Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Connan Mockasin & St Vincent at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Cate Le Bon & Sam Lee at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Gruff Rhys at End Of The Road 2014 – review

The Flaming Lips at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Yo La Tengo at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Richard Thompson & Tinariwen at End Of The Road 2014 – review

End Of The Road must cause a bit of a problem for British Sea Power – when you normally deck your stages out with leafy branches, what do you do when you play a festival which surrounds all its stages with lush foliage? You bring along even more foliage, of course, and cover it all in streams of fairy lights.

The rolling countryside is a natural home for the Kendal-via-Brighton troupe, and tonight they really stand out in front of a large crowd, the devoted holding branches aloft.

The set is very much a festival one, featuring their best-known tracks such as “Remember Me”, “No Lucifer” and “Waving Flags”, but there’s still time for riotous oldie “The Spirit Of St Louis”, majestic instrumental “The Great Skua” and fan favourite “Oh Larsen B”.

There are plenty of theatrics to distract from the few specks of rain that occasionally fall, whether it’s Yan repeatedly throwing his guitar into the air and catching it at the close of “Carrion” (he does the same with a tambourine during “St Louis” but doesn’t fare so well) or two giant bears, one Brown, one Polar, invading the crowd for a dance like the end of Grandaddy’s “The Crystal Lake” video come to life.

British Sea Power played:

Machineries Of Joy

Carrion

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Connan Mockasin & St Vincent at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Cate Le Bon & Sam Lee at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Gruff Rhys at End Of The Road 2014 – review

The Flaming Lips at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Yo La Tengo at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Richard Thompson & Tinariwen at End Of The Road 2014 – review

Tom Pinnock