Have I made the right decision …
For the first year in a long, long time (pandemic notwithstanding) I will not be attending the End of the Road festival. It has been a regular feature of our summer for years. The dates at the end of August beginning of September signal another summer is passing. It is filled with cool nights and hints of melancholy and usually half an eye on the upcoming beginning of term. Regular masochists who follow this column will know this is not the case this year and so you would argue perhaps even more reason to head to the beautiful setting of Larmer Tree Gardens, swan about with peacocks (if you can do such a thing), wear ridiculous head gear (see below), drink plentiful amounts, see some great bands and have a wonderful massage in the Healing Fields courtesy of the lovely Catherine and her team without giving a single toss about the start of term. What could be better….?
Well….. Eng vs NZ at T20 at Edgbaston ? It was a retirement present to myself and forced my hand. I’d been having a few thoughts. EOTR has been getting busier and busier as the attendance goes up and despite the addition of the Woods stage a while back few other concessions seem to have been made for the growing numbers, particularly in the toilet department. Long queues were commonplace last year as well as a sense that the facilities were not as clean as they used to be. Am I getting old? Sure, of course, but I still would like to sit and watch a band at the Garden stage without being suffocated by the sheer amount of people vying for space.
What’s the answer? Give it a year off and then go back with refreshed enthusiasm. See as many of the bands that are appearing as possible. So it’s Wilco on the 30th, Whitney K on the 4th. Can’t get to Sylvie or Kara Jackson so it’s Cory Hanson instead on the 24th.
Shaping up to be a cracking few weeks! This week’s broadcast reflects a previous article ‘The Top Ten Greatest Americana Artists’ that I penned for the site. I am running down 10 and 9 this week with Josh Rouse and Sparklehorse going head to head as well as new tracks by Flypaper, Margo Cilker, Blake Mills and Whitney K. We pay tribute to Robbie Robertson and feature some Golden Smog, First Aid Kit, Feist, Small Town Jones and Gillian Welch amongst others. As ever take what you want or need from this rambling radio nonsense.
