SweepingTheNation

I'm not sure this is entirely the case, there's a lot of ambient/electronic//noisy stuff down the list, and remember Supersonic that weekend hasn't announced anything yet. I make it 26 places (including a late night Big Top DJ) still to be filled with a greater number of first announcement names up top than last year.

Also, the email version has MC Yallah in the line-up but as she's not on the poster or line-up page I imagine it all fell through with her visa again, or it's pending but they don't want to commit just in case, and they forgot to take her out.

I imagined there'd be civil war over IDLES but they're one of four headliners and surely nobody ever watches all the Woods headliners, and it says something great about the festival's reputation that they're headlining this and Truck, which is double the capacity. And look how very strong that second line is with a previous and two expected headliners, especially as that was the big letdown last year (as I said yesterday, Arooj Aftab was great but she was nobody's idea of a Garden headliner on announcement) CMAT is headlining a 10,000 capacity festival (Deer Shed) weeks earlier and she's in the third level! No Big Thief is a letdown especially with them being the last major Covid cancellation holdout but the GM weekend always worked out better for what they've so far announced. I've had a go at a speculative Clashfinder - it's relatively pointless at this stage because we don't have any day confirmations except BPB (and NewDad, who have gigs Friday to Sunday) but it shows where everything might fit together going on the graphic. https://clashfinder.com/s/eotr2024/

Far more than that, I'd say anyone in a bigger font. They barely even shared notable acts in 2021.

CASISDEAD was on Simon's albums of the year list so I'd say he's very likely. Backxwash is doing Lowlands a couple of weeks before and would be exciting; I also wonder if Yallah's visa issues that led to pulling out last year are being cleared.

Even less chance that last year, they've just said they're putting it on hold presumably to go back to their solo careers. The RT would have been because of their Grammy wins.

The EOTR link is mostly because they're in London the week before.

Osees are playing Electric Ballroom on the 15th. Alvvays are at Oya the week before, though that's at the end of a very long string of UK and European dates and they're back in America by the end of the month.

Well, that's every year. Has it been mentioned Confidence Man (and Mannequin Pussy) are playing R&L and seemingly nothing else around it? (EDIT: yes, by me, apparently)

Yeah, I really don't think IDLES are playing, it's mostly come from Simon recently following them on IG and it not being an unreasonable fit but they're headlining Truck (albeit the Thursday) which is double the size. Whereas even with the Decemberists you've got a band that have never played an outdoor British festival until the week before.

I thought she was announcing today but the video someone found goes live at 3pm tomorrow. Moseley is announcing at 4pm, I imagine EOTR will give a time later today. But there's always coincidence, a lot of people thought last year that Green Man's first names were held off until 1st March so Boygenius could be announced for both it and Connect at the same time but only the latter happened. Then there's those Fat White Family dates that made so many people convinced they'd be the secret set...

Arooj Aftab headlined Garden last year. Critically acclaimed and a great set, but Lankum are several levels above her - as pointed out they're headlining the second stage at Latitude, the same level as a 2023 EOTR headliner, and they just sold out the 3,000 capacity Roundhouse. Neither were promoted as headliners, though. The point I was making earlier was that it's self-defeating to announce that you trust Lankum's size and live power enough to take that chance on elevating them to headliner level and then put them on the second stage.

Could well do, Ray Aggs has played before with both their other bands Shopping and Trash Kit.

This is true, but also Deathcrash are quite some magnitude of size away from the band that are about to have the best week's album sales of the year so far (I know it's only week six but they're already comfortably past last week's number one's figure) No festival really seems to know what to do with them in terms of scheduling but you'd have to think it'd be a decent Mountain slot, but how much do they cost now? They said at the time they wouldn't be touring the album, apparently due to Elena's stage fright. EOTR announcement on Wednesday, by the way - remember, the top end of the line-up is never shared with GM.

Thing to remember about Sleater-Kinney is they're currently the most likely of the acts that were listed in Simon's big first year wishlist, which is the thing this thread started with. Also they really don't play European festivals very often, APE is going to be their first outdoor festival in the UK since they restarted.

On the subject of Lankum potentially headlining, I think to say "they should still play Garden" does the whole concept of making them headliner a disservice, because Simon's said before that he's keen on elevating artists to that level when at a critical and commercial height as Lankum (who he's been an openly big fan of for years) presently are, so to then essentially be told you're actually only good for the second stage surely defeats the purpose. They didn't push Angel Olsen as a headliner even though she was booked as one, and the one time they did it before Bill Callahan didn't get a great turnout.

So Big Thief can't headline either? Are you the person in the APE thread last year who insisted Girl In Red had to headline over the Strokes because they had more Spotify listeners? It's almost as if reputation, potential and excitement count for more than cold statistics, especially with a comparatively smaller and niche-r festival like EOTR.

I would say that they came across huge and enveloping on the Green Man Mountain stage last year, which is much bigger and more open than the Woods area - and also their one previous EOTR set was on Woods. We may understandably love Garden but if you're making a point of elevating someone to headline status you have to put them on the biggest stage. Has it been mentioned that Moseley Folk Festival the same weekend is also announcing on Wednesday? Might be misleading but it sounds co-ordinated on some major artist's part.

Five times, at least three as headliner, seems a lot. Apparently they're doing a covers set at Primavera a la Ciutat, which might make them worth a semi-novelty revisit.

Don't think this is too far from what I'd think, with some caveats: the Decemberists are absolutely headlining if they're listed as main support at All Points East ahead of more obvious pulls Phoenix and Gossip; GY!BE are not coming over a month early for one festival date (and would probably headline if they did), and surely Fat Dog aren't playing three years in a row. FWIW, I think... Woods headliners: Big Thief, Sleater-Kinney, Decemberists, Lankum Woods subs: Lemon Twigs, Squid, Nadine Shah Garden headliners: Baxter Dury, Mdou Moctar, Ibibio Sound Machine* Big Top late night headliners: Viagra Boys, James Holden (followed by Helena Hauff DJ set), Bob Vylan ( * Unsure about these, and as pointed out since Ibibio aren't big enough anyway, their upcoming London date is at Koko which is well below last year's Garden headliners' level)

MGMT say they aren't touring this album, ANONHI doesn't seem to be playing anywhere and Alvvays have a US date on the 31st.

There's a post in the 2023 line-up thread in March from someone confidently predicting that there'd be such a backlash that that the festival would be cancelled for poor ticket sales. Instead it sold out two months in advance and got great reviews practically across the board. Thinking the standard wording of the date announcement is an admission of failure in and of itself sounds like "damned if they do, damned if they don't" to me.

Line-up on Wednesday

Hmm. I don't like reading too much into coded comments, but we know Simon's a huge fan and there's interviews in which Lankum members talk about the Watersons being the big influence on their embrace of trad-folk.

"exciting news coming for you next week" https://www.instagram.com/reel/C21_LeutAhV/