The Glastonbury crowd is unaware of the joy of small things. Photograph: David Levene/Guardian
So the end of the festival season is nearly upon us. For many, this will be a sad thought - but what can we possibly be lamenting? Glastonbury's ridiculously convoluted registration system? The mud? The ticket prices? The no-drinks-or-food-from-outside policy (Glastonbury excepted)? The overpriced food and drinks inside? The theft, that ranges from the annoying (phone, trousers, wellies), to the downright rude (wallet, drugs, girlfriend/boyfriend)? Oh, halcyon days ...
As annoying as these things are, however, we are British, and thus a large portion of us takes a kind of perverse pleasure in trying to thrive in adversity. No, the real reason disappointment has been the risk-free and zeitgeist-obsessed approach to booking acts that has become increasingly prevalent over the last few years - the upshot being that all the line-ups start to look strangely familiar. To quote somebody or other, "It used it be about the music, man..." Not any more. These days it seems simply to be about who can pull in the most punters. Ergo, big bland acts are booked, and festivals start to become indistinguishable from each other - Arcade Fire, Killers, blah, blah, blah...
While it's bad enough that the corporate monster festivals such as Carling and V subscribe to this, when the smaller, "niche" festivals start to get lazy, then it's just downright depressing. A case in point: when looking at the lineup for the just-happened Bestival, I was amazed to see the names of Kate Nash and Calvin Harris on there. Why? Because part of Bestival's appeal is that it prides itself on being different, quirky and anti-corporate, and yet the organisers had no qualms in booking two of the most annoyingly ubiquitous, PR'd-to-death popstars of the moment. Between them, Nash and Harris have already played the following festivals this summer (some of them both): Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, T in the Park, Electric Gardens, Summer Sundae weekender, Oxygen, Lovebox, Global Gathering, Tartan Heart, Get Loaded in the Park, Dot To Dot (not to mention the one-dayers) ... whatever happened to "vive la difference"?
There is hope, however. That I'm not the only one who has detected a degree of festival ennui is highlighted by the continued success of smaller "boutique" festivals. Green Man (which happened in August), End of the Road (this weekend coming) and Truck (September 22 and 23) all fall under this (granted, annoyingly lame) tag and are great examples of bringing to festivals the qualities that have been lacking in the majors for so long: character, loving attention to detail, quality food and drink, and, most importantly, an uncompromising approach to music.
End of the Road is a great example of this, in that while having bigger acts such as Yo La Tengo, Midlake, Super Furry Animals and Lambchop, there are also a plethora of smaller, just as great acts. Of these this year, I'm looking forward to seeing Alessi, Herman Dune, My Brightest Diamond and Jeffrey Lewis to name a few - but I know that I'll come back having seen plenty of marvellous bands that I hadn't heard of before (without having been liberated of my wallet, phone or trousers).
So forget Reading and Leeds, V and even Glastonbury, because, when it comes to festivals at least, this year has taught me that small really is beautiful.
