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This year’s Comedy Stage boasts a strong line-up with the usual blend of stand up, sketch, character, podcasts and political satire. First up, we are  thrilled to welcome influential and satirical podcast The Bugle to End of The Road for the first time, where they’ll be recording live. The show created by Andy Zaltzman – also performing on the Comedy Stage this year and an EOTR favourite – and John Oliver, continues to broadcast with Andy and a host of international co-presenters. Joining him at the festival is comedian and frequent co-host, Alice Fraser, also performing a solo set this year, as well as a special guest to be announced.

Next, we have Bafta Award winning Dave Johns. Instantly recognisable from his lead role in Ken Loach’s critically acclaimed I, Daniel Blake, Johns has been performing stand-up for three decades and has honed his talents as a poignant and warm performer, a skilled storyteller and a natural joke-teller. Our special late-night headline show comes from panel show regular and sometime Tim Key collaborator, Mark Watson. Cluster-bombed with yoghurt on TV’s Taskmaster, half-killed on The Island, Watson returns to the calmer surrounds of the Larmer Tree Gardens to perform his most recent full-length Edinburgh Fringe offering, The Infinite Show.

Elsewhere on the bill you’ll find BBC Radio 4’s Newsjack presenter and Mock The Week regular Angela Barnes will bring her sharp-tongued comedy to the festival – tackling subjects like nuclear bunkers, aging and other people’s perceptions. Rising star Catherine Bohart’s engaging and distinctive stand-up has already earned her a place on the BBC’s New Talent Hotlist and fellow up-and-coming bright spark Bisha K. Ali, fresh from Radio 4’s Grownupland and The Guilty Feminist podcast, will showcase her laid charm taking on topics including race, politics, family and science.

We are also delighted to reveal another fantastic literature line up, showcasing some of the most acclaimed, fascinating and moving writers around. As usual, during the morning of each day of the festival, a selection of authors will read from and discuss their work alongside more workshops than ever before, at The Library Stage in The Outlands. The hugely popular and influential Blacklisted Podcast, who will be recording an episode live at the festival. Hosted by John Mitchinson (QI) and Andy Miller, it  has been garnering fans across the globe and they’ve promised a very special guest will be joining them too… Not to be missed.

Best selling author and ex Guardian music critic Tom Cox may be more known for his hilarious but poignant twitter account My Cat Is Sad, following lamentations of his cat The Bear, but he will be discussing his latest book at End of The Road. In 21st-Century Yokel he explores the way we are tied inescapably to landscape, whether we like it or not.

For the music writing lovers, Daniel Rachel’s critically acclaimed book Walls Come Tumbling Down: The Music and Politics of Rock Against Racism, 2 Tone and Red Wedge charts the pivotal period between 1976 and 1992 that saw politics and pop music come together for the first time in Britain’s musical history, while Tot Taylor takes us back further to question where songs actually come from and whether all songs are in fact just the ‘same song’.

Revered new author Caroline O’Donoghue brings her critically acclaimed debut novel Promising Young Women, a striking, gothic and witty story about being a young woman in a man’s world. Last but not least, writer, broadcaster and columnist Christina Patterson will help us hold it together after a long night at the Disco Ship with her new book The Art of Not Falling Apart. A joyous, moving and sometimes shockingly honest celebration of life as an adventure, one where you ditch your expectations, raise a glass and prepare for a rocky ride. Cheers to that.

Comedy Stage 2018 Line Up

The Bugle Podcast
Dave Johns
Mark Watson
Rob Auton
Angela Barnes
Andy Zaltzman
Laura Lexx
Catherine Bohart
Scott Bennett
Questing Time podcast
Sarah Keyworth
Running on Empty improv: Paul Foxcroft, Briony Redman & Richard Soames
Evelyn Mok
John-Luke Roberts
Bisha K Ali
Olga Koch
Alice Fraser
Universilly Challenge quiz: hosted by Bec Hill & Sarah Bennetto
Garrett Millerick
Jessica Fostekew
Alex Kealy
Ben van der Velde

