlier in the day, but none the less enjoyable. Unfortunately, Caitlin's voice was suffering and it got worse as the set progressed. Even the throat lozenge supplied by an audience member didn't help, however, the crowd took it all in good spirits. Another thoroughly enjoyable gig by Ms Rose and her band.
7/10
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Caitlin Rose |
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The Tipi Tent Bar |
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Big Top Tent |
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Entrance to the Garden Stage area |
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The tea Stop (great bacon rolls!) |
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"Yours truly"Feel free to click this link to see more photos taken over the weekend: |
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