A treasure trove of arts, music, science, sustainability and great beer returned this year for
its 21st festival. The Mic's Charlotte Foulkes-Hannam had an amazing time watching some incredible live acts, and getting to talk to some of the artists too.
Nestled in the national park Bannau Brycheiniog – having reclaimed its Welsh
name this year from the Brecon Beacons - Green Man Festival hosted legendary acts the likes of DEVO, Slowdive, First Aid Kit, and a brilliant selection of ones for discovery such as Fat Dog, The
Last Dinner Party, and Clara Mann. There’s no wonder why Green Man festival sells out far
before its line-up even gets announced, as I assume everyone who’s been once would be a
fool not to come back the following year.
On the Thursday, we embarked on our long drive down from Leeds, soundtracked by the
Green Man playlist – increasing our excitement after every song played. A beautiful drive
through the Welsh Valleys made us even more excited for what was to be the most scenic
festival I’d ever attended. After a very long – but expected – car queue into the area, we
lugged our bags over to the box office. It did feel mildly surreal walking over and getting our
press passes, as this is a festival I’ve been wanting to attend for years, and I finally had the
chance to. We found a great place to pitch camp, albeit a bit later than we wanted, but set
up our tent overlooking the rolling hills on one side, and a thick forest on the other. We
heated up some stove pasta and scoured through the long-anticipated timetable, only made
available to attendees once you get there! Boasting a diverse lineup – with an admirable
50/50 gender split – we drafted up a watchlist of sorts for the weekend, and headed in!
As a first-timer, I decided to have a walk around the site and get my bearings, checking out
all the venues and attractions Green Man had to offer, especially the long-awaited Green
Man structure, and then grabbed a pint of Green Man Growler. Perks of an independent
festival – one of the few remaining large ones - is they serve their own alcohol, and I was
further impressed by the reasonable prices, £6.50 is a cheaper pint than I pay for along the
Thames!
We then caught Spiritualized, who made for a brilliant Thursday headliner on the Far Out
tent – having morphed since their psychedelic experimental rock history into more of an
orchestral, backing singer rich band with a lot of strobe lights – nonetheless still a great
watch. Knackered from travelling, we called it a day and grabbed a pint of cola for the way
back. It cost an astonishing £2 – one of the best deals I’ve probably ever seen – and became
a recurring purchase for the weekend.
Friday morning came along and we fuelled up in preparation for a long stint at the Far Out
tent – host to some of my favourite acts at the moment. We started off with the Orielles, bringing their electro-indie-dance-rock from Halifax. They said farewell to their synthplayer as it was her last show with them – but it was a brilliant one to end on. We also watched a bit of Green Man Rising’s winner Eve Appleton – opening the Mountain Stage. Then we explored a bit more of the area in daylight – snooped around Einstein’s garden – a place full of interactive science and creativity. We looked around the merch and records tent, the vastly different shops – from clothing to bubbles to axes and Ralph the mushroom carving man!
Next was Sorry, a shoegazy rendition of indie rock, then the contrasting Dur-
Dur Band Int. on the Mountain Stage bringing vibrant funk and danceable music from
Somalia in front of the very grey sky. We headed back into the Far Out tent for Jockstrap,
one of my current favourites, bringing art-pop and heavy electronic music together in a
beautiful symphony. Then we caught the boilersuit-wearing Warmduscher as the front man
jumped about on stage, swinging his microphone as he shouts. Squid followed this with an
incredibly tight performance of songs new and old, filling the – very busy - tent with
captivating kraut-rock infused soundscapes.
"Jockstrap... bringing art-pop and heavy electronic music together in a beautiful symphony."
We had some food under a bar tent in the walled garden to the sounds of Buck Meek, and headed to the Far Out stage after the very tough decision of whether to brave the torrential weather to see DEVO, or stay and see Slowdive. This was the worst clash of the festival for me, but we timed it well. Half an hour of the shoegaze giants with hypnotic visuals – and once the rain had subsided we made our way to the Mountain stage, as Whip It played. I still managed to hear most of my favourite
songs from them, and see some outfit changes, on one of their last gigs. My highlights were
Mongoloid and Uncontrollable Urge. Drenched to the core, with what I can only imagine
was trenchfoot, we headed back to our tents for shelter, after in my opinion - the best day
of the festival.
