2021 - How was it for you ?

[IBee]

It is the queuing that worries me. Sometimes, especially in the morning I need with very little notice to make a sit down visit. The old quiet camping was great-even at the busiest times there would be at worst a very small queue.

[incident]

1 hour ago, majormajormajor said:

What was the story with all the young Indian dudes serving in the bars? Don't mean this in a negative way whatsoever, just curious how they all ended up there? Had some great cricket chats!

The company handling bar staff recruitment changed this year, from one of the smaller independents to HAP who are a much bigger event recruitment agency with presumably a more varied pool of people to offer work to. That change was originally intended for last year so it wasn't a pandemic response.

[cowowl]

37 minutes ago, IBee said:

It is the queuing that worries me. Sometimes, especially in the morning I need with very little notice to make a sit down visit. The old quiet camping was great-even at the busiest times there would be at worst a very small queue.

If you went all the way to the far end of the new Quiet Camping area behind the Family Area there was set of loos right in the far corner by the hedge/gate. We camped up there, had loads of space, and never once had to queue for the toilets. Felt a bit guilty when I saw the queues elsewhere around the campsites at busy times.

[Dancers Stand Very Still]

6 hours ago, IBee said:

How early was it?

 

Also, does anyone have strong opinions about the new camping layout?

 

(I didn't go but I am figuring out whether or not to go next year having been a regular for a number of years. The toilet thing would be make or break for me if it isn't sorted. I know there are reasons there were not so many this year as before).

On the map for 2022 the area near the Folly is back as general camping rather than boutique. 

[IBee]

17 minutes ago, cowowl said:

If you went all the way to the far end of the new Quiet Camping area behind the Family Area there was set of loos right in the far corner by the hedge/gate. We camped up there, had loads of space, and never once had to queue for the toilets. Felt a bit guilty when I saw the queues elsewhere around the campsites at busy times.

Shh, don't tell everyone!

 

Thank you if I go next I'll keep that in mind. And hopefully next year the toilet situation will have improved anyway.

[IBee]

1 minute ago, JHad said:

On the map for 2022 the area near the Folly is back as general camping rather than boutique. 

Oh wow map up already is it? Thanks.

[Dancers Stand Very Still]

3 minutes ago, IBee said:

Oh wow map up already is it? Thanks.

I noticed yesterday when booking Early Birds. However, I just went looking again and found some wording which contradicts it on the camping info tab (i.e. says that area is boutique for 2022). No idea which is correct after all! 

[Fareham Grecian]

10 minutes ago, JHad said:

On the map for 2022 the area near the Folly is back as general camping rather than boutique. 

Ah yes, but the website text says ‘The boutique camping area is located near the Folly for 2022’…

(sorry JHad, crossed with your reply)

Edited September 8, 2021 by Fareham Grecian

[Gatche]

Been to the festival every year since 2015 and this was potentially our favourite so far.

We do the boutique camping (sorry!) and so the separate entrance to the site with absolutely no queue at all when we arrived in mid-afternoon was a great start.  Comments about the site layout potentially changing next year have been noted. Fine if they do change back but, selfishly, I'd be happy if they didn't.

Was a bit worried about what I thought might be fewer showers than normal when arriving - they appeared to use the same ones used at Green Man, and thought there might be longer queues. In the end I woke up really early on each day and so had the showers to myself, then went back to bed. Small queues later on, but only the same as every other year, which was surprising given the much greater numbers in boutique than previous years.

I was a fan of the loos.  They were MUCH MUCH better than my experience at Green Man, both in terms of the lack of visibility of 'what lies beneath' and also that they didn't have the really loud banging wooden doors, which kept me awake until the early hours each day at Green Man. Helped by being able to use the ones in boutique, which seemed to have cleaners there often, but also used the ones on site during the day, and didn't have any issues. We'd left by the time of the 'lock out'.

Music was great.

Weather was fantastic.

Food was to the usual decent standard. I'm not too fussy so just went to the places with the smallest/no queues.  The food stall in the boutique camping was the only disappointment - my wife tells me they didn't know how to make a latte (apparently you just add milk to an espresso, but they watered it down) and the breakfast sandwiches were poor quality

Beer was good. Didn't really feel as though I had to queue anywhere for more than five minutes, and everyone behaved nicely in the queues.

People were friendly - as always.

