Green Man Festival 2012: Review

Thursday 16th to Sunday 19th August 2012 – Green Man Festival @ Ganusk Park Estate, Brecon Beacons, Wales. Words: Scott Colothan

Driving through the panoramic Welsh hillsides (while dodging the kamikaze sheep precariously munching away on the roadside), it’s hard to imagine a more spectacular and picture perfect entrance to a festival than Green Man. With the sun shining on the vast mountain backdrop of the idyllic Glanusk Park Estate, when I arrive on Thursday afternoon and crack open my first can of tepid cider I’m greeted with one of the friendliest and chilled out festival vibes I’ve ever experienced. A melting pot of different ages, backgrounds and types of people, everyone greets you with a smile and banter is communal and shared. Before a note of music has been played, it’s clear that the tenth instalment of Green Man is going to be pretty darn special indeed.

Typically during one of the worst summers on record, it’s not long before Mother Nature has her wicked way and the increasingly ominous skies begin to pummel Green Man. After some campsite camaraderie from the comfort of our gazebo, our first port of call after trudging across the increasingly soggy estate is the excellent ADAM BUXTON who brought his acclaimed BUG show to the rammed-to-the-rafters Far Out Tent. The hilarious set melded some of his own pre-recorded songs and sketches together with his favourite clips and videos from across cyberspace, all bracketed with his witty commentary and hilarious takedowns of illiterate YouTube commenters. A sublime start and one that provided many a catchphrase for the rest of the weekend – “MY CONDOLENC!!!!”.

For a band that only played their first show six months ago, Far Out Tent closers SAVAGES are frighteningly good. True they wear their influences on their sleeves (from Siouxsie Sioux to Fugazi to The Slits) and vocalist Jehnny Beth channels the spirit of Ian Curtis with her freaky moves throughout, yet there’s enough substance and such high quality tunage from the all-female foursome that marks them out as much more than pale imitators. A gloriously brooding end to the first night, the only sane thing to do next was to take full advantage of the UK’s only 24 hour drinking licence…

FRIDAY Slightly fragile after the previous night’s excesses, Friday morning kicks off with a shockingly heavy downpour that soon transforms Green Man into a complete mudbath. Undeterred, I head out to the Mountain Stage where nicely monikered indie lads CASHIER NO.9 are belting out some Baggy-esque tunes to a decent early-afternoon turnout. Lovely stuff.

With the increasingly heavy rain ceasing to relent, the next few hours are wisely spent dodging from bar to bar where a smorgasbord of unique ciders and real ales are served by unfeasibly jubilant bar staff. Coupled with the amount of delicious food (really there are no 5% meat hotdogs or soggy chips here) on offer, Green Man really is a haven for the palate and a festival like no other.

Nicely refreshed, over at the Far Out Tent Glaswegian serial knob twiddlers ERRORS impress with their heady post-rock tinged electronic clamour. Hunched over their instruments, the lads weave through a tapestry of cranium tickling songs that sound perfect in the darkened tent. Over on the Mountain Stage, recently reformed and rejuvenated DEXYS couldn’t be more different. Almost an exaggerated pastiche of his own self, the ever captivating Kevin Rowland commands the stage as the veterans blast through a decade straddling, trumpet strewn set that peaks with a sprawling reconstruction of ‘Come on Eileen’. The only downside of an otherwise impeccable set was that the crowd’s constant pleads for ‘Geno’ were never answered.

!Despite its relatively intimate size, Green Man packs an unfeasible amount of aural and visual attractions onto its site. The early evening is spent drinking some hot rum and dancing to funky jazz in the Chai Wallah tent, relaxing to some delightful acoustic sounds at the Walled Garden Stage and guffawing at ROBIN INCE in the Comedy Tent. To flog the massively overused cliché; there really is something for everyone.

As a seasoned MOGWAI aficionado, nothing could quite prepare me for the Scottish post-rockers’ monumental headline slot on the Mountain Stage. Almost channelling the immense forces of nature that shaped these mountainous lands, their set was colossal and astonishing. Newer tracks like ‘White Noise’ and ‘Rano Pano’ sounded like bona-fide classics and the spine-tingling ‘Hunted By A Freak’ was a thing of startling beauty, but it was the 16-minute version of ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ that took things into truly transcendental realms. A set that will be forever etched in my memory.

SATURDAY Lacking in vital shut eye time from dancing away to MR SCRUFF until the early hours, the prospect of yet another day of musical delights was enough motivation to drag myself out of my sleeping bag in time for the midday GREEN MAN MUSIC QUIZ at the Comedy & Literature Tent. I won’t mention where we came…

Mercifully, after yet more rain throughout the morning, the sun began to peak through the clouds in time for some sanguine sounds on the Mountain Stage courtesy of psychedelic folksters TREMBLING BELLS. By mid-afternoon the blue skies meant that we could finally kick back in the sunshine in the shadows of the huge Green Man statue which fast became a sanctuary for sunbathing, drinking, kids playing Frisbee and general merriment. There were even parachute jumpers landing on site to liven things up. Great way to bunk in, eh?!

