upfront
GET READY
FOR GREEN MAN
As the eclectic and energetic
Green Man festival returns to the
Black Mountains, David Griffiths
looks at this year’s lengthy lineup.
pic: DOM MOORE
T
he Green Man festival has been a regular
fixture in the festival calendar for the last
11 years, and in that time has grown from
a small festival-like gathering into an event
that attracts 20,000 punters. Last year saw 1,500
acts over 17 stages, and this year promises to be just
as exciting.
Green Man has always had a more intimate feel than
some of the larger festivals and, with its beautiful
setting in the Brecon Beacons, plenty of activities
and carefully curated array of smaller stages, it feels
less like the aftermath of a pitched battle, as with
some festivals, and more like an idealised community.
Over the course of four days there’s going to be more
great artists than you can shake a stick at. There are
more reasons to attend than it’s possible to list, but
here are some highlights: psychedelic electronica
courtesy of Caribou, playing in support of their new
album Our Love, the follow-up to 2010’s sublime
Swim. Neutral Milk Hotel have been getting men
and women of a certain age all a-lather with their
recent reformation, and their performance is bound
to be one of the most popular of the festival. Bill
Callahan (formerly known as Smog and now justly
recognised as one of America’s finest contemporary
songwriters) is going to be bringing his melancholic
Americana to the main stage, and somewhere
Animal Collective’s Panda Bear will be making lushly
harmonic sounds.
Hamilton Leithauser, ex of the Walkmen, has just
recorded a brilliant debut album, Black Hours, full
of unexpected twists and turns, and his performance
promises to be one of the highlights of the weekend.
Cult favourites Mercury Rev will almost certainly
be playing Goddess On A Highway at some point,
as parents try to explain to their uncomprehending
children that this was once considered exciting music.
If you get tired of listening to music and fancy
something slightly more intellectual then you can
BUZZ 20
Caribou
Pappys
Elis James
head on over to the Talking Shop Stage where Scritti
Politti frontman Green Gartside will be discussing his
career singing Marxist pop songs; Howard Marks will
be rummaging around in the barrel where he keeps
all the stories about how he used to sell dope and
journalist/architecture critic Owen Hatherley will be
talking about either post-war British brutalism or
Pulp, or possibly both.
After a hard day of watching bands and listening to
Viv Albertine talking about her time in the Slits, you
may well fancy sitting down with a pint and watching
a film. This is where the aptly named Cinema Tent
comes in. Films on offer include A Hard Day’s
Night, a Cinéma vérité-style documentary about cult
Merseyside band The Beatles; American Interior,
in which Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys travels
across America in search of a lost tribe of Welshspeaking native Americans; Frank, Jon Ronson’s
fictional retelling of the Frank Sidebottom story,
featuring Michael Fassbender; and hauntological
types Ghost Box Records will be screening films
alongside their beautifully weird music.
There’s comedy too, over at the Last Laugh stage,
which features sketch troupe Pappy’s, Radio 4
favourite Elis James, and rising star of Welsh comedy
Matt Rees. Those hankering after something artier
can see Cardiff’s own No Fit State Circus, who will
be staging a special performance, and National
Theatre Wales who are performing a specially
commissioned piece.
Festival season is drawing to a close, and the end of
summer is in sight, but it’s not too late to enjoy a few
more days of sunshine, so why not head to the Usk
valley for one last blowout?
Green Man Festival, Crickhowell, Brecon
Beacons, Thurs 14-Sun 17 Aug. Tickets:
£85-£159/under-12s £5/under-4s free.
Info: www.greenman.net