Library Stage 2018 Line Up:

Tom Cox
Backlisted Podcast Live
Daniel Rachel
Sally Bayley
Ian Marchant
Caroline O’Donoghue
Christina Patterson
Mathew Clayton
Tot Taylor

Tickets are available here: http://endoftheroadfestival.com/tickets/

We are very pleased to welcome back White Denim, who were last seen ripping up the Garden Stage in 2014. The Texan foursome have gained a reputation for being one of the best live bands around and, through their ten years, have explored everything from soul, jazz, and country to psychedelia, punk, and prog without compromising on astonishing musical dexterity.

Danish band Iceage arrived in 2008 armed with the the most brutal punk rock we’d heard in a long time. They were just teenages then, and their sound has evolved over the years. Their upcoming album Beyondless is arguably their most accomplished, crafted, and moving record yet – the culmination of their three albums so far. We can’t wait to welcome them to Larmer Tree Gardens for the first time.

Also added to this year’s bill are cult grunge foursome The Posies whose extensive back catalogue stretches across four decades, the lovable purveyors of indie pop Sunflower Bean and London-based experimental post-punk trio built around the remarkable and distinctive voice and songs of Serafina Steer, Bas Jan.

We are delighted to reveal the winners of this year’s Play End Of The Road Competition, who this year were chosen from a list of well over 2000 hopefuls. It was highest number – and highest quality – of applications the festivals has ever had. The three successful artists have won the chance to play at End Of The Road 2018, with one bagging a filmed session on site with The Line Of Best Fit.

First up is Californian-born, Glasgow-based musician A. Wesley Chung, previously of Long Beach indie collective Boris Smile, makes blissful Americana befitting of his West Coast heritage. Lo-fi folk and fine artist StevieRay Latham charmed us with his melody-filled, poetic songs and last but not least London quartet Suggested Friends, who make effervescent and melancholic pop rock songs with catchy hooks and frenetic choruses.

New Line Up Additions:

White Denim
Iceage
The Posies
Sunflower Bean
Bas Jan
Kiran Leonard
Marc Riley DJ
Screaming Females
Laura Misch
A. Wesley Chung
StevieRay Latham
Suggested Friends

Tickets are available here: http://endoftheroadfestival.com/tickets/

Joining headliners Vampire Weekend, St Vincent, Feist and Yo La Tengo on the bill will be the singular Josh T. Pearson, artistic polymath Wild Billy Childish & The CTMF, rising star Lucy Dacus and many more.

We are thrilled to welcome back Josh T. Pearson, whose legendary band Lift To Experience has reached near-mythical status, their only album The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads inspiring a cult following while nailing the sombre mood of the time. After a decade of near silence, Pearson re-emerged with his acclaimed heart-wrenching debut solo record, Last of the Country Gentlemen. He played those songs at End Of The Road in 2011 to a mesmerised crowd, as Pearson seemed “truly to be wrestling for his soul” (The Independent). With a new solo album due this year for which he’s “got rid of the beard, cut my hair and started wearing colour”, Pearson is freeing himself from the mythology that has surrounded him since Lift To Experience’s implosion and we can’t wait to see it manifest on stage.

Over four decades, the endlessly creative and subversive Billy Childish has produced a breadth of brilliant, uncompromising work in a long and hugely eclectic career that has seen him explore music, art, poetry and more. As a musician he’s released albums at an astonishing rate (approximately 150 albums and counting) taking in punk, rock & roll, blues, spoken word, nursery rhymes and garage rock. He’s fronted a number of bands down the years and in 2017 Wild Billy Childish & CTMF released their fifth album in five years.

To mark the centenary of suffrage, Stealing Sheep are celebrating at End Of The Road with a brand new performance inspired by the suffragette movement. ‘Stealing Sheep’s Suffragette Tribute’ will bring together female musicians with design, AV and production students to create a marching band and procession featuring brand new music – all inspired by women, equality and empowerment.

