With a month to go until the Larmer Tree Gardens festival kicks off, here’s our guide to the essential acts to look out for each day.

We are mere weeks away from what is set to be one of the most memorable editions of the beloved End of the Road festival, and not just because it is celebrating its 20^th birthday. With a lineup packed with countless highlights, from headliners Geese, Pulp, CMAT and Mac DeMarco to an array of cult favourites new and old, from The Space Lady to SILVERWINGKILLER, there is so much to look forward to at the West Country festival this year. With just a month to go, we take a day-by-day look at some of the highlights of the bill.

Thursday

The tone is set this year by a headline set from Geese in what will surely make for one of the highlights of the festival. The band have gone from strength to strength, becoming the uncontested face of indie rock last year with the release of ‘Getting Killed’. Still not convinced? Let their live show win you over. This has always been one of their strongest elements and we can’t wait to see it play out as a festival headline set.

Also on the main stage are End of the Road favourites Modern Woman, whose debut album ‘Johnny’s Dreamworld’ condenses their punk-folk sound into something  densely powerful. After that, YHWH Nailgun set up the New York double-bill with their own furious and indelible live show. Elsewhere, highlights include legendary outsider synth experimentalist The Space Lady, Pollyfromthedirt’s luminary take on the English mundane and The New Eves’ Nina Winder-Lind launching her first solo album.

Friday

With tents pitched and the first night of revelry behind us, Friday will be where things really get going, the first of three full days of music from around midday until the early hours of the morning. Mac DeMarco returns for his second End of the Road headline, bringing a mix of fan favourites and cuts from the subtle and charming 2025 collection ‘Guitar’. He is joined on the main stage by West Coast fuzz-psych stalwart Ty Segall and Canada’s vaunted polka-dotted jazz rock duo Angine de Poitrine. We are also looking forward to catching the Anatolian psychedelic grooves of Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek.

Touring one of the best albums of 2025, caroline headline the Garden Stage and are sure to provide one of the highlights of the festival. Anyone who was there for the hushed majesty of Lankum’s headline on the same stage two years ago will know it is the perfect stage for exactly the blend of the intimate and the awesome which makes caroline’s music so enthralling. The run of Silver Gore, Milkweed and Prewn earlier that day provides tempting grounds to camp out by the Garden Stage all day, but there will be so much more to catch for the ambitious festivalgoer. Elsewhere, you can catch Model/Actriz and Working Men’s Club for an intense dance-punk pairing in the big top tent, as well as the rave-flecked indie of Adult DVD and the immersive dream pop of Deary.

Saturday

Saturday builds up to a headline set from Pulp, which for many will make for the peak of the weekend. End of the Road offers perhaps the perfect setting for the resurgent ‘90s indie legends, providing the happy chaos of the festival environment while still offering a relatively intimate platform. Huge singalongs guaranteed. Before them, the raucous punk rave antics of Fat Dog follow the ‘afro-psychedelic future pop’ of BCUC. Opening the stage, Brighton indie-psych seven-piece big long sun will give an uplifting kick to the start of the day, while Jeffrey Lewis’ unique and charming combination of lyrical prowess, punk spirit and occasional comic-book interludes should not be missed.

Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE bring something quite different to the Garden Stage, the alt-hip-hop duo presenting one of the year’s most exciting collaborations with what will surely be an electrifying set. Then over at the Big Top, the rough-edged hyperpop of Bassvictim sends us into the after dark merriment that follows. Throughout Saturday, the Big Top plays host to a great run of immersive, synth-driven acts pushing the intersection of indie electronica, centring on a tantalising run of RIP Magic, Just Mustard and PVA.

We are hoping that Kiran Leonard will be joined by the members of caroline who periodically form his backing band, but either way, Leonard’s sets are always rivetingly driven by his intricate composition and equally impressive guitar-playing. Alice Costelloe joins him at the Folly, touring what is quietly one of the year’s most rewarding releases, the Mike Lindsay-produced ‘Move On With The Year’. Rising indie pop group Slag will also be well worth catching, as will the indelible SILVERWINGKILLER over at The Boat.

Sunday

The bill on Sunday is spearheaded by the trifecta of CMAT, Super Furry Animals and Kurt Vile. The former produced one of the most original alt-pop albums of last year, ‘Euro Country’, while the return of Welsh indie legends Super Furry Animals for their first shows since 2016 forms an equally exciting prospect. Vile, meanwhile, offers up his abidingly laid back and ramshackle brand of Americana. The main stage also features the difficult-to-categorise guitar-driven Austin group White Denim, alongside the harmony-driven and lyrically transportive Folk Bitch Trio.

Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band played two tremendous sets at last year’s festival and we are glad to see them return, bringing Davis’ spiralling and lyrically rich country compositions to the Garden Stage. We are also looking forward to Mark William Lewis and James K, a double-up that pairs two essential voices from New York’s scene right now. They play the Big Top alongside Hard of Hearing Favourites TTSSFU and Another Country $$$$, as well as intriguing Australian band Sex Mask.

Completing the day’s busy lineup, we are hoping to catch the riotous and acerbic Cowboy Hunters and uncompromising Canadian punks PISS, having been unable to beat the long queues to see the latter at every opportunity at The Great Escape. The surprise return from alt-country singer-songwriter Ohtis will also be worth looking out for, while Shaking Hand, one of the best post-rock outfits on the circuit right now, are a must-see opening The Boat Stage.

We’ll be back with a closer look at some of our absolute must-sees for the festival a little closer to the time. Before then, you can find all the latest news and ticket info over at https://endoftheroadfestival.com. Tickets are now sold out, but fan-to-fan resale opens on 17^th August.