Green Man Festival - Glasnuck Park, Brecon Beacons 19-21/8/11
5/5
By: Stan Morgan
My last encounter with the Green Man Festival, set amongst Wales’ stunning Black Mountains, went down as the first dry weekend in the event’s history, and the weather forecast didn’t look optimistic if I wanted to repeat my luck. Predictably, the forecast was wrong, and the festival goers (a diverse bunch that ranged from old skool hippies to seasoned bass heads and everything in between) woke up to glorious sunshine on the first day, ready for a weekend of music, entertainment and pagan rituals.
The festival prides itself on lining up the best local Welsh artists alongside the more recognisable imported acts, and Y Niwl (the world’s first Welsh language instrumental surf band according to the programme) were one of the picks of the bunch, playing a great fast-paced set before going on to serve as Gruff Rhys’ backing band later in the weekend. One of the imports, Stillwater, Oklahoma’s Other Lives impressed on the main stage with their mix of Radiohead inspired folk with added Spaghetti Western guitars, before Canada’s Holy Fuck demonstrated why they’re considered one of the best live bands on the planet with a set of avant-garde, unpredictable electronica.
[HOLY FUCK]
Explosions In The Sky were introduced before Friday’s headline set as “The most intense live band on the planet”, and lived up to that tag with their mix of loud and quiet (and then more loud) post-rock that could have gone on all night without anyone tearing themselves away.
The 2 Bears’ ‘Bunga Bunga’ party closed the first night proper, with Djs Horse Meat Disco and The 2 Bears themselves transporting London’s night life to the Principality, complete with an animated Silvio Berlusconi and plenty of questionable dance moves.
Saturday morning’s overcast skies gave us all a chance to nurse the previous day’s hangovers/sunburn, and a surprisingly awesome early set from Parisian trio We Were Evergreen quickly got us back in the mood for another full day. She Keeps Bees and Dry The River both made good use of their high-profile main stage slots despite their early billing and some of the worst between-song chat ever from the former.
The award for comedy performance of the festival (probably including those in the comedy tent) went to Josh T. Pearson, who managed to squeeze 4 songs into his 45 minute slot in the Far Out tent, filling the rest of the time explaining that despite his appearance he wasn’t Iron & Wine, and telling unrepeatable jokes about making love to farmyard animals.
[DESTROYER]
Later in the same tent Destroyer provided yet another festival highlight with a set focused heavily around his excellent album Kaputt, with Dan Bejar’s performance living up to his enigmatic reputation.
While Saturday’s headliners Fleet Foxes showcased their eerily pristine beards and harmonies on the main stage, Warp Records were given the Far Out stage to abuse into the early hours. One of the label’s most legendary and influential acts got the night started in the form of Squarepusher, who spent an hour making noises and doing things with his bass guitar that us mortals can’t even begin to understand. Absolutely mental, but completely brilliant. More recent Warp signings Darkstar rounded off the evening with their dark electronica, including a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Videotape’ that everyone needs to listen to in a field at 4am.
Sunday saw a return to the tropical weather of Friday, leading many to cram themselves into whatever shade there was at the Green Man Pub stage to enjoy Zwolf, a Welsh artist whose music lies close to Four Tet’s acoustic-tinged electronica. Efterklang keyboardist Anna Bronsted brought her Our Broken Garden project to the festival having played here last year with the Danish group, and no doubt won over a lot of new admirers with her unsurprisingly glacial pop.
For many people the biggest attraction on the main stage on Sunday will have been James Blake, who performed with a permanent smile and lived up to all possible expectations with a stunning set that spanned his entire back catalogue, as well as a new track performed solo with his piano. While what seemed like 99 percent of the festival goers crammed themselves in to watch Laura Marling on the main stage, Brooklyn’s The Antlers were unfazed by their much more modest crowd in the Far Out tent, and left those of us there knowing that we had made the right decision afterwards.
The third of the three American headliners, Iron & Wine took to the stage with the best greeting of the festival, “It’s Iron & Wine bitches!”. Their set contained the traditional mix of tracks from new album Kiss Each Other Clean with older favourites re-jigged to work with the funky new eight-strong lineup, each having the audience hanging on every one of Samuel Beam’s words. Despite not initially returning for an encore, and against the best efforts of the festival organisers, mob rule won over and he returned for a touching encore of ‘He Lays In The Reins’, repeatedly breaking down mid-song to chuckle at the crowd’s slowly swaying arms.
The traditional burning of the festival’s giant Green Man followed in order to close the festival, imparting a level of both melancholy and euphoria on the gathered masses before their one last night of good times in the Welsh mountains.
Over the weekend a lot of the artists, including James Blake, Josh T. Pearson and Iron & Wine claimed that Green Man is their favourite festival in the entire world. Usually this is a cunning ploy to get the crowd on their side, especially if you’re James Blake and have previously offended half the crowd by claiming that the festival felt very English, but this time that might not be the case. Whether it’s the amazing surroundings, the line-up of quality bands, the fantastic on-site food, the crowd of genuine music fans, the superb weather (this year…), friendly staff, local ales, late night entertainment, clean toilets, great sound, ritualistic pagan burning of giant wooden men etc. etc. etc., the festival is an all-round winner, and it’s no wonder that it’s the bands’, and my, all-time favourite.
Artists in this article: Iron & Wine, The Antlers, Laura Marling, James Blake, Our Broken Garden, Squarepusher, Darkstar, Fleet Foxes, Destroyer, Josh T. Pearson, Holy F##k, Other Lives, Y Nwil
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