One small point but my wife has been pinged today as a Covid contact, which we assume to have been on site. She's been tested and is negative so far. I haven't been pinged, so we're assuming it relates to when she spent time in the crafts tent as that's the only time she was in a specific place for any period of time when I wasn't also around.

Already booked for next year.

[cowowl]

We had a great time. They did a superb job of making it feel as normal as possible. We stayed out of the tents for most of the weekend, the only exception was for the BC,NR secret set on the last evening. Music line-up was excellent for me, Little Simz and Anna Meredith my favourites.

We stayed in the relocated Quiet Camping and it was very sparsely populated at the far end. Well worth the extra 5-10 mins walk.

Toilet situation was not too bad all things considered. Carrying your own toilet roll and hand gel made a big difference.

I am an early riser so was able to go straight into the showers at 6am each morning with no queue at all. I quite like the new showers once I worked out the logistics of keeping my clothes and shoes dry. They discourage people from taking too long so I reckon the queue would move more quickly.

Food was great as well. Like some others have mentioned, it massively helps that I am pretty flexible and like most of the food options, so just went to the shortest queue.

Love the Literature Tent, and the fact that it doesn't overlap with the music much. The talk by Philip Hoare about his book on Albrecht Durer was the highlight.

Very disappointed it looks like we can't go next year due to the timings clashing with the first couple of days of the school term (my partner is a part-time teacher and they will likely be training days so can't flex the days around them). Might do Green Man instead and back to EOTR for 2023.

[The Nal]

Who had a shower and then bumped the button to turn it on after you'd put your clothes back on? 

[ian the worm]

7 hours ago, shoebox said:

Did anyone else see Matthew Baynton from Horrible Histories/Ghosts as a punter? Or did he just have a doppelganger hanging around?

Only the Ghosts* can see the Ghosts. 
 

 

*mostly

[juliadevitt]

22 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Who had a shower and then bumped the button to turn it on after you'd put your clothes back on? 

My mate did this. He wasn’t the only one then!

[Dancers Stand Very Still]

2 hours ago, Fareham Grecian said:

Ah yes, but the website text says ‘The boutique camping area is located near the Folly for 2022’…

(sorry JHad, crossed with your reply)

All good, my fellow Grecian! 

I guess we'll get clarity in due course 😊. 

[majormajormajor]

1 hour ago, The Nal said:

Who had a shower and then bumped the button to turn it on after you'd put your clothes back on? 

Haha, I did that first day - then just walked out in my undies the other couple of times. Nice to give the ladies a bit of eye candy too, no? 

Should have a changing room tent out front a la Green Man.

Also was shocked at how the ladies' queue at the showers was invariably way shorter than the gents!

[riverlodge]

I'm being lazy here and quoting from 'another location' posting. But the cross refs with other festivals might be of interest (at a really dull moment). And I'm definitely of the opinion that Dry Cleaning have leapt forward this summer so much and are right, right up there. The set I saw at Latitude was amazing, but the Big Top set was off the scale. Immense.

Here is my festival summer 'best of' list
Lots of subjectivity (the time and place and all that) as it should be, but this is what 'felt' good to me.

Latitude

Top 3: Dry Cleaning, Luke la Volpe, Vlure

Remainder of top ten (no order): Anna Meredith, Just Mustard, Goat Girl, Working Men’s Club [BitF might have 'words' with me that they aren't top 3 but hey ho..], CMAT, Black Honey, Los Bitchos
Seen and liked: Supergrass, Villagers, Goa Express, Snuts, Stephen Fretwell, Sinead O’Brien, Wet Leg, Stephen Fretwell, Self Esteem, Kyanos, Big Joanie
Seen and not bothered: Cool Greenhouse, Kawala, Sea Girls, Weird Milk, Tim Burgess
[note: did not see Sunday eve]


Green Man [this was almost impossible to cull]

Top 3: Lump, King Hannah, Lazarus Kane
Remainder of top ten (no order): Mogwai, Shame, Fontaines, Wet Leg, Lounge Society, Liz Lawrence, Goa Express
Seen and liked: PVA, Yard Act, Working Men’s Club, Hanya, Home Counties, Surfing Magazines, Nadine Shah, Egyptian Blue, Django, Django, Caribou, Katrin Finch/ Seckou Keita, Emma-Jean Thackray, Newdad, Duski, Crack Cloud, Panic Shack, Golden Dregs, Dream Wife,
Seen and not bothered: Lynks, Jockstrap, Nuha Ruby Ra, Boy Azooga (reluctantly), Billie Marten

