End of the Road festival 2011 - Part 1

If the idea of a summer festival makes you think of kids who’ve just got their A-level results drinking vodka in a flooded tent, you’ve probably got Reading and Leeds in mind. So often, the music seems peripheral to the festival experience, and the whole thing is just a big and loud distraction to visit. End of the Road is festivals like they should be done – a focus on brilliant artists, a relaxed atmosphere, and plenty of hidden surprises.

The lineup alone is what sold me End of the Road tickets; every other UK festival roster this year disappointed me, but this seemed to strike a good mix of modern classics (Joanna Newsom, Beirut, Wild Beasts), up-and-comers (Tune-Yards, Kurt Vile, Zola Jesus), as well as a couple of legends (The Fall, Mogwai, Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes), and it’s great to see such a strong female presence, when often these things can be depressingly androcentric. The hosts pride themselves for their lack of landfill bands or abbreviated sets, so there’s lots for music nerds like me to get excited over, even though it leads to some physically painful clashes (Beirut/The Fall, Lykke Li/HEALTH/Sam Amidon, and that was just the Friday!) There’s also secret sets throughout the festival – we enjoyed Herman Düne and The Growlers but I’m gutted to have missed Okkervil River and Three Trapped Tigers.

But it’s not just the music that makes End of the Road a great experience. Tucked away in the farmlands of North Dorset, it’s a perfectly tranquil location for a festival. Everyone there was so carefree and charming, welcoming families and teenagers alike. It’s so peaceful that peafowls stalk about Larmer Tree Gardens completely unperturbed!

This was my first year at the festival, and although I’d heard some people expressing uncertainty as to its expansion, once things got underway, there were no complaints of overcrowding and in no way was it commercialised. The extra tickets gave EotR the opportunity to add a fourth music stage, improving their comedy stage and film tent, as well as adding more stalls and activities throughout the day. Scattered throughout the woods you can find the games area (ping pong, giant Jenga, Scrabble), the Tree of Knowledge, full of books to borrow, and the free-for-all piano stage, at which anyone can perform! I wasn’t so impressed with the homeopathy and acupuncture in the “healing” area, but still, there’s loads to do aside from the music.

If this sounds to you like The Whitest Thing In The World, well yes, this is kind of my main qualm. It’s so unremittingly middle class at times I felt guilty about how much I enjoyed it all. I do rather wish the lineup was a bit more ethnically diverse: if End of the Road claim to be “all about the lineup”, I would have hoped they’d be a bit more representative of certain genres. Critical acclaim seems to be the main criteria for the bands, but only from a somewhat narrow perspective, as hip-hop and dance are avoided in favour of a slew of folksy-indie bands. The only world music here was the surprisingly popular Malian group Tinariwen, who played the festival’s most unique set to a joyous main stage crowd; and the delightful Cambodian Space Project, the pairing of Srey Thy’s Cambodian folk songs to her band of Aussies’ psych-rock guitars. These two bands really brought something special to the festival, so it’s a shame there was nothing else of that ilk.

But this didn’t inhibit the talent and creativity on display across the weekend. My personal highlight was the incomparable Tune-Yards, aka Merrill Garbus, who belted out one of the most powerful sets I’ve ever seen. Every note was like a call to arms, and most of the sound was coming from her looped drums, vocals, and ukulele (with help from her touring bassist and two saxophonists). There was more art pop from the impressive Wild Beasts and Zola Jesus; the latter seemed a bit held back, and later apologised about sound curfews on her Twitter page, but she still performed a hypnotic set. Although many musicians seemed a bit aloof, Zola Jesus was the one artist I saw come to greet the crowd, and after she squeezed my hand I left feeling that her set was just a bit more special.

I left with a similar feeling after Sam Amidon, who closed his set with his completely unironic folksy take on R Kelly’s Relief, gradually getting the whole tent to sing along with him. He also performed the most amazing acoustic guitar solo I’ve ever seen, zanily scatting along to himself. He was one of a few singers there by whom I felt totally compelled and absorbed in the music, along with Emmy the Great, Josh T. Pearson and John Grant – it helps that I never once suffered the annoyance of a crowd talking over songs. But above all, Joanna Newsom, who closed the festival, left me totally stunned. She is quite possibly the best songwriter in the world, and although it’s odd that she chose to perform solo for the first time in two years, I was hanging on every word.

Another highlight was indie-poppers ‘Allo Darlin’; despite my growing disillusionment towards the indie-pop scene, I absolutely fell in love with them. Playing to their biggest crowd ever, they started off a little nervous but soon got into the swing of things. They paid tribute to conspicuous absentee Darren Hayman in Darren, and Elizabeth Morris’ brave solo ukulele song got the biggest round of applause I heard all weekend. Before they played Kiss Your Lips, Morris initiated a couple proposing right in front of me, and ended on such a feel-good note – honestly, they were life-affirming.

But there were noisier sets too, particularly on the Friday, which featured the much-welcomed distortion-tastic trio of Drum Eyes, Bo Ningen and HEALTH in a row in the Big Top tent, and it was as if they were each trying to out-noise one another, and psych-indie-rockers like Woods, Kurt Vile, and Wild Nothing were ideal for a lazy summer afternoon. Saturday headliners Mogwai found the perfect setting for their mastery of the post-rock crescendo under the night sky – I’d been waiting so long to hear Mogwai Fear Satan live and the impeccable sound ensured that they killed it. I dashed out of Beirut’s set to catch The Fall, who were on top form. Mark E. Smith was inscrutable as always, but his rhythm section are so tight that he has the freedom to sound like he’s falling apart – it was a lot more fun than you’d expect!

In all honesty, it’s difficult to imagine what End of the Road could do to be any lovelier. In spite of its expansion, tickets sold out in record time this year, while many competitors struggled to meet allocations. It was announced at the festival (by means of a handwritten sign) that the organisers are launching a sister festival named No Direction Home next year in Sherwood Forest (8-10 June 2012) – it’s inspiring to see the success of a festival that values proper musicianship over hype, especially one that guarantees such a beautiful weekend.