Sharon Van Etten: “Women can headline festivals!”

Thankfully, End Of The Road is not the hardest festival to reach, but it always feels like you’ve arrived somewhere exotic and extraordinary, even in the drizzle. Much of this is a result of their adventurous programming, interspersing indie, folk and post-punk acts with intriguing sounds from around the world – an antidote to generic, nostalgia-fuelled festival bills.

Daraa Tribes hail from deepest Morocco, on the edge of the Sahara. Their combination of mesmeric polyrhythms, call-and-response vocals and liquid guitar runs – not unlike Imarhan or Tinariwen – makes for an invigorating start to the festival. They even bring the sun out, although the group themselves admit to enjoying the vagaries of the British summer. “We would like to take some trees with us,” they joke.

La Sécurité have brought their frenetic, Le Tigre-esque dance-punk all the way from Montreal; while Rogê couldn’t be from anywhere other than Rio, the elegant melodies of Veloso, Nascimento and Jorge Ben hardwired into his DNA. But shorn of the soaring Arthur Verocai strings of his recent Curyman albums, he sensibly opts here for a tougher sound. His band actually sport more plaid per square inch than any grunge revivalists here, a fashion choice that makes sense when one tune starts off as a traditional samba and ends up somewhere closer to Living Colour. A packed Folly tent embarks on its first mini-mosh of the weekend. 

Westside Cowboy, despite their name, hail from somewhere a little closer to home (Manchester). And while there is indeed an occasional twang to their pummelling indie-pop, the primary aim of their self-proclaimed ‘Britainicana’ mission seems to be fusing Ash with the Pixies. No bad thing.

Anyone who caught Sharon Van Etten at her first UK shows around 15 years ago might have struggled to identify her as a future festival slayer. But she’s come a long way since her days as a haunted, austere troubadour, unleashing her inner Springsteen on 2019’s Remind Me Tomorrow. Now she’s fronting a new band, The Attachment Theory, whose terrain is the epic post-punk of Siouxsie and Simple Minds, complete with gargantuan synth chords.

It certainly takes some front, in the midst of Oasis mania, to open with a tune called “Live Forever” – although Van Etten’s song turns out to contain a few more question marks than the Gallaghers’ hedonistic anthem. It’s followed by the distinctly poppy “Afterlife”, indicating that this recent material is more about the freedom of accepting death, rather than trying to outrun it.

Van Etten turns out to be a great, demonstrative, big-stage frontperson, combining ice-queen theatrics with some endearingly goofy bobbing around and plenty of strident yet inclusive banter: “This is our first time headlining a festival so thanks for being a witness to that. Women can headline festivals!”

She introduces the perky “I Can’t Imagine (Why You Feel This Way)” as having emerged from “an impromptu jam session with my wonderful band”. It showcases what a nimble unit they are, with special mention to bassist Devra Hoff; her black, wide-brimmed hat also combines with Van Etten’s full-length black lace dress to earn the band plenty of authentic goth points.

“Tarifa” is dedicated to David Lynch – whose films are currently playing across the way in the all-new cinema tent, decked out like The Red Room – before “Seventeen” brings it on home in fist-pumping style of which the Boss would be proud. 

Sadly, a sudden downpour turns the more intimate encore (featuring a guest appearance from Angie McMahon on oldie “Love More”) into a bit of a washout. But before she departs, Van Etten diligently thanks her whole band and crew, including the drivers. “We are a family and we are a community,” she declares. And wherever you come from, that’s exactly what End Of The Road is all about.