How was 2025?

[Dark Star]

12 minutes ago, WFD said:

 

I queued to get in to Man/Woman/Chainsaw and a steward said "you can go in but you've got no chance of seeing them", and once I squeezed past the first few people, there was loads of room and I got to the barrier no problem (aside from the occasional slight trip over an outstretched leg).

MWC were absolutely great, and stellar sound too, even down at the front. Would love to see them on the Garden Stage in a year or two. 

[Yoss]

What a f**king brilliant weekend, again, rain or not.

Some great music, including sets from Dame Area and Aunty Rayzor which are right up there with my favourites in twelve EotRs. In both cases I didn't know of them before their announcement on the line-up and who knows if or whether I might have come across them otherwise. (And it's much harder to imagine there being space for such acts at Green Man, which has a less adventurous undercard despite being bigger.)

 

Complaints? Nothing worth mentioning.

[rwa]

The big news this year was, of course, that there were much fewer wasps.  I could eat my cakes from the bakery in peace.

 

I'm glad that my previous feedback about there being too many wasps was taken onboard.

[airwaves]

3 minutes ago, rwa said:

The big news this year was, of course, that there were much fewer wasps.  I could eat my cakes from the bakery in peace.

 

I'm glad that my previous feedback about there being too many wasps was taken onboard.

🤔

I had my final porridge pot on Sunday morning, with added maple syrup. 

3 wasps joined me in my tent entrance!!! 

[The Nal]

No wasps until one of the little c**ts dove head first into my pint on Sunday

 

 

[Bee bird]

Saw lots of great music despite most of the headliners and the Garden stage acts really not being for me this year. I always found a post-headliner to enjoy including Adam Buxton's secret set and spent more time at the Boat and Folly. Highlights were Anna Erhard, Sharon Van Etten, New Eves, Throwing Muses, Smote, Goat, These New Puritans, Long Fling, Sylvie Kreusch, Aili (with aerobics), Sorry and Fabiana Palladino. Missed La Securite whilst wrangling a tent, but luckily had managed to see them a few days before. I felt there should have been at least some attempt to mitigate the mud in the worst spots. I saw a little girl who had got her welly boot stuck and had to be rescued by her dad. The sheep sht was an unpleasant surprise but understandable after the drought. Loos were better, although paper not restocked quickly enough on Saturday night and could have skydived on the updraft! Tier 1 tickets for next year and hopefully some headliners more to my taste. It's very interesting to see how divisive Sunday night's headliners were in these comments.

[Llamasausage]

To follow up

 

Got tickets for next year

 

People fainting presumably due to drugs. I understand it and a gazillion years ago it would probably have been me. But I don't understand it. Just go steady people. 

 

Gin bar. Forgot this. Used to do the best gin and tonics I've had at any festival, actually any music event. I asked them 'Any gin' and they shook their heads in a way that made me feel like it was the 100th time they had been asked the same thing ha ha. I hope this was not down to some event wide deal with 6 o'clock gin. Bring my own next time. Might do a popup lol.

 

 

[The Nal]

2 minutes ago, Llamasausage said:

Gin bar. Forgot this. Used to do the best gin and tonics I've had at any festival, actually any music event. I asked them 'Any gin' and they shook their heads in a way that made me feel like it was the 100th time they had been asked the same thing ha ha. I hope this was not down to some event wide deal with 6 o'clock gin. Bring my own next time. Might do a popup lol.

 

I spoke to them (in the silver bullet) on Thursday afternoon and she said they changed selling only gin because no one was buying it. 

 

Very welcome addition anyway that place. Cracking Bloody Mary.

 

Shout out to the sound this year. Big league sound. Bigly.

[robith]

1 hour ago, The Nal said:

 

I spoke to them (in the silver bullet) on Thursday afternoon and she said they changed selling only gin because no one was buying it. 

 

Very welcome addition anyway that place. Cracking Bloody Mary.

 

Shout out to the sound this year. Big league sound. Bigly.

Yeah I personally feel the Woods often sounds a bit underpowered but FJM in particular sounded absolutely enormous

[killyourtv]

1 hour ago, robith said:

Yeah I personally feel the Woods often sounds a bit underpowered but FJM in particular sounded absolutely enormous

The Woods was a revelation for me sound wise. Squid astonishing.

 

My 26 year old lad said Moin in the Big Top was the best he'd ever heard. He's gonna be deafer than me by 30.

[noisenoiseandmorenoise]

5 hours ago, The Nal said:

 

I spoke to them (in the silver bullet) on Thursday afternoon and she said they changed selling only gin because no one was buying it. 

 

Very welcome addition anyway that place. Cracking Bloody Mary.

 

Shout out to the sound this year. Big league sound. Bigly.

 

I have a picture of the gin menu from early Sunday last year and of the near 30 listed, at least half are marked as 'sold out' (with the full day to go). So I can only imagine they were drinking their own supply.

[airwaves]

6 hours ago, robith said:

Yeah I personally feel the Woods often sounds a bit underpowered but FJM in particular sounded absolutely enormous

The other fest I do is a real noize fest - ArcTanGent, grunge/goth/math/post/slush... - and as a result this year I had professional earplugs and a phone app noise meter. 

Most of what I measured at ATG was upper 80s/lower 90s dB (though I had a 105dB peak). For those that don't know, a change of 3dB is a doubling /halving of loudness, so 93dB is twice as loud as 90dB. And above 80dB in industry is where "compulsory ear protection kicks in.

 

I was stood at mixing desk for FJM and was reading between 96 and 99dB, with a 103dB peak!!! 

