snipe

Covid didn't go away and is doing a comeback that Rick Astley would be jealous of right now. I'd be surprised if there isn't a cancellation or two because of it.

I have not had great luck with the chairs sold there but I am a heavy lad so that is probably on me. I find those little chairs in a bag you can get are light enough and small enough to bring over. I'm surprised there isn't more chair talk here... EOTR has more people on chairs than any other festival I've been at. Seems to be an unspoken competition of who will have the best chair. There were lads in portable hammock style ones last year. Saw someone with a Cliq chair as well which looked amazing and I found out it was like 150 dollars. I'm always checking out the chairs out to see what are the best... is this just me?

A distinct lack of explaining the blank Venn diagram on the poster in these ??? theories. Need more bands that solve the Venn diagram!

Tweet says they're pouring Laser Juice. If it is the usual setup that'll be the beer on all the bars and they'll get the bar down by the garden to run other (better) taps. https://untappd.com/b/bristol-beer-factory-laser-juice/4932782

Looking in the thread there was a follow up to say the complaint from the Cider bus was that they were being initially placed in a spot without food nearby and I guess they rely on a certain amount of people to do a food and pint run to get numbers. The Cider bus got what they wanted last year so I wonder if that took a bit more effort than they liked and it generally soured them on the festival. Might be a bit of talk from the Cider Bus people to get a more preferential setup / rate on the back of a bit of a slight by the organisers. Hopefully it'll be sorted.

I was trying to think what the funniest scenario would be if ??? managed to remain secret right up until whoever it was walked out on stage and the best i can think of is Neil Hamburger coming out and doing a stand up set. I'd say he'd probably clear 75% of the people who might be in the field at the time.

I think the worst thing is we find out who it is now. We've 55 days to fill with endless speculation.

If you've Revolut you can set your phone up so the contactless on it uses that card. I usually buy a lump of Sterling on Revolut whenever the rates are good. It is .86 at the moment to the Euro which isn't bad but I am holding out for .90. Don't get too obsessed about it as it only really makes a noticeable difference if you do a big lump. That would be an extra 20 quid out of 500 euro for example. The rates usually seem better closer to the festival but no guarantees. Revolut charge a higher fee for weekend conversions so doing the conversion in advance saves you a tiny bit and you've a locked in rate but you can do it on the fly too as long as you've a Euro balance to convert. If you get a Revolut card you can also use any ATM in the UK to get cash out at their rates (it will use your Sterling balance first before converting Euro to Sterling if required). Irish banks will give you a worse exchange rate if you use your normal card either as contactless or to get money from an ATM. Again we're talking maybe an extra 20 quid lost or so maybe but sure if you can avoid it why not?

Dunno how I missed this on the website before and maybe everyone knows this already but you can get the artists descriptions in a easier to access method than clicking in to each one on the line up page ( and then having to go back to the line up for the next) at https://endoftheroadfestival.com/artist/

We come from Dublin via Bristol and the flight is often delayed so I hope Southampton is more punctual for you. I know you've eaten a flight change already but the best option we've found is fly into Bristol Wednesday, stay the night in the Premier Inn across from the bus station and get the 8.55am National Express to the festival. You can get cans in the Bristol Tesco then. There's a 6.30am flight Thursday morning that should also get you on that bus but again you're at the mercy of the flights being on time and the traffic from the Airport to Bristol (which I heard is currently awful). We've also gotten trains from Bristol to Salisbury and then a coach from there but not since the pandemic so dunno what the situation is now. It was odd in 21 when we looked last is all I remember. FWIW I've definitely got closed cans from the bars in the festival in the past (at bar prices though). Last year up by the Ferris wheel there was a place with a big variety and the bar by the main stage has sold me whatever that years brewery was in a can too.

Hmm I thought one of the local sites had said it was when they were announced but looking back it just says they're unsure if it's a farewell tour or an album called The End.

I think ??? are Explosions in the Sky. They're on their "The End" tour (allegedly finishing up after this). They've a Portugal festival date in August and start their US dates mid September so they've availability and apparently no issues with traveling for singular European festival appearances. They're still selling tickets for their tour so do not want to sabotage them hence unannounced so far. They've played EOTR before but not since 2009. Also the Venn diagram thing on the poster, if it is really a hint (and tbh this is a real stretch), the letters of EOTR and EITS can be represented as a Venn diagram. The final bit of "evidence"... I would really like it to be them.

