The End of the Road festival offers a smorgasbord of folk, country, blues and indie-rock to the music connoisseur
Fifteen minutes before Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam took to the stage for his much-anticipated set at the fifth edition of the End of the Road Festival, the heavens opened.
The sky had been threatening to pour down on the 5 000-plus Âfestival-goers since Thursday afternoon, but had somehow held out till Saturday evening. But the crowd was not moving, undeterred by the downpour.
As Beam walked on to the stage, one punter yelled out, “Beard power” — a reference to Beam’s most Âimpressive facial hair.
This was followed shortly after it by another punter — “Stop the rain, Sam,” he yelled. Beam laughed and stepped up to the microphone and, as the opening note poured from his mouth, the rain stopped — just like that.
The crowd was silent, soaking up every second of his gorgeous set.
That was until a break between songs and the same punter from earlier yelled, “How did you stop the rain, Sam?” “Ah, you know man, it’s part of the deal,” Beam answered with a chuckle.
I had heard many anecdotes from music-loving friends about what a magical festival End of the Road is, but this little twist of fate pretty much summed it all up for me.
End of the Road is a boutique festival held at the Lamer Tree Gardens, a farm in North Dorset, in the first or second week of September every year. It gained its name not by being at the end of a road but rather because it is generally one of the last festivals of the European summer circuit.
What it offers is a unique festival experience, a killer line-up, a relatively small crowd, ample camping and toilet facilities, great organic food and beverages, and a generally friendly atmosphere. This is a festival for music lovers, people young and old, who come to watch some of the finest bands and musicians on four stages over three days with good sound and very few drunk idiots.
And, damn, was the music fine!
Veterans like Wilco, Yo La Tengo, Modest Mouse and The Mountain Goats shared the stages with young bucks like Deer Tick, Wolf Parade, Felice Brothers, Phosphorescent and Iron &Wine.
And then there were the previously unheard-of discoveries like Daredevil Christopher Wright, Cat Le Bon, Forest Fire and Kath Bloom.
No wonder all the punters I spoke to were raving about how this was the best festival line-up of the summer.
As you may have gathered, Iron & Wine’s spiritual 50-minute set was among the finest of the weekend, with Beam playing a number of songs from his 2007 album, The Shepherd’s Dog, and then previewing a number of songs from his untitled coming album, which sounds as though it will be a cracker.
Other highlights included a spirited set from Wolf Parade on Friday night, with the onslaught of the band’s dual front men, Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner, getting the crowd moving en masse. Their set was so powerful that you almost felt sorry for indie stalwarts Modest Mouse who followed them on the main stage — they seemed a little flat after the intensity of the Wolf Parade set.
The Mountain Goats’s John Darnielle had set the stage perfectly before Wolf Parade with some beguiling songs such as No Children from the 2002 album, Tallahassee.
Listening to a crowd of a few thousand sing along to the lyrics, “And I hope you die, I hope we both die”, was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.
Heavy subject matter delivered in an uplifting way: that is the stock trade of the Mountain Goats, much like Wisconsin’s the Daredevil Christopher Wright, whose songs about cancer, death and loss are delivered in an offbeat way without cheapening the sentiment expressed in them.
Their debut album, In Deference to a Broken Back, which was mixed by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, is well worth checking out.
On Saturday there were two stand-out performances. The first was from Georgia’s Matthew Houck, aka Phosphorescent, who delivered a mesmerising set of country-tinged tunes, mostly from his new album, Here’s to Taking It Easy, which was released a few months ago.
Looking like Matthew McConaughey and with a voice every bit the equal of Will Oldham, Houck wowed the audience with his new songs, especially the encore, The Mermaid Parade, which was too beautiful for words.
Phosphorescent were even joined on stage by three-fifths of Deer Tick to sing backing vocals, which was repaid when Deer Tick took to the stage straight after them. Deer Tick, which began life as a solo project for songwriter John McCauley, have now evolved into a brutal rock ‘n roll band and their two performances were among the best of the weekend.
Playing a number of songs from their new album, The Black Dirt Sessions, the band was on top form with former Titus Andronicus guitarist Ian O’Neil, who joined the band in 2009, being particularly impressive.
Not even a power failure during their second set on Sunday could derail this powerhouse band as they switched to a capella mode, climbing down off the stage to sing among the crowd.
Sunday was a more low-key affair with the highlights being a solo set from Ben Ottewell, who performed some songs from his band, Gomez, and some new songs from his coming solo album, while his two sons danced rather humorously on stage dressed as super heroes.
A storming set from upstate New York alt-country outfit, the Felice Brothers, and a rather more intimate set from the Rhode Island indie-folk outfit, The Low Anthem, followed.
Chicago’s country-rock stars, Wilco, brought the festival to a close with a well-received set that featured some stellar guitar work from Nels Cline.
If folk, blues and country is your thing, with a smattering of indie-rock, the End of the Road festival is an event worth attending.
2011’s edition of the End of the Road Festival will be held from September 2 to 4. For more details go to www.endoftheroadfestival.com