End Of The Road has announced the stage splits and day-by-day schedule for its sold-out 20th edition, taking place 3–6 September 2026 at Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset. Pulp, CMAT, Mac DeMarco and Geese are confirmed as the festival’s four headliners, with the full day splits available on the official website.
In a first for the festival, the Effing Forest area will be open from Thursday, with The Boat stage, already established as the home of experimental sounds, hosting live music from the very first day. The Big Top also gains a special new addition this year: a live score of Rose of Nevada, performed by the Cornish Sound Unit featuring director Mark Jenkin, which opens the stage on Saturday.
The Woods stage carries some of the weekend’s biggest moments. Geese headline on Thursday, while Friday sees Quebec’s “alien rock” duo Angine De Poitrine warm things up for Mac DeMarco, whose headline set promises woozy, sun-drenched bliss as darkness falls over the Dorset countryside. Saturday belongs to Pulp, with Jarvis Cocker bringing danceable art rock and disco rhythms to the main stage. Super Furry Animals open the day before CMAT closes it out — the Irish singer-songwriter having already proven at the 2024 edition that she knows how to move a crowd.
The Garden stage delivers its own stellar run of headliners. Avant-rock group caroline top the bill on Friday, while Saturday night goes to alternative hip-hop duo Earl Sweatshirt & MIKE. Sunday’s headline slot belongs to Kurt Vile & The Violators. Also appearing on the stage are ØXN, the Irish “doom folk” supergroup, and revered composer Beverly Glenn-Copeland, who will share album Laughter in Summer with his wife and artistic partner Elizabeth Copeland.
Over at the Big Top, Working Men’s Club, Bassvictim and Anna Von Hausswolff lead the charge, with Ela Minus, Model/Actriz and Kelly Lee Owens also on the bill. Hotly tipped Los Thuthanka, whose debut album was named Pitchfork’s Album Of The Year in 2025, are not to be missed. The stage also welcomes back Brakes, the underground heroes who played the very first End Of The Road and then returned for the 10th; their reunion for the 20th felt, in the festival’s own words, inevitable. They will perform their beloved album Give Blood in full, a moment that is set to be one of the most emotionally charged of the whole weekend.
The Folly brings together a brilliantly eclectic run across the weekend. Highlights include noisy Birmingham duo GANS, Joshua Idehen’s incisive social commentary, Way Dynamic’s intimate folk-pop, and Gnod’s hypnotic psych-noise. Rostam, the multi-instrumentalist and Vampire Weekend co-founder, Little Grandad and Canadian band PISS round things out — and after midnight, the secret sets that take over The Folly after the published programme ends are already the stuff of festival legend.
The Boat stage, open from Thursday for the first time, captures the experimental spirit End Of The Road has always championed. Debasement’s queer electropop, keiyaA’s genre-blurring R&B and industrial dance grooves from Factory Floor all feature, with The Boat’s speaker system promising to make itself felt across the woodland. The Talking Heads space, meanwhile, doubles as a home for comedy and talks by day, including those hosted by new festival partners The Guardian and long-time friends Uncut, before turning atmospheric by night, with performances from Greazy Alice, Carson Mahone and David Thomas Broughton among others.
End Of The Road 2026 takes place 3–6 September at Larmer Tree Gardens. The festival is sold out.
Image credits: End of the Road
In this article: End of the Road Festival, Larmer Tree Gardens, Pulp, CMAT, Mac DeMarco, Geese, Angine de Poitrine, Super Furry Animals, Jarvis Cocker, Earl Sweatshirt, Kurt Vile, Beverly Glenn Copeland, working men’s club, Bassvictim, Anna von Hausswolff, Ela Minus, Model/Actriz, Kelly Lee Owens, Brakes, Pitchfork, Way Dynamic, Gnod, Vampire Weekend, Keiyaa, Factory Floor, David Thomas Broughton, The Guardian, Uncut, Mark Jenkin, Dorset. Generated by Wikidata Schema Link Builder.
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