Was looking hard to budget for the days off required for this with my brother's wedding thrown into the mix this year and the big question was would we feel like we're missing out if we didn't go. I'm sure I'd find stuff in here I'd like if I did the research but if I walk away now I'll be no wiser.

Herself insisted we get the early birds in the next day so that was a good sign even after the boutique toilet massacre. I like the slight change to the layout that removed the boutique fences and allowed a shortcut through the fence rather than going the long way. Originally was a bit annoyed they'd not done a fence again but it's fine and easier to navigate. I didn't like the ever shrinking set of caterers and further old favourites either not being there (Thoroughly Wild Meat Co.) or becoming a shadow of themselves (La Grande Bouffe). I probably should have gotten more from the fish place. The Whitebait was delicious but you've to be committed to tasting it for the rest of the night. I felt the metro IPA was quite weak (3.8%) so it felt a bit watery. The NYC ale they had in the firepit area was much better but too many queues there whenever I went. Music wise I much prefer the pre Covid era line-ups where the Garden had some up coming acts with a little more energy than constant Jazz and Folk. Needed a Jade Bird style in betweener at least. I really dislike the two tent venues but these seem to be the place to go if you want something with a little kick. Maybe it is a crowd control thing. Maybe I am not as in tune with stuff as I used to be (been a busy year for me). For example Car Seat Headrest being in the Garden would never happen now though that was one of my favourites there. The first 5 songs of the Pixies was great. It was dead for me after that. Bright Eyes was a horrible drunken embarrassment. We were right up the front so could see the two handed grasp for the flask to keep the energy levels up. We left after a few songs when we heard the slurred speech. If you could ignore that I am sure it was great. At least that meant we got to see Aldous Harding who was a nice chilled end to things and we were right outside our tent when the rain hit so amazingly lucky there. I wish there was less bands locked into tiny venues (the boat/talking heads/Piano) that require dedicating lots of time to queue to secure access to. I'd have loved to see a bit of Marlaena Moore but she was in Talking Heads and we'd gone there for James Yorkston on Friday and had to queue for the privilege to get in. If being far off in the forest actually shielded you from the other stages sound bleed I'd understand but we could clearly hear Fleet Foxes kickoff while at James. Make a proper sub garden sized outdoor stage that replaces the Piano, Boat and talking heads. The concept that a few people will have a lovely experience at the expense of others just not seeing these acts might have worked when the festival had half the capacity but its just too many people for this carry on now. Ugly wise the NX coach to Bristol being an hour and a half late with no explanation or update. As we needed to get to the airport for a flight we were starting to panic. I didn't see it but heard several people in the queue being traumatised as the nearby farm house butchered a Deer. Probably not the greatest end to the festival for some (the deer). I'm sure above seems like I am complaining more than anything else but as I said it was an instant rebook. The overall chilled vibe and location and opportunity to see great acts will have us coming back.

Ah jaysus.. you just had to go say that didn't you? Right lads pack the canoe!

Up your bag hanging game with an S hook.

Thumbs up review from our group. There were a couple of sceptics at the start but all converts by the end. Definitely helped to hit the location button a couple of times so it could settle. As soon as you were getting the same result each time was when to send it. Someone above said it needed internet... it doesn't. It calculates the words offline mathematically. You do need to be able to send the words via some method be it SMS or WhatsApp though so can't do anything about that.

Lifesaver today. Opened the door and sat in it to stay out of the sun.

Got my ticket. Took about an hour 20 for me but think it's a bigger queue now. Sorry didn't see the message to ask about later

3 windows open now. End of the queue has changed to another field now. They've got someone managing it now

That's the PGA queue to my right and the start of the international on the left. Box office dead center. Coach park behind it

No don't queue in the PGA queue for international. I came through the coach park and there was some barriers setup going through them brings you past the international box office to join the queue for it.

Box office queue could be worse. Just arrived but it's moving. I'm hopefully it'll take less than an hour It's left side of the coach park. Pretty poor signage. ///slices.objecting.cinemas

Yesterday afternoon it was grand. I was through security in 10 mins. Some of the Ryanair check-in things are broke. If they give you an error just move to the next. Same with the belt weigh yolks.

Flight out of Dublin was delayed 40 or so mins but luggage was a breeze in Bristol. Well happy.