Saturday arrived, and still with wet feet I, amongst many others, headed to the Far Out tent
through sticky mud for the crushing, dynamic slowcore sounds of Deathcrash. One
recommendation from me would be to add more solid track along the walkways, not only
for my sodden, muddy feet – but for families with trolleys, or wheelchairs – for a festival in
Wales who must be well accustomed to the unpredictability of weather.
Back to Deathcrash anyway - they had a great set, I have been meaning to catch them live for ages. I also had the pleasure of interviewing them after which you can read here! We managed to listen to Joyeria on the rising stage from the press area, and ran to catch their last song from the
crowd! The rising stage had a great lineup, and I was disappointed I didn’t catch enough of
the acts there. We then caught Etran de L’Aïr in the blissful sun, the guitar music from Niger
was very energetic and went perfectly with a pint of Growler IPA. Then it was time for
Obongjayar at the mountain stage, drawing massive crowds of Radio 6 dads. Next, SnailMail
brought her indie-rock project over from Maryland, a stark genre contrast to Clipping - with
their death-grips-esque electronic hip hop – that kept people dancing in the muddy Walled
Garden. We heard a bit of Confidence Man, but one must accept the harsh truth that you’ll
never be able to see all the acts you want to at a festival, as it was time for the Windmill
giants, Fat Dog, with their saxophone-heavy wonky dance music, and an egotist front man
that riled up the crowd like no other.
Exhausted from Saturday, we were pleased to listen to some lovely folk from Clara Mann in
the Walled Garden stage the next morning. Ross Williams also interviewed her after – read it
here! Then I went off to grab a pint with the lovely chaps of Deptford Northern Soul Club,
which turned into a 2 hour chat about promoters, soundsystems, records and more –
interview writeup to come soon! I then ran to Gilla Band, afterwards I heard some of
Alabaster DePlume’s inane ramblings on the Mountain stage, reminiscent of that one drunk
person who overstays their welcome at an afters – he does play some brilliant sax though.
I headed to the Rising stage for the talk of London’s The Last Dinner Party – in hindsight they
needed a larger stage, the whole area was absolutely packed! Horace Andy filled the air with the classics, in a career-spanning set, the sort of dub that can vibrate through you.
Having mixed up the stages, we sat at the Mountain Stage preparing for the abstract violin
sounds of Sudan Archives, but immediately stood corrected when the ‘walk on song’ was
Eminem. Nonetheless we stayed for all of Amyl and the Sniffer’s punk rock set, entranced
by the energy of Amyl dancing around the stage. We saw First Aid Kit’s Swedish folk pop
and headed to Young Fathers for an utterly brilliant and theatrical set – I will be trying to
catch them on their October tour. Then the burning of the Green Man – a remarkable way
to end the festival, watching thousands gather round in awe as the embers soar into the sky,
and the fireworks, making me reminisce back to Guy Fawkes night at the local field when I
was younger – truly a community feel to this festival. We then danced the night away to
Deptford Northern Soul Club’s brilliant picks, rousing up a very lively walled garden for the
last time until next year!
"Then the burning of the Green Man – a remarkable way to end the festival, watching thousands gather round in awe as the embers soar into the sky... truly a community feel to this festival."
I was honoured to have the opportunity to experience this festival in all its glory for the first
time and will be doing all in my power to get my friends to go next year. The acts were
expertly picked – and not just plucked from a Top 40 chart. Everyone there seemed to care
about mutual enjoyment of the music and space, and it really did live up to the claim of the UKs
friendliest festival.
And of course, I can’t write this and not mention all the work of the Green Man Trust, the charity that supports communities, Welsh and worldwide, giving thousands to those in need. One of the most impressive things for me was how green Green Man actually was! It seems like a mighty feat, to make a festival eco, but Green Man really had answers for every issue. The whole weekend was powered by 100% renewable fuel, with many stages running on solar and hydrogen. Thanks to trusty volunteers, there was no litter to be seen, unlike some experiences at other festivals, walking out of a stage kicking plastic cups as you move. They also had reusable cups, and no disposable plastic on site! They had eco-friendly compostable toilets, kept impressively clean – and I tried a womxn’s urinal thanks to Peequal Ltd., and really appreciated the convenience of short queues! Once packing up, I didn’t see a left-behind tent, or any equipment – apart from those donated to refugee organisations. Finally, thank you Green Man – for what I can say is one of the best organised festivals I’ve ever been to!
Charlotte Foulkes-Hannam
Edited by Tabitha Smith
Cover and Featured Images courtesy of Green Man Festival via Facebook
Comments