Soon needing some musical kicks, it was over to see big haired Geordie songstress BETH JEANS HOUGHTON (and her Hooves of Destiny) who quickly dispatched her biggest tune ‘Atlas’ to a rapturous response. Definitely an acquired taste, her sonorous vocals and often madcap music won me over yet there’s no denying that her inane in-between song banter badly needs some working on.

After catching the gloriously bonkers THE PEOPLES STRING FOUNDATION do an instrumental version of The Prodigy’s ‘Out of Space’ en route, on The Mountain Stage the velvet voiced MICHAEL KIWANUKA enthralled with his unfeasibly chilled soul and provided a superb gateway to the legendary VAN MORRISON.

Deftly switched to the hazy early evening slot by organisers where his music is undoubtedly better enjoyed, the suited and booted veteran’s slow jazzy grooves and trademark raspy voice were enjoyed by easily the biggest crowd of the weekend. As always, the Belfast crooner saved the best to last with a triumphant rendition of ‘Gloria’ which was gleefully sung along to by the incredibly diverse throng. A beautiful moment.

Nicely bumped up the bill, Mountain Stage closers METRONOMY enthralled in the darkness with a set that relied heavily on their critically lauded 2011 gem ‘The English Riviera’. Clearly in their element and flanked by a hypnotic L.E.D. backdrop, Joseph Mount and co.’s songs were given an extra dimension – ‘The Look’ was gorgeous, ‘The Bay’ sounded stunning and old favourite ‘Radio Ladio’ was genuinely rave-tastic and had thousands dancing in the increasingly sticky mud. A brilliant performance and one that led nicely into the beguiling late night sounds of the Far Out Tent including JAMES BLAKE’S genuinely hypnotic 3am DJ slot.

SUNDAY Fast becoming a Green Man 2012 tradition, the first familiar sounds of Sunday morning is the pitter-patter of lashing rain on the canvas above. Eventually driven from the comfort of my tent by sheer hunger, a lovely chorizo falafel sets me up nicely for yet more musical delights. Mercury Prize nominated electro- hip-hop artist GHOSTPOET successfully blew away the cobwebs with his dextrous rhymes and crunching beats. ‘Survive It’ and ‘Cash and Carry Me Home’ in particular caused the surprisingly miniscule crowd bounce in unison.

While Ghostpoet’s turnout was unjustly small, the same can’t be said about everyone’s favourite hot music tip ALT J who packed out the Far Out Tent – not even the increasingly pongy mud (honest, I’ve never smelt mud like it) could put off the droves of revellers. Drawing from a vast array of influences, throughout their all-too-short set the Cambridge four-piece melded harmonies with electronic dinks, kooky vocals and jaunty guitar rhythms to startling effect. ‘Tessellate’ and the infectious ‘Breezeblocks’ were undoubtedly up there with my tunes of the weekend. Expect them to be headlining festivals of Green Man’s stature very soon.

With the golden orb in the sky mercifully shining once again, KING CREOSOTE & JON HOPKINS dropped the tempo on the Mountain Stage with their enchanting indie-folk ditties sung in Mr Creosote’s idiosyncratic Scottish drawl. Juxtaposing these chilled vibes, Brooklynites FRIENDS brought some hyperactive madness to the Far Out Tent. Despite frontwoman Samantha Urbani’s exuberant energy and the fact she invited a cute young girl on stage for a dance-off, their set was easily the most underwhelming of the weekend treading dangerously close to Nelly Furtado territory at times. A minor blip in an otherwise impeccable weekend of music.

Thankfully, the ever-excellent THE WALKMEN cranked things up a notch again with a blistering penultimate set on the Mountain Stage. Exuding coolness throughout, the dapper New Yorkers effortlessly flitted between driving indie-rock to heartstring tugging soul of tracks like ‘Heaven’. How The Walkmen are not a household name is truly beyond me. It all sets things up nicely for FEIST’s delightful closing performance which reaches its zenith with a delicate reworking of ‘I Feel It All’ and an almost ethereal double encore. Not even the glaring omission of ‘1,2,3,4’ tainted the Canadian songstress’s impeccable set that soothed our fragile heads after a gloriously indulgent weekend.

As any erstwhile Green Man-er will know, the real climax is with the burning of the Green Man. Accompanied by a spectacular fireworks display, the pagan-like burning of the smiling effigy was truly the perfect end to a perfect weekend. Just like Glastonbury, Green Man is the kind of magical festival that I’ll be returning to year-on-year. You should definitely come next year too.