- Festival Reviews
The End Of The Road is on its way to becoming my favourite festival: Brimming over with interesting music, films, art, literary events, comedy and workshops, all in a wonderful setting. It is a fitting finale to the festival season, that leaves you feeling restored rather than worn out.
The festival site is exceptionally pretty and easy to get around. The absence of wifi and proper phone reception helps to restore the festival vibe of old, when you were cut off from the real world for a few days, just consuming as much of the program as you could fit in. I generally know only ten percent of the EOTR line-up, which is a great basis for new discoveries.
I went as a volunteer, but favourable shifts meant I did not miss that much. Even so, I had a bad case of FOMO on Thursday night. With just over eight hours between shifts I had to try and sleep. The cinema tent were showing ‘The Last Waltz’ at 23:00, which I have never seen. It was a rainy night and as I was lying in my tent I could hear the crowd in the cinema tent singing along to ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’. Oh to have been there…
- Festival Reviews
This year I optednotgo to Cambridge Folk Festival, but to Womad instead, as I was keen to see something different. I had been to Womad before, as a punter, and I knew that the festival can be counted on to program acts that you would not see elsewhere.
I went as a volunteer this time, therefore a certain amount of time was taken up by work. In the remaining time I tried to catch as much music as possible, which meant I missed out on the many other offerings, such as literary events, the popularTaste The Worldcookery presentations, wellness sessions and the Moon art installation.
- Festival Reviews
A strong feature in the summer calendar, Visions Festival continues to evolve, this year’s event comprising 5 venues that are closer than ever - all within a 7-8 minute walk. Just as well given the incessant rain today, but with all venues indoors spirits remained undampened.
With £30 early bird tickets in the bag a while ago, Visions represents superb value for money for anyone happy to explore new bands and sounds with a couple of more established names occupying the headline slots.
- Festival Reviews
While holidaying in Madeira, we couldn’t resist dipping into a day at this festival. It runs over 4 days in all, Friday & Saturday on consecutive weekends in July, from early evening and into the wee hours on each night.
- Festival Reviews
I have been coming to Glastonbury one and off (more on) since 1994. This was my 20th Glastonbury and the second time as an Oxfam volunteer. Glad to have found a way that I can continue going. There is nothing like Glastonbury anywhere on earth. The televised bits are excellent but there is so much more.
- Festival Reviews
The third annual event under this banner; our second visit. A one-dayer at the multi-venued Esquires in Bedford. We were attracted back following last year’s visit simply because it represents a great value-for money day, featuring a great selection of under the radar bands.
- Festival Reviews
An excellent day out in South London. Good to see this event is becoming a fixture following its launch immediately before Lockdown. With no stellar acts on the line-up it was evident that everyone who went was willing to take in and enjoy the full panoply of the undercard.
- Festival Reviews
A brief glimpse into this years Great Escape Festival. Was only there for one day (Thursday) but able to catch a good number of bands and soak up the vibe in the Brighton sunshine.
- Festival Reviews
Amongst the many plus points that have drawn us back again and again to Rockaway Beach is the timing. No better time than the first weekend of January to kick-start the gig year. But as well as that it seems to set something of a template for the year, helping us start to shape our plans for the new music landscape and present and early opportunity to schedule in bands we want to place on the 2023 agenda.
The line-up is traditionally a mix of ‘legend’ bands (this year OMD, Peter Hook & The Light, The Undertones, The Beat) interspersed with a range of new acts to discover or revisit. Two stand-outs already in the diary for Spring gigs: Personal Trainer & Hamish Hawk
- Festival Reviews
Mutations is a wonderful festival. it’s a key output of the Brighton music scene, with past headliners including White Denim, Lightning Bolt and other off the wall bands not often seen together. Its had various forms over the years, with 2022 featuring several of the organisers’ favourite venues, many fairly intimate, and a huge number of their current favourite bands - over 80! Big thanks to organisers including Relevant Records, Bella Union, Brixton Windmill and many others.
- Festival Reviews
Cranborne Chase is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty which lies far from the beaten track on the Wiltshire/ Dorset border, the Chase surrounds the Larmer Tree Gardens which were created as a Victorian pleasure ground. Today the gardens are in demand as a wedding venue with black and white half-timbered buildings, peacocks and parakeets, lawns and laurel hedges carefully manicured providing the perfect background to many couple's nuptials. Since 2006 Simon Taffe (co-founder and curator) has used the Larmer Tree Gardens as the venue for End of the Road festival (EotR) interweaving the festival into the architecture and environs of the gardens.
- Festival Reviews
The End Of The Road was my fourth and final festival of the summer. It is a real music lovers festival. Having spent the previous weekend at Shambala, this came as a relief. You can put glitter on your face and fairy lights on your tent, but the main reason people come to the End Of The Road is to hear quality music. Instagrammers, whose main objective is to look to be having fun, are mercifully absent, and although people take photos or the odd short video as a memento, bands are not playing to a sea of phones.