Lucy Dacus was a 19-year-old songwriter with a day job in a photo lab when her debut LP, 2016’s No Burden, sparked a 20-plus-label bidding war and two years of constant touring. With a new album out on Matador released last week to wild acclaim, it’s clear all that attention was more than justified and we’re as equally eager for her return to End Of The Road.

Adding to the wealth of new talent on this year’s line is Nashville native Soccer Mommy, AKA Sophie Allison, whose debut album proper Clean is one of the finest we’ve heard this year. Infamous for their visceral and raucous live sets, supergroup Warmduscher (fronted by Clams Baker of Paranoid London and backed by members of Mutado Pintado, the Fat White Family, Paranoid London, Childhood and Insecure Men) join us for some wild rock ‘n’roll. With Flat Worms and Hookworms already in the bait bucket we’ve also bagged Cut Worms, the brainchild of singer-songwriter Max Clarke. The beautiful, transportative soft rock that makes up his debut EP was produced by Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado and we can’t wait for him to bring his springtime tunes to Larmer Tree for late summer.

New Line Up Additions:

Josh T. Pearson
Wild Billy Childish & CTMF
Titus Andronicus
Jonathan Wilson
Lucy Dacus
Shannon and the Clams
Stealing Sheep
The Limiñanas
Warmduscher
Soccer Mommy
Cut Worms
Haley Heynderickx
Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker
The Orielles
Warhaus
Saba Lou
Honey Harper
Plastic Mermaids
Zulu Zulu
Boy Azooga

Tickets are available here: http://endoftheroadfestival.com/tickets/

Our first headliners need no introduction. Vampire Weekend announce their hugely anticipated return with the first live show to be announced in four years, having last been spotted on these shores in the summer of 2014. End Of The Road will mark their only UK festival appearance this year and with rumours of a new album abound – their last being the universally acclaimed and Grammy Awards winning 2013 album Modern Vampires Of The City – we can’t wait to welcome the illusive New Yorkers to the Larmer Tree Gardens for the first time.

We are honoured that multi Grammy Award winning Feist will be making her first ever appearance at End of The Road. The Canadian songwriter and one time Broken Social Scene member has long been on our wish list and her fifth album – and first in six years – Pleasure, emerged last year as her most defiant work so far. End Of The Road – her only UK festival this year -will be the perfect setting to bring this intimate set songs to life.

Joining Vampire Weekend and Feist will be the inimitable St. Vincent, who returns for the third time to End Of The Road, having graced the Woods stage in 2014 and 2013, when she teamed up with David Byrne for their Love This Giant collaboration. Unique and daring, Annie Clark has had a spectacular year with the release of the seminal and prescient album Masseduction. Hitting The Guardian’s number album of 2017 and captivating audiences with her spellbinding, avant-garde live shows, St. Vincent has made the transition into singular rock star. We are delighted to have her back on her own terms.

End Of The Road will once again open its doors on Thursday, with the indefinable Yo La Tengo kicking off things on the Woods Stage. Making their fourth appearance at End Of The Road but first time as headliners and about time too; given their consistently high standards over a dizzying 14 albums – with a new one due in 2018 – we can think of no better way to kick off the festival.

And that’s just the headliners! We are very excited to welcome back Ezra Furman. A whirlwind of drama, joy and rock’n’roll brilliance, Ezra is a flag-bearer for the disenfranchised. With the anticipated new album Transangelic Exodus due in just a few weeks time and his Visions bandmates in tow, be prepared for a career defining set in September. Next up, two solo songwriters hailing from legendary bands; John Cale – the enigmatic Welshman and co-founder of the near mythical Velvet Underground – will bring his exciting and diverse back catalog, while Jeff Tweedy, front man and founder of the seminal US indie heroes Wilco (who headlined the festival back in 2009), will perform solo.

We are delighted to welcome avant-pop composer Julia Holter this year, whose mesmerising music we’ve long admired. The brilliant 2015 album Have You In My Wilderness was lauded universally, and with a new album hopefully on the way this year, her EOTR set – and only UK festival – is bound to be very special. Another first timer and sonic adventurer, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, will be joining us in September. The much celebrated LA based producer and composer uses a rare modular system to create her kaleidoscopic electronic world.

