The much-loved festival marks its twentieth year in style with standout sets from caroline and Pulp.

The opening clangs of ‘Total Euphoria’, the final song of caroline’s Garden Stage headline set, draw ecstatic whoops from an exultant crowd on Friday night at End of the Road. While this response was nothing less than their set deserved, it was upliftingly strange to hear a crowd respond to this deliberately disjointed musical climax with an abandon usually reserved for pop stars and football teams. At moments like this, the joy of End of the Road festival truly comes into focus, because it is difficult to imagine many other spaces where any of this would be conceivable. Here in Larmer Tree Gardens, however, a tightly curated lineup of acts lead an enraptured communion for fans of the best alternative music on offer any given year. Aside from an incredible lineup of artists, which this year ranged from headliners including Pulp, Geese and Mac DeMarco to fresher faces like Shaking Hand and Silver Gore, what is especially striking about End of the Road is the obvious affection for the festival from artists and audience members alike. Regular attendees seem almost to orient the rhythm of their year around these four days, coming out in full force to enjoy it. On stage, a number of performers went out of the way to reflect upon what End of the Road has meant to them across the twenty years of its existence. Ultimately, this anniversary edition served as a perfect birthday celebration. caroline’s performance – a poignant, theatrical and meticulously conceived Garden Stage headline – seemed to perfectly encapsulate what this this festival is all about.

In a very different manner, Pulp also provided one of the best sets of the festival, with what felt like a model main stage headline at the Woods on Saturday night. Jarvis Cocker’s stage presence and humour has evidently lost none of its shine in the band’s 48-year history. The live show brings out all of the wit of his lyrics and the verve of their instrumental accompaniment, equally focusing the energy of early favourites like ‘Little Girl with Blue Eyes’ and 2025 single ‘Got To Have Love’. In the hours before their set, rumours began to fly around that this would be Pulp’s final ever show, though Cocker himself announced this marked only the beginning of a finite hiatus. Either way, the occasion prompted a setlist packed with oldies and rarities among the hits, including a live debut of ‘Deep Fried in Kelvin’. In a set filled with danceable favourites, it was the climax of ‘Common People’ which inspired greatest abandon, the entire crowd jumping and shouting along, limbs flailing. When the set was over, the only disappointment was the omission of ‘Disco 2000’, but the songs that were performed sounded truly exceptional.

Among the other headliners, Super Furry Animals were particularly entertaining. A little less slick than their Sheffield alt-Britpop counterparts, their balance of perfectly crafted electro-psych pop played off against ambitious and charmingly ramshackle stage antics, including a slightly high-tech version of Gruff Rhys’ ‘Applause’ sign, a celery eating interlude in ‘Receptacle for the Respectable’ and an appearance from the bands’ super furry Bigfoot costumes to accompany epic closer ‘The Man Don’t Give a Fuck’. Their slot was followed by overlapping sets from CMAT and Kurt Vile, between which we divided our time. CMAT’s show is tailor made for these moments, buoyed by the constant assertion that everyone involved, audience and band members alike, is sexy. Kurt Vile’s set vibes much more chill but this belies the tight interplay with his band which sets the whole thing off perfectly.

Geese divided opinion on Thursday night, which is perhaps to be expected given the rapidity of the explosion of attention to the band and their evident commitment to uncompromisingly perform the songs as they want. Compared to the decidedly audience-focused sets of Pulp and CMAT, Geese played with a detached cool, often heavily revising what you hear on record. At times the merit of this came through, as on the extended and insistent groove built out of ‘Islands of Men’. At other moments, the effect was a little disappointing. The vocals of ‘Au Pays du Cocaine’ lacked climactic passion and the overall visceral quality of ‘Getting Killed’ felt dampened, even the drums running short on their trademark juddering propulsiveness. Longer term fans of the band enjoyed this graduation to the headline slot, but this was not a set to convince the doubters, or, as was the case for us, those tempted to catch the entrancing close of The Space Lady’s set on the Boat Stage.

Of course, here at Hard of Hearing we are always invested in the newer artists breaking through to lineups such as this. This year’s crop was particularly strong and made good on the thrill of playing some of their biggest shows to date. Modern Woman grabbed the attention of the Woods Stage right from their haunting opening, a virtually acapella cover of Willie Nelson’s ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’. Silver Gore topped last year’s appearance at the festival with a blistering and unapologetically fun set on the Garden Stage, while Nina Winder-Lind was in excellent form playing songs from ‘Wild Love’ with a setup bolstered by sax contributions from Freddie J Watts. YHWH Nailgun brought their decidedly unique sound to the Woods on Thursday evening. While it took a little while to get into the rhythm of their set, oriented as it was around minute-long songs, it was worth it to see them maximise the use of every instrument involved in an unconventional manner, from the volume pedal-controlled thumps of electric guitar to the tom rumble of the drums. big long sun transmitted their full spirit on Saturday afternoon, their freaked out psych pop elevated by backing dancers leaping for joy and playing with wooden toys. Alice Costelloe was impressive in three-piece format in the Folly while Spanish Horses packed out the Big Top in the wake of the release of ‘Hey Man (Hey Man!)’. Then on Sunday, Shaking Hand reminded us of their capacity for tight and resourceful three-piece interplay before Another Country $$$$’s patchwork electronica dazzled in the Big Top.

The extracurricular proceedings at End of the Road always make the weekend feel complete. Whether it’s learning to carve a spoon over your morning coffee or playing corn hole until 5am after the silent disco, there is always more on hand to complement the live music offerings. Two highlights this year came on consecutive mornings at the Big Top. On Friday, Adam Buxton presented a David Byrne edition of his beloved BUG series, introducing, with familiar Buckles charm, music videos and other Byrne-related clips and providing details that could enlighten even veteran Talking Heads heads (Two recommendations: Byrne’s 1981 album ‘Catherine Wheel’ and Sean Penn’s ill-advised 2011 film ‘This Must Be The Place’). Saturday morning started in similar fashion with a crowd enjoying ‘The Rose of Nevada’ projected onto the big screen with a live soundtrack performed by director Mark Jenkin alongside Dion Star as The Cornish Sound Unit.

The quality established by these early morning happenings set a tone maintained day and night. Many of the weekend’s best sets came late in the day after the headliners had finished. The Folly played host to secret second sets from the likes of Angine de Poitrine, White Denim and PVA as well as an unannounced appearance from Man/Woman/Chainsaw. Over in the Big Top, Ela Minus was exceptional on Friday night with her combination of club textures and pop song structure, which made for an equally danceable and watchable performance, even as she performed with her back to the crowd. Similarly impressive was Anna von Hausswolff, the last of the preannounced live acts on Sunday night and an excellent close to the weekend. Her voice is simply astounding, pulling every emotion out of her lyrics and matched in unrelenting intensity by her expanded live setup, complete with groaning baritone sax.

All things considered, this was a pretty perfect way for End of the Road to celebrate their twentieth year. Almost every act seemed to bring their absolute best, from Derya Yıldırım to Kiran Leonard, Jeffrey Lewis to Nana Benz Du Togo. The year’s most vaunted festival act Angine de Poitrine enthralled kids and adults alike on the Woods Stage while an impressive portion of the crowd at Ryan Davies and the Roadhouse Band kept up a singalong through all nine minutes of ‘New Threats from the Soul’.  It is clear to see that this festival has firmly established itself as a beloved one-stop celebration of the past and future of alternative music. With seemingly every set offering something new and inspiring, it is showing no sign of relinquishing that reputation. As such, we can only join the many performers and attendees from last weekend who have been optimistically raising a toast to another twenty years of End of the Road.