End of the Road festival review – Pulp and CMAT lead indie landmark’s joyous birthday party — SkimNews
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- End of the Road festival celebrated its 20th anniversary (the porcelain anniversary) with a piano stage converted into a giant birthday cake and Jarvis Cocker leading a crowd singalong of 'Happy Birthday'
- Pulp used their headliner set to announce a hiatus, playing deep cuts and B-sides — including a live debut of 'Deep Fried in Kelvin' — with no hit song appearing until almost an hour into the set
- CMAT announced during her headline performance that she won't play the UK for two years, ending the set shirtless and deep in the audience for collective screaming
- Geese pulled in record audience attendance levels for their Thursday headliner show
- Angine de Poitrine brought their microtonal math-rock to the main stage after a breakthrough year, turning frantic instrumental workouts into a big-crowd-friendly set
- The 15,000-capacity festival remains free of big corporate sponsors and is positioned in the review as a rare indie success amid corporate-backed festivals elsewhere
Why it matters: Pulp's setlist — deep cuts with no hit songs for nearly an hour — demonstrates the festival's appetite for the unconventional, reinforced by its 15,000-capacity, sponsor-free operation amid corporate-backed festivals elsewhere. With Pulp entering hiatus and CMAT stepping away from the UK for two years, the milestone edition captures a moment of transition for indie music's flagship events.
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