It really is an embarrassment of riches year, as we can reveal that firm festival favourite Gruff Rhys will return, bringing with him mesmerising stories and subtle compositions. We also have underground pioneer Ariel Pink making his End Of The Road debut and bringing his outlandish pop compositions from another dimension with him. As if that wasn’t enough, the father of Ethio-Jazz Mulatu Astatke will be blessing us with his presence for a triumphant, life-affirming live show.

Thee mighty Oh Sees, last seen destroying the Garden Stage in the best possible way, return to shake the festival to its core with their primal garage punk rock once again and they’re bringing label mates DUDS and Flat Worms with them. Get ready for a Castle Face Records takeover.

As usual we have a wealth of new talent making their way to the festival for the first time. Big Thief released two albums in just one year; their confidently named debut Masterpiece followed by the spine tingling Capacity. With both records all over the end of year lists, they are definitely one to watch. Acclaimed newcomer and Little Big League guitarist Japanese Breakfast will bring her blend of dark lyrics and blissed out pop melodies, while Julien Baker’s raw, intimate folk and reputation for assured, beautiful shows will surely bring the festival to a stand still. Plus we welcome rising stars Snail Mail, described by Pitchfork as ‘the wisest teenage indie rockers we know’ and BBC Sound of 2018 nominee Nilufur Yanya, who counts King Krule and The Invisible among her many fans.

Last but certainly not least, we love a happy ending here at End Of The Road so it is with great pleasure that we invite revered Tuareg innovator form Niger Mdou Moctar back this year, after he was cruelly kept from us in 2017. Another singular artist who narrowly missed out on his debut back in 2016, is once part-time Syrian wedding singer Omar Souleyman. Thrilling audiences at festivals across the world with his thumping blend of traditional dabke songs and electronic beats, we can’t wait to see him and the vast array of artists already confirmed for End Of The Road 2018.

End Of The Road Festival 2018 Line Up:

Vampire Weekend
St. Vincent
Feist
Yo La Tengo
Ezra Furman
Jeff Tweedy
John Cale
Fat White Family
Oh Sees
Gruff Rhys
Julia Holter
Mulatu Astatke
Ariel Pink
Destroyer
Omar Souleyman
Aldous Harding
Big Thief
(Sandy) Alex G
James Holden & The Animal Spirits
This Is The Kit
Hookworms
IDLES
Shame
The Low Anthem
Protomartyr
Hiss Golden Messenger
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
Damien Jurado
Amen Dunes
Imarhan
Japanese Breakfast
Richard Dawson
Du Blonde
Julien Baker
Jim White
Flat Worms
Mdou Moctar
Childhood
Lost Horizons
Colter Wall
The Weather Station
Adrian Crowley
Nilüfer Yanya
Sweet Baboo
Darren Hayman
Gwenno
Insecure Men
David Thomas Broughton
DUDS
Snail Mail
Erin Rae
Caroline Spence
Samuel R. Saffery
Snapped Ankles
Anna Burch
AK/DK
Penelope Isles
Creatures
Red River Dialect
Tiny Ruins
Stella Donnelly
Lail Arad & JF Robitaille

More info on all the acts can be found on our  Line Up Page

APPLICATIONS OPEN HERE NOW

This year one of the selected artists will open one of the Major Stages (Woods, Garden, Big Top) and one will film a session with The Line of Best Fit. Other winners will receive a standard festival slot. If you are chosen as the act to open one of the Major Stages you will still be eligible for The Line of Best Fit feature, (and vice versa) – the two opportunities aren’t mutually exclusive but they won’t necessarily go to the same act.

Application Rules / Terms & Conditions:

Entry:

• Only applications submitted through the online form will be accepted. We will not accept applications by email or social media.
• Applications are open from 6 December – Midnight 19 February
• Only applications received by the closing date will be considered.
• You can see from our past line-ups what sort of music we are interested in.
• You must be available on the following dates: Thursday 30th August – Sunday 2nd September 2018 inclusive

Announcement:

• The winners will be notified by mid March, and announced on our website/Facebook shortly thereafter. Please do not email us to ask for updates.

