End of the Road Festival 2013 - Sunday Review

Sunday arrives in no time at all and I spend the first couple of hours packing away our tents and taking our belongings back to the car - I'm back at work first thing Monday morning, have a long journey ahead and two young children - the decision had already been made to leave before tonight's headliners so it's nice to hear a little bit of Belle & Sebastian in soundcheck.

After breakfast, a bit of shopping (I even treat myself to a nice handcrafted woolen jumper) and more circus activities (my five year old has got pretty good at hula-hooping now!) I head into the Big Top solo and listen to Crocodiles, a band I'd pretty much forgotten about since I liked their "Neon Jesus" / "Summer of Hate" singles some four years ago. I find myself reminded of what I've been missing - motorik rhythms all wrapped in fuzz, a thick, toe-tapping pysche sound that has a midday crowd happily nodding along.

We take in more of the sights of the festival next and some quiet time too. A beer or two relaxing is sometimes all that is needed.

The next act we head for are The Staves, hailing from just down the road from me I'm one of the few who 'get' their Watford based anecdotes. Their humorous and repeated profanity in between songs might seem out of place but the sun is out and the sisters' heart-melting harmonies are definitely not. It's beautiful and delicate as the crowd shuffle quietly trying not to disturb anyone. That actually sums up the general atmosphere of the festival well, very dignified and appreciative - End of the Road is a festival for music lovers, pretty much every one of the 10,000 in attendance the same at heart.

We have to rush to the Woods stage to catch Caitlin Rose, she's already playing "No One To Call" as we hit range, damn you scheduling clashes! The hour set is heavily based on her latest record The Stand-In with "Silver Sings The Blues" and "Only A Clown" winning the crowd over particular well. It's an almost new band that's on tour with Caitlin so it takes me some adjusting and there is perhaps a little jet lag on display but Caitlin has the voice, the songs and soon it's the perfect festival closure (for me) in the sun.

It's nearly seven pm and I regreat having to miss Broken Twin but we head back to the car as the kids are tired and we need to get straight onto the roads to arrive home before midnight. Thankfully we do.

Thank you yet again End of the Road, you do not disappoint.

Normally I have a long-list of potential improvements for next year, with EotR I can think of two. One, organise the beer queues better, perhaps get some Latitude style keep-your-own glasses and two, let me curate a stage!!

Crocodiles - New Music "Introducing"

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/crocodilescrocodilescrocodiles
BUY: Summer of Hate CD HERE

Another recent find for me, I appear to have crossed into loving the new band of post-wave punk bands that are becoming more and popular this year, probably thanks to The Horrors and a few others bands.

Crocodiles are a US band, hailing from San Diego, Jesus and the Mary Chain similarities are on evidence - Neon Jesus the bands debut single (you can find below) is a really good kind of early eighties electro punk jam, in the vien of Echo & The Bunnymen etc.

Stand-out tracks off the debut 'I Wanna Kill' and the title track off the debut album Summer of Hate - add a distorted fuzz and this band should be heard.

Hopefully one to watch.