EOTR [pretty tricky here too]

Top 3: Lazarus Kane, Dry Cleaning, Anna B Savage
Remainder of top ten (no order): John Grant, Anna B Savage/William Doyle/ Laurie (piano), Katy J (tipi set), Caroline, Jonny Greenwood, WH Lung, Squid
Seen and liked: Goa Express, Katy J, Sleep Eaters, Just Mustard, CMAT, Bdrmm, Arlo Parks, Lazarus Kane (piano), Anteloper, Anna Meredith, Broadside Hacks (piano), William Doyle, PVA, Crack Cloud, Yard Act
Seen and not bothered: nobody in this category

That's not a bad haul from chiefly UK / Ireland acts? Roll on 2022....

[pothead pixie]

Did the Pixies actually play, I notice them not cropping up on people lists, did they cancel the gig here?

[riverlodge]

6 minutes ago, pothead pixie said:

Did the Pixies actually play, I notice them not cropping up on people lists, did they cancel the gig here?

Yep, nobody at all watched them.

[pothead pixie]

2 minutes ago, riverlodge said:

Yep, nobody at all watched them.

Why, because Kirsten wasn't there, I always thought they put on great performances anytime I've seen the footage.

[Sean1234321]

There was some paint drying on the side of a wall that evening, drew quite a crowd. 

 

 

(Kidding, I love Pixies) 

[staffop]

7 hours ago, The Nal said:

Thats on him though. All of the other portaloos were open. They just closed the toilets behind the Black Crow and the main toilets. You're only a short stroll from a toilet anywhere on site. Pissing into pint glasses and lenor bottles in your tent is nonsense. A barbarian. Should be banned from attending the festival. 

Interesting Nal. I always assumed a discreet, sealed piss bottle was acceptable when camping alone....? I am a male of a certain age though so averse to multiple visits in the night.

I take your point about pissing in a pint pot though - there are limits 😉

[riverlodge]

19 minutes ago, pothead pixie said:

Why, because Kirsten wasn't there, I always thought they put on great performances anytime I've seen the footage.

sorry mate, I was facetious and that was unfair. they COVID cancelled ages ago along with all the rest of their dates.

it was a stunning festival however 🙂 and I also hope you get to see them soon as 🙏

[killyourtv]

3 hours ago, riverlodge said:

EOTR [pretty tricky here too]

Top 3: Lazarus Kane, Dry Cleaning, Anna B Savage
Remainder of top ten (no order): John Grant, Anna B Savage/William Doyle/ Laurie (piano), Katy J (tipi set), Caroline, Jonny Greenwood, WH Lung, Squid
Seen and liked: Goa Express, Katy J, Sleep Eaters, Just Mustard, CMAT, Bdrmm, Arlo Parks, Lazarus Kane (piano), Anteloper, Anna Meredith, Broadside Hacks (piano), William Doyle, PVA, Crack Cloud, Yard Act
Seen and not bothered: nobody in this category

That's not a bad haul from chiefly UK / Ireland acts? Roll on 2022....

Like you, didn't see ANYONE I thought I wouldn't give another go watching, and that's a first for me as I usually whinge on here about a fair few "meat and potatoes" sets.

One other observation. You have to move a bit to get that sweet spot where the sound is loud but not eardrum wrecking, and I found it easier this year bar the Fenne Lilly. The Dry Cleaning noise at the front was epic.

I remember that No Other Band set, potentially my highlight, being hard to listen to a few years back.

[noam c]

First time at EOTR and first festival with the wife and kids. Have been to different festivals before and gave up on all except for Glastonbury (been 10 times)

How was it? A big wow for different reasons. First, hats off to the EOTR people for pulling off this event under the current conditions and making it seem like a normal world for a whole weekend. I haven’t felt like this in ages.

Then the actual event. Not only did it work out well, this was one of the best festival experiences I’ve had. Everything was in its right place. My wife, who swore to never go to a festival - loved it. The kids had the time of their life. I took advantage of the post euphoric festival high and with her permission snapped tickets for next year.

The music was awesome everywhere, I really liked the Sleaford Mods, Dry Cleaning, Billy Nomates, Warmduscher, Stereolab, Jane Weaver, Girl Band

weather was great, food was great but the overall atmosphere of the festival and the people was the most important thing. See you all next year!

[5co77ie]

my review is here:

https://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/endoftheroad/2021/review.shtml

 

if you have the time for what was a bit of a long worded piece this year, I'm rusty...