August 2025. End of the Road Festival. Cranborne Chase.
Your annual round-up of my 4 days on the Wiltshire/Dorset listening to music made my people young enough to be Oasis’s grandchildren.
Not only do I spend 1.3% of my year in a field, I probably took 3 days listening to all 132 artists and compiling a colour coded chart to direct James to the must-see acts.
Which he largely ignored.
At 26, his musical tastes actually coincide with mine more than you’d imagine (Moin and Squid his picks).
I met another chap with good musical taste on the Thursday,
young Newbury Tim actually just pretending to drink as he was on stewarding duties, managing the crowd surge towards the craft beer bar.
Courage Best will be the next Big Brand to be relaunched, after Bass and Boddies, but for now it’s all Verdant and Vault City at the £7 pint bar,
where the “running out of the cereal sour cans” caused a polite riot on the Friday.
Actually, the best beer came off-site at Butcombe’s upmarket King John, where the Rare Breed was a foamy wonder that might even convert a 26 year old to cask.
The food at EOTR is a highlight; dosas, sushi, crispy duck, Buddha bowls…
On Saturday the first rain of the summer turned up,
turning Larmer Gardens into a quagmire. I haven’t been able to face my muddy boots yet.
Some ran for cover, some old idiots braved the downpour.
Even the peacocks took cover, I saw two all week.
Talking of birds, Lily Seabird your new star, but Self Esteem (the only act that Mrs RM would have watched if she’d come) probably stole the show.
But the star is the site itself,
and as I walk the sodden gardens on the last night, healing tent, liquorice stall and all, I feel a tiny bit emotional it’s coming to an end .
“It marks the passing of time, Dad” says James, before joining me for one final bhaji wrap as I watch a film about Korean train zombies in a tent. What a treasure that lad is.
retiredmartin 
“You annual round-up”
Not sure if that first word should be ‘your’ or ‘yon’?
“Not only do I spend 1.3% of my year in a field, I probably took 3 days listening to all 132 artists and compiling a colour coded chart to direct James to the must-see acts.”
Whatever floats your/yon retirement boat. 🙂
“Which he largely ignored.”
LOL
“young Newbury Tim”
That sounds like one of the acts on stage.
“but for now it’s all Verdant and Vault City at the £7 pint bar”
An IPA and Hazy IPA at 4.3% and 4.5% respectively? They don’t make IPAs like they used to.
“where the “running out of the cereal sour cans” caused a polite riot on the Friday.”
And now wonder. At 6% at least you get your money’s worth vis a vis ABV.**
(and yes, I say that knowing full well Guinness is 4.2%, of which I used to be a big fan)
“Actually, the best beer came off-site at Butcombe’s upmarket King John, where the Rare Breed was a foamy wonder that might even convert a 26 year old to cask.”
I can proudly say that my two lads both prefer ales to lagers.
“The food at EOTR is a highlight; dosas, sushi, crispy duck, Buddha bowls…”
No toad-in-the-hole?
“On Saturday the first rain of the summer turned up,”
What the hell is THAT in the pic below!
“Some ran for cover, some old idiots braved the downpour.”
(slow golf clap)
“But the star is the site itself,”
That pic is indeed quite the sight.
“I feel a tiny bit emotional it’s coming to an end”
I think that is a mark of being ‘old’. We used to say that the journey was the thing. But, at this stage of the game, we’ve reached a waypoint where we’re more intent on watching the journeys of those around us, rather than press on with ours. 😉
“What a treasure that lad is.”
See! 🙂
Cheers
** – That was not an attempt at a jibe. Just noticing the differences in ABVs for certain types of beer compared to over here. Mind you, for a ‘six pint day out’ it would behoove one to sup on beers from 3.8% to 4.5%!
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No Toad in the Hole. A few proper pies.
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It’s nice you’ve arranged a carer to take you to these things for the next couple of decades.
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Yes, I wonder when he’ll realise.
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Everything I could want from a blog post here – music, Vault City, Newbury Tim, Courage jackets with smuggled cans in the pocket…
But best of all is trying to decifer the spreadsheet and extend my list of genre descriptions.
I’m quite jealous of End of the Road this year, even with the mud.
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Your friend Newbury Tim has/had a doppelganger in Bristol. Drinks in the Post Office Tavern. Fun Fact: he gave me my first lift in an electric car. “They’ll never catch on”, I thought.
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Bill, I only knew the Cattle Market Tavern, the properest of proper pubs near Temple Meads back in the ‘eighties.
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The Cattle Market was indeed a proper pub. Unfortunately it relied on the posties from the nearby sorting office and when that closed, it pretty much died. Demolished now.
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Healing tent, liquorice (ugh) stall, mud, sodden gardens? I’m also guessing there are a lot of “made-up” genre categories on that rather garish spreadsheet. I tried listening to a couple of your recommendations, but neither floated my boat – no surprises there!
All a little too messy and New Age for the liking of this septuagenarian, but as long as you and the lad had a good time, that’s all that matters.
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Paul, in my eighth decade I fully understand PM Balfour’s observation that “nothing matters very much, and most things don’t matter at all”.
As for music choices, I’m happy with the randomised playings of the juke box at the local.
We had avant garde jazz and Joni Mitchell the other day, and I didn’t have to get covered in mud to hear them.
Most of all I could drink NBSS 4.5 bitter-you’ve-heard-of while listening too.
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While my own listening at home is exclusively “New this week”, I love the randomness of a pub jukebox, and what it says about the town and its pubs.
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You don’t like liquorice ?
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Nah, can’t stand the stuff!!
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Thanks for photo opportunity. Cheers! timofnewbury on BlueSky
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WordPress gave me a new name but now tweaked hopefully.
Great to see this post and happy with the photo (the black warty thing on my right cheek has now dropped off BTW).
I was on a break so had my tabard off for the photo op. Went back to finish my Thursday shift on the Woods stage after a brief chat. This was my 18th EOTR (17th as a steward = free ticket).
Five days camping went well despite the rain although my left calf swelled up after the festival for a few days.
I also enjoyed a bit of Moin and Squid. Also the Talking Heads stage sessions in the morning with Miranda Sawyer, John Harris and Stuart Murdoch talking about their books. Another highlight was the Adam Buxton Band featuring past and present members of Metronomy.
I have started preparing a blog post to include some photos and audio clips.
Sorry to miss James. Hope to see you both next year at EOTR.
Cheers Tim https://bsky.app/profile/timofnewbury.bsky.social
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I quite liked your new name ;-0
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