Review: Green Man Festival 2015

Have you ever seen the end of the rainbow? Like the point where the colours fade into the ground? I hadn’t, until on my way through the winding Wye Valley (slight accidental but wholly welcome detour there) to Green Man festival in the Brecon Beacons. That has to be a good sign right?! Right.

For despite inches of rain fall over the course of the four-day festival, the event was an utter beauty. Tickets completely sold out weeks before the event – leaving many people frustrated. The big ticket act was Wales’ own Super Furry Animals – who, despite not strictly being a reunion gig as they’ve never really split up, attracted fans from across the world as they’ve not played a proper gig together for several years.

Thursday night – which saw a whopping 95% of ticketholers arrive in one 6 hour period, resulting in a massive trek from the car to the campsite – belonged to Leftfield who owned the Far Out tent with their erm. leftfield house (their unique style led to that term). Introduced by Green Man Festival boss Fiona Stewart, the booking marks a more diverse approach to the lineup for this folk-leaning offering. Leading man Neil Barnes said it was the best gig they’d played all year, and we believed him. The set included some of the big ones from the back-catalogue of Leftism and more, including Song Of Life and newer material from their 2015 album Alternative Light Source.

Green Man is well prepared for the Welsh weather (though we shouldn’t relate it only to this wonderful country – as everywhere endured some of the wet stuff this week); there are a few tents you can explore when the H2O rains down – from the Far Our Tent and Chai Wallahs to the Rum Bar and Talking Tent – home to all the poetry and an inspired Saturday afternoon talk from former Bristol resident Richard King, who recently wrote a book called Original Rockers which looks back at his time at Revolver Records on Park Street. Some hilarious stories – all of which are in the book. 

Each year, Green Man Rising offers one unsigned band the chance to open the entire festival with the first gig on the main stage on the Friday lunchtime. This year’s winners Hunck (featuring the offspring of DJ Dapper Dan, who was recently announced on the bill for Banksy’s Dismaland at Weston-super-Mare with Run The Jewels) were an inspired mix of Sonic Youth lo-fi, Suede-esque anthems and 80s electro vibes. Worthy winners.

The words on everyone under the age of 28’s lips on Friday were ‘Hot Chip‘ and this translated into the biggest and liveliest crowd of the weekend, rocking in front of the main stage. They kept the mood high with their set of accessible indie electronica, saving their bigger tunes til the end – songs such as Ready For The Floor and One Life Stand, before throwing in an awesome cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark (not as good as the original, but a different and decent attempt and one which went down really well).

After a brief period of blazing sunshine and lots of red noses later, SFA took to the incredible Mountain Stage (built by a Bristol man) on the Saturday night and were welcomed by a sea of faces being pounded by heavy rain. Any other act might’ve struggled to maintain the crowd at this point, but Gruff Rhys and co. had no problem – blasting through songs such as Rings Around The World, Juxtaposed With You, Demons and a couple of Welsh numbers from Mwng there was only one song they could really ever end on…The Man Don’t Give A F**k. A rare festival encore saw the group return on stage dressed as yetis and casually do their thing. Lots of jumping and yelling ensued and we left all warm and fuzzy (though that may’ve been down to the SFA ale – Fuzzy).

Other acts worthy of a mention include former Boo Radleys singer Martin Carr whose solo stuff is well worth a look; Welsh indie kid and Bristol regular Sweet Baboo; Scotland’s Pictish Trail and fellow former Fence Collective members Rozi Plain and old Bristol pals Rachael Dadd and This Is The Kit (who all performed together in Chai Wallahs on Sunday lunchtime, as well as separately at various times; US soul singer of the James Brown persuasion, Charles Bradley; impeccable singer/songwriter Marika Hackman; Hookworms; and Natalie Prass.

Acts we’re kicking ourself for missing – Sexwitch on Far Out stage – which is a collaboration between Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan and Toy, Stealing Sheep in the Cinema Tent and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield enjoying the festival with his family (OK, maybe that last one’s just me then).

The drink options here are astounding – with scores of beers and ciders, many locally sourced, and a fabulous new reusable cup stystem – a stacking cup with a weird plastic handle which looks like it should hold a shot, but has a hole in the bottom – in fact it’s for stacking and makes doing a bar run for a group 100x easier and allowing you to stack half a dozen pints and hold them in one hand. Genius and something which you’re bound to see more of at other festivals here-on in.

Few tips on the food front – you can’t go wrong with Pieminister (big up Bristol) or the Cornish Goan Fish Curry place (unless you’re vegan, in which case you may need to do some more digging). Crumpets – including Bloody Mary Crumpets – and tea and toast is a good cheap option, but avoid the pink Coffee and Cake places which the worst value for money – instead pick the tea and toast wagon just outside the entrance, it’s delicious and open all night. Oh and don’t eat cold soup out of a can to save a few bucks, it’s bloody vile. #TopTips

This year’s festival felt the most family-friendly offering to-date, with so much for kids to do and see it’s hardly surprising there seemed to be more children than ever. It’s a great one to take the kids to without being a festival for kids, a la Camp Bestival. That said, there’s a thin line and Green Man will need to watch that – but with lineups getting increasingly broad and word of mouth ensuring a good chunk of adult tickets will always sell, they’re in a good position to avoid that trap.

Photo by Imogen Charleston