I thought it was awesome, especially as I didn't have my earplugs with me 😂😂

[RedRockRick]

On 03/09/2025 at 12:23, SweepingTheNation said:

 

If capacity had increased we'd know about it as they'd have had to apply for permission. There's always been queues for the tents, in fact it surprised me as much when Moin didn't have one despite being in some of the worst rain as much as it did when they did have one in bright sunshine last time they played.

 

 

I understand the overall licensed site capacity is 19,999. This includes artists, support staff, caterers, etc. Factoring in, say, 2,500 for these, I think you can say the actual number of paying punters would have been significantly more than 13,500. I pitched in quiet camping this year as in previous years and it was noticeably more rammed, and not helped by people blocking off large chunks of field by creating self-regulating hubs around large gazebos. 

[The Nal]

7th EOTR this year and I haven't noticed any increase. As in it doesn't feel any busier than usual. 

[SweepingTheNation]

1 hour ago, RedRockRick said:

I understand the overall licensed site capacity is 19,999. This includes artists, support staff, caterers, etc. Factoring in, say, 2,500 for these, I think you can say the actual number of paying punters would have been significantly more than 13,500. I pitched in quiet camping this year as in previous years and it was noticeably more rammed, and not helped by people blocking off large chunks of field by creating self-regulating hubs around large gazebos. 

 

OK, but those numbers can't have changed recently or we'd have heard about it whether through hearsay or factual, not by extrapolating from there being a few queues for Folly. If anything, thinking about it, I don't think I saw quite the traffic at the top of Garden that there has been sometimes in recent years, and the Big Top queues didn't seem that big when not tipping down either.

 

Funnily enough, trying to search for the exact licence details I found a thread in this board from 2011 about how there'd clearly been a major increase in punters that had ruined the magic...

[robith]

23 hours ago, The Nal said:

7th EOTR this year and I haven't noticed any increase. As in it doesn't feel any busier than usual. 

Yeah, bar the queues for the tents cos people wanted out of the rain, it felt exactly the same to me

[Watergirl]

My review:

https://www.therockclubuk.com/festival-reviews/3595-end-of-the-road-festival-28-31-aug-2025-larmer-tree-gardens-tollard-royal-wilts

[NigeBoy]

Some dodgy photos here 🙂

 

[MercuryTrev]

On 03/09/2025 at 13:05, The Nal said:

 

Haha yeah saw something similar. I'd take that every festival though over some heavy handed nonsense.

 

The vast majority of EOTR stewards are volunteers doing the job in return for a free ticket. It's a bit lame that other attendees don't appreciate that and just go along with following the rules that the stewards are politely asking them to observe for the greater good of all attendees.  I guess this is something that comes with more popularity/greater numbers.  

 

I've always found the stewards at EOTR to be great because they are "one of us". Pity not everyone sees it that way. 

[Olshansky]

On 01/09/2025 at 12:32, Dark Star said:

My biggest disappointment was the Sunday headliners, an alternative to Father John Misty or Black Country New Road would've been good, but that's personal taste. I can't stand one and just don't see the fuss about the other at all.  

 

 

Agree with you on the sunday headliners.  The Daddy Misty gag seems ten years past it's prime, and BCNR are fine enough if you like that art school sound but not nearly headliner material if you ask me.  

 

The only other thing I would change is that I think the food needs improvement.  I think they would do good to request vendors to do a 6 pound option like glastonbury does. It's more expensive than ever.  That, and I think we could do with some more options (especially for breakfast), perhaps more things like that healthier stall in the massage area.  I love chips as much as the next person but I can't eat them for 4 days 

[Olshansky]

On 04/09/2025 at 06:58, The Nal said:

 

I spoke to them (in the silver bullet) on Thursday afternoon and she said they changed selling only gin because no one was buying it. 

 

 

that's so odd because in 2024 they sold out of many many varieties!  by the sunday there wasnt mich left!

[Dark Star]

2 hours ago, Olshansky said:

The only other thing I would change is that I think the food needs improvement.  I think they would do good to request vendors to do a 6 pound option like glastonbury does. It's more expensive than ever.  That, and I think we could do with some more options (especially for breakfast), perhaps more things like that healthier stall in the massage area.  I love chips as much as the next person but I can't eat them for 4 days 

 

The bargain meal option that is offered at Glastonbury is excellent, but I think an anomaly among the UK festivals? Most are set up to get as much money out of people as possible. EOTR doesn't feel like that though, and some more affordable options would definitely help people. Such are the prices that even a £10.00 meal option would offer a noticable saving. 

On the subject of chips, the Poutine stall should be at EOTR. Would also love to see a raclette stall, and something like a hog roast setup next to the real ale bar on that little village green bit would be totally in keeping with the feel of that area and offer something different. A good late night chai option would be sweet too, would be cool if they could get something like the Lizzard Cafe (from Glasto greenfields) to attend, it'd also provide another small music option. 

[The Nal]

Thyme and Tide made a bollocks of their fish finger sambos. They were 8 quid (or maybe 7.50?) and on a brioche bun. This year they had them on roll - far too much bread - for 12 quid.

 

Same amount of fish. Fail.

Edited September 25, 2025 by The Nal

[rwa]

16 hours ago, Olshansky said:

I love chips as much as the next person but I can't eat them for 4 days 

Thinking back, I don't think I had any chips all weekend!

[RedRockRick]

3 hours ago, The Nal said:

Thyme and Tide made a bollocks of their fish finger sambos. They were 8 quid (or maybe 7.50?) and on a brioche bun. This year they had them on roll - far too much bread - for 12 quid.

 

Same amount of fish. Fail.

Fresh fish in stale-tasting buns doesn't really work.