End of the Road 2026 opens with Next Wave programme winners Perfect Binding and multiscreen

Every year, End of the Road invites on-the-rise artists to apply for an opportunity to play the festival. Bug Teeth and Al Cologne were the other two winners this year, selected from a pool of 1,700 applications. Both will play this weekend too. The honour of playing the very first sets of the day, though – kicking off concurrently from 15:15 – went to Sam Bedford's Perfect Binding, the trombone-powered alt-rock quartet (they christened the redesigned fan-favourite Folly stage). And over on the experimental-leaning Boat stage, a 2022 addition to End of the Road's site map, multiscreen played their first ever festival show. It was only their seventh gig of all time, they told a crowd that gave mega cheers before their expansive breakout single "That's Life". "End of the Road has always championed new and emerging artists from day one," Next Wave judge Ro Cemm Best Fit ahead of the festival. "These days we call it ‘Next Wave’. Over 1,700 applied but there is always something that stands out. We always chose one of these bands to open the festival – an important slot to set the mood for the weekend." In multiscreen's case, that tone was "deadpan electro-pop odes to divorcing your smar...