If you are successful:

• We will pay a fee of £150 for each of these slots, to help with travel costs etc.
• It is your responsibility to make your way to and from the festival, and you agree to be on time for your load in / stage time.
• You agree to provide the information required in our ‘Artist Brief’ in good time.

Headlining the night will be one of the highlights from this year’s exceptional festival, purveyors of languid and beautiful guitar pop Ultimate Painting. Joining them will be eight piece noise ensemble Nervous Conditions, one of the most exciting new UK bands. With a front man that sounds like a straight-edge Mark E. Smith over skronking sax, no-nonsense synths, violin and dual drums, resulting in something that sounds like Sun Ra on a post-punk binge. Very special guest DJs to be announced.

Tickets are £12 each and available through Music Glue and DICE.

Early Bird tickets for End of The Road 2018 sold out in a record 35 minutes this year.

Tier 2 tickets are now on sale, along with our deposit scheme, here.

Finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for, The Line of Best Fit have not only got their mitts on our stage times but have arranged them into a handy clash finder too. Check it out!

Please note, Slowcoaches will be wrapping up at 18:45 and not jamming with The Surfing Magazines for 30 minutes, despite what it looks like!

For the first time this year BBC Radio 3’s adventurous music programme Late Junction will be curating the Friday evening on our Tipi stage. With a rich history in broadcasting left field music, from Russian sound art to Chicago footwork via field recordings and free jazz, Late Junction has selected 4 suitably boundary- pushing artists to top their bill.

Renowned multi instrumentalist and new age mystic Laraaji, was discovered by Brian Eno while he was busking in Washington Square Park with his custom made electronic zither went on to release the seminal album Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance produced by Eno. With a new album due this year, we can’t wait for him to bring his unique blend of transcendental jazz and new age ambience to Larmer Tree Gardens.

KLEIN is a singer and producer based in South London (by way of Lagos) known for her unique blend of gospel, experimental electronic production and raw vocals. Her self-released album Only was on many tastemaker lists last year and she recently won a Oram award for innovative women in music.

Tuareg vocalist and guitarist Mdou Moctar. Revered as an innovator in his home country of Niger, Moctar is known for his psychedelic, electronic adaptations of traditional Tuareg music and his unconventional style has won him accolades both in Niger and abroad. His 2008 debut album Anar was a breakaway success on the MP3 sharing networks of West Africa and he has since released two highly regarded albums internationally.

Greek and Australian duo Xylouris White is comprised of singer George Xylouris whose lute playing seems otherworldly, as well as one of the best-loved artists on Crete, and the Dirty Three drummer who needs no introduction, the Jim White. The likes of Bill Callahan, Nick Cave, White Magic, PJ Harvey and Cat Power all know that there’s more to White’s drumming than mere accompaniment. Their second album Black Peak was released last October to wide critical acclaim and features vocals from Bonnie “Prince” Billy no less.

Late Junction will also be at large across the festival site on Friday. Laraaji will also be hosting a Laughter Meditation Workshop on the lawn in front of The New Pavilion at 2pm and presenter Nick Luscombe will DJ on The Disco Ship from 12.30–1.30am. 

Recordings of all performances will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction on the 12th to the 14th September from 11pm. Late Junction is on air at 11pm every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on BBC Radio 3.

We are teaming up with theprintspace to host a photography competition. Send us your best pictures from End of the Road over the years and we will select our favourites to be exhibited around the site at this year’s festival.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Enter up to five images for free via thehub. We will compile our 100 favourite entries on a Facebook album for all to see, as well as exhibited at the festival. In addition, everyone who enters will receive a voucher to order a free of charge 10″ x 12″ fine-art print, printed on museum-grade, archival papers from theprintspace. So everyone’s a winner!

Simply upload your image(s) via thehub:

https://hub.theprintspace.co.uk/Hub