End of the Road festival 2011 - Part 2

Best in Show - Beirut

As they became the first band to headline the new Woods Stage, Zach Condon and his merry band of multi-instrumentalists wowed a huge crowd with their blend of ukulele strumming, blazing Balkan horns and frisky Gallic waltzes. Showcasing both their impressive back catalogue and songs from their brilliant new record The Rip Tide, Beirut were a sight and sound to behold. Also, the appearance of a sousaphone on stage shocked the man behind me sufficiently to proclaim "FUCK ME – HE’S GOT A SOUSAPHONE!"

Worst in Show (apparently) – The Fall

Whilst I wasn’t on hand to witness it, word quickly spread around camp that The Fall’s headline slot on the Garden Stage went down like a shit sandwich. Just saying.

Mr. & Mrs. Log II Must Be Very Proud

If you’ve never seen or heard Bob Log III before, here is a brief description. He wears a blue velour human cannonball suit and a fighter pilot’s helmet with the mirrored visor pulled all the way down. On the visor, an old telephone handset is strapped. He sits playing slide guitar, whilst working a bass drum with his right foot and a cymbal with his left. He looks like some weird genetic experiment gone tragically awry, in which Seasick Steve has been fused with Evel Knievel. Between firing out stomping blues licks, Mr. Log III does a great line in stage patter, at one point proclaiming "I’m a professional God dammit – I live in a car..". His final number sees him playing with three girls plucked from the crowd perched on his knees and two more dancing behind. I salute you, Sir.

Happy Camper

Camping, very much like Frey Bentos pies and Communism, is much better in theory than it is in practice. The idea of camping appeals; roughing it under the stars, getting back to nature, living simple – the reality; the sensation of being slightly damp at all times, sleeping in a what is a essentially an oversized cloth Wendy house and shitting in a green plastic cupboard - not so much.

Slumming It

I’m not saying this festival is at all middle class, but at one point, whilst deciding what to have for dinner, my choice was a two horse race between North African Souk and Tibetan Momos.

Random Snippet of Overheard Conversation

At a water refilling station: “If I had to describe what I did for a living, I’d probably say I was an Organic Cheese Guru...”

Cider, Cider, Burning Bright

The Somerset Cider Bus. 6% cider served both hot and cold. A dangerous proposition.

James Yorkston: Rascal

James Yorkston, who, during his lovely song Queen of Spain, took a great pleasure in trying to throw off his clarinet player during her solo by a) doing a silly dance and b) playing the chords from another song entirely. The wag.

Fashion Watch

It appeared that beards were regulation issue for men attending the festival and denim shorts the order of the day for the ladies. Whilst the aforementioned Bob Log III’s get-up is quite remarkable, the best look of the festival was achieved by Scandinavian pop imp Lykke Li, who is possibly the only person who can pull off a trench coat/leotard/Doc Martens combo.

Strung Out

Special mention must go to Micah P. Hinson, who played a quite wonderful set backed by string quartet The Pioneer Saboteurs. Unable to play due to his knackered arm being in a sling, the irascible Mr. Hinson still managed to turn it on sufficiently to challenge for best set of the festival honours.

Loops of Fury

The Loop pedal was a popular accoutrement at End of the Road. Its most impressive proponent was Merrill Garbus of preposterously monikered yet ridiculously good Tune-Yards, who created a hypnotic whirl of drums, guitar and tribal screeching. More delicate use of the pedal came from M. Ward, who spun a rather lovely web of guitars during his quiet, understated set.

Economy of Storytelling

Over on the comedy stage, the Storytellers Club saw a rag tag bunch of comedians and musicians take it in turns to regale the audience with their festival tales. The highlight however, proved to be the short story competition in which members of the audience were asked to write about a true celebrity encounter they’d had in 5 words or less. The winning entry ‘Dick and Dom - without Dom’ was a literary fucking masterpiece if you ask me. 

This Cat Has Claws

During a guest spot on Robin Ince’s Book Club, Carter USM frontman Jim Bob delivered his withering verdict of Mogwai’s Saturday night headline set, dismissing it as "just Radio 3 with feedback". Zing!

A Tale of Two T(h)oms

Picking the best bit of comedy from the festival boils down to a close run thing between Thom Tuck’s routine based solely around Direct to Video Disney sequels and Tom Bell’s oddball One Man And His Dog bit. I think Bell just pips it. COME BY! COME BY!

Man vs. Machine. Machine Wins. Man Looks Silly

During a ‘surprise’ set in the Tipi Tent, The frontman of Holy Crutches (who had been strutting around the stage like a royal berk during the soundcheck) tried and failed to play along in time to a drum machine. Wouldn’t have been so bad had he not tried and failed 6 times before giving up the ghost. Cleared the tent in double quick time.

The Living Room

Whilst laying in the sun nursing a hangover by the Living Room Stage (literally a living room in the woods where anyone is welcome to play open mic slots) we were treated to two sets in quick succession, first up, two precocious lads, no more than 10 years old a piece, offered up covers of Adele and The Undertone’s Teenage Kicks before taking a round of applause and disappearing into the woods. This kind of thing is apparently normal at End of the Road. No sooner had these young Turks vacated the stage, The Leisure Society tipped up with a film crew in tow to record an impromptu session. Nice. 

Peacock count: 4 and some baby ones.

Parrot count: 0. Might have been a cruel festival rumour.

Laura Marling? More like BORE-A MARLING

I’m not averse to Ms. Marling’s musical stylings, but her late afternoon set on Saturday didn’t really add an extra dimension to her oeuvre. Exactly like listening to her records, but in a field.

One from the Harp

Whilst Joanna Newsom is super and her set on Sunday night was nothing short of magnificent, it’s really something best enjoyed in a sit-down setting. The late night cold and drizzle made standing to watch this must-see performance a rather wretched experience. I tried to get a bit of moshing going to keep warm, but it was never going to catch on.

Thems the Brakes

A great way to close out what proved to be a magnificent festival, was a blinding surprise set by Brakes in the Tipi Tent. Against much of the folk twiddling that had preceded it, Brakes came off like Led fucking Zeppelin in the energy stakes. Small pockets of dancing broke out, there were some reports of jumping up and down and three separate incidences of crowd surfing. I say.

Until next year...