'This festival is lush, it's fucking lush'

And so opened the set by Brakes at 19:45.

However prior to this outburst of joy was a day that will be remembered by many as a rather special Saturday, so I should explain just why this phrase was just so spot on and suitable for this first (and hopefully not last), End Of The Road festival.

When Ireallylovemusic dropped into Glastonbury 2005, the extended weekend was a selfish adventure for which my mission was to catch as many bands as possible. With the End Of The Road the whole clan was to be involved as well. So just how would one 3 year old, one 9 year old, and one wife (age details not available) come away from such an experience.

Of course, staging a festival in the middle of September has several drawbacks, not least the concerns over the weather, and the fact that it is indeed past the dates during which families are free to miss Fridays and Mondays. In the build up to the weekend, careful studying of BBC weather forecasts lead us to think that all would be ok, in fact there was even a banner on the festival website declaring the Indian summer would provide the perfect backdrop, though as the event drew closer, the clouds beckoned, storms brewed, the forecast changed hourly, and the banner was subtly taken down.

Thankfully, the grey clouds remained just that, grey and no storms hit home throughout the time we were there.

As mentioned, due to the timing of the festival, this particular Ireallylovemusic clan were not able to attend the opening Friday (schools ! Who needs'em), so unfortunately we had to miss such delights as Ed Harcourt and the simply wonderful Kathryn Williams, instead we arrived Saturday morning with the festival in full flow. While setting up camp and struggling with the rock intense underlay that the carefully chosen position revealed, I heard the opening set from Ladyfuzz from a distance, their quirky funked up indie pop seemed to be going down a storm, despite a chat later with lead singer Liz where she admitted there were problems with their equipment. So, with tent provisionally up, I dragged the gang to check out Absentee. Having crossed the campsite, we passed a house, and were directed into a garden of stunning beauty, at the bottom of which was the main stage, I cannot tell you how idyllic the setting was, but if I tell you research indicated that previously The Big Chill festival used these grounds, and that while watching bands, hand tamed peacocks wander around, you may get an idea as to just how special the Larmer Tree Gardens setting is.

Anyway, back to Absentee, a band hidden away on the ever impressive Memphis Industries label with an album, Schmotime, full of story filled songs that wiggle their way into your psyche. The main interest of the band, who play a fairly straightforward style of indie rock with horn section, is front man Dans vocals. Gruffer than a billy goat after a lifetime of full tar Senior Service cigarettes and warm as a hot toddy on a winters day his vocals are a perfect entry point to this song rich few days (no dance tent, no machine made music, this is an old school proper music festival) so having absorbed the album, hearing the songs over the delicately mixed PA system was special, and indeed rather spine tingling.

 Next up came the delicate old fashioned acoustic based 60s pop from El Perro Del Mar, who not only has a sweetly innocent voice, but also wins the biggest coat of the weekend award. After a kid-n-play session, it was time for the Boy Least Likely To, who since sending me their homemade album, The Best Party Ever, ages ago, have gone onto conquer the world. Radio 2 loves em, James Blunt dragged them around America, hardnosed pitchfork are friends, and now they are to join guitar toting Razorlight on their sell out stadium tour. So just how would this quiet, twee indie album work in a live setting? Dragging my 9 year old into the circus big top styled second stage, we were met by a party in full swing. Colourful balloons, dayglo t-shirts and an obvious flow of love was going on. The band originally consisting of Pete and Jof, has been expanded into a full band, and so the music has grown. The interband tour hardy jokes, the  chorus rich songs, and Jof giving it the full on rock-n-roll poses for all its worth. The band look to be having the time of their lives, and this enjoyment is passed on to the audience. Even their cover version of George Michaels faith is given rapturous applause (available via the bands website dontchaknow), a uk version of Flaming Lips perhaps? Quite possibly especially when the albums cover stars come onstage and join in with the party. An obvious weekend highlight.

Following an extended break for food/circus skills (the addition of Panic Circus was an excellent extra for the kids)/comedy tent(not kid friendly !)/drink, we settle down in the garden of the main stage for the evening. Intending to go and catch the return of lo-fi and beatbox moves by Simple Kid, I actually became distracted by the superb clash-n-funk indie rock fun filled noise of Brakes, the tree hugging friendly, but still awe inspiring British Sea Power (a band I quite obviously need to hear more of) that I only managed to catch the last few tracks of his set. Though seeing Ciaran on stage singing along with Kermit the frog via his onstage screen, was rather surreal, especially following the regulation liquid fuel of the evening. Despite my own initial concern, it was obvious that the crowd were loving every minute of the laidback vibes on offer.

 not being a fan of the headlining, still with that hat, (I mean can we move on please) Badly Drawn Boy, we decided to get some much needed sleep, though we did manage to see Damon drag Sofia and Simon (the festivals organisers/heroes) onto the stage, he too expressed just how wonderful the whole thing was. We headed back to the tent, let the kids pass out, and sat in the open air, with a sleep assisting beer, listening to both the final selections from Guillemots and Badly Drawn Boy, both of which went down a storm, so I guess a lot people had smiles on their faces as they drifted off to sleep.

 As with Friday, the need to get the offspring back into school on Monday morning meant that I was contractually obliged to be on the road home by 4pm Sunday. So during the blistering heatwave of the morning, my eldest went off to the circus workshop again, and learn the Swedish Viking Kubb game, and seemed to love every minute, despite neither me nor my wife understanding the rules he tried to explain later on.  Tent packed up, we head for some gorgeous and reasonably priced grub - a welcome change from the wallet stripping equivalents at the larger more commercially aware setups.

Tummies filled with food and vibe soaking conversation (trust me, this was the most friendly/warm hearted/well organised festival I have ever been to) we head for the main garden again, and end up catching the rather fascinating performance by unsigned band, Paris Motel. Consisting of lead singer Amy (singer/writer/violin/producer/arranger) and about 10 of her chums on a variety of instruments, over 45 minutes this mini orchestra revealed a love for sea shanties, naughty lyrics, and a passion for covering classics by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Dark and twisted romance never sounded so innocent on a Sunday afternoon.

The final part of the weekend for me was the jaw dropping performance by media shy Merz. Having been propelled into the spotlight by an out of control major label budget all those years ago, Conrad then dropped off the face of the earth, only to return last year on a far smaller scale with his superb Lovehearts album, so when the stage was setup with a laptop (the only instance I saw anything as modern sounding all weekend), keyboard and guitar and a blue scarf that was draped all over the stage I became concerned as to just how he was going to translate his mixture of strange electronica enhanced melodies and acoustic additions into a live setting. In this minimal setup, he played rearranged lost classics, Weathers Apart (with superb guitar solo that made folks in front of me visibly cringe but made me grin like a cheshire cat), Lotus, and the classic Lovely Daughter, from his soon to be re-released debut as well as several beauty rich tracks from the new album in such a manner that I was truly spellbound. When he dropped Laurie Andersons  oh superman into the set, and then interspersed the sampled 'oh oh oh' with his own song the effect again set the tingles off in all directions. His distinctive voice has matured, as well as his control over the meticulous electro-acoustic arrangements, with songs as strong as Warm Cigarette Room, he has fulfilled the promise of the hype, it's just a shame no-one realises.

And so, the end came for Ireallylovemusic, there were many other acts on the bill I would have loved to check out, but despite the disappointment in not seeing headliner Ryan Adams, I enjoyed the End Of The Road far far more then I believed possible. Let’s just hope that Simon and Sofia made a few quid, and decide to run the festival again, as I will be very interested in travelling that particular route once more.

official :  link

myspace : link

merz : interview

the boy least likely to : interview : album review

back