Sunburn and euphoria amid the hills
Green Man Festival
Hidden in a valley in the Brecon Beacons, the historic Glanusk estate fills with 20,000 people once a year for this folk and indie festival. Enter the grounds through a 19th-century towered bridge, and a setting of rolling hills, grand oak trees and colourful stages reveals itself.
While adults enjoy the likes of Cate Le Bon and Fleet Foxes, their children paddle in a nearby pond before falling asleep. In the mornings, campers wake to the sound of tiny voices shouting, “What’s the time, Mr Wolf?”, then later navigate low-flying, tail-wearing children as they walk to the bar.
This year, on Thursday night, Public Service Broadcasting married the defining themes of Green Man: family enjoyment and Welsh celebration. The jocular three-piece rattled through their latest album, Every Valley, which charts the collapse of the coal industry.
At the back of the tent, a father bounced his daughter on his shoulders as the band celebrated “feminism and the power of protest”. For the encore, a full Welsh choir joined in for an awe-inspiring and crowd-silencing elegy to coal mining: Take Me Home.
Friday’s standout performance came from eclectic Dirty Projectors, who hadn’t played in the UK since 2012. Their harmonies appeared to draw light-grey clouds over the peak of Table Mountain, which looms above the stage.
Nearby, in the secluded Walled Garden, Susanne Sundfør’s ethereal voice enchanted a crowd as she transformed mournful ballads into a form of collective healing.
Other standout acts on the secluded stage included nonchalant indie quartet Goat Girl, electropop singing duo Ider and Scottish guitar rockers Sacred Paws.
Green Man has a special status among musicians, with Welsh returner Cate Le Bon breaking a year-long festival hiatus to serenade the Brecon Beacons with Wonderful on Saturday afternoon. She sashayed across the stage in green culottes and closed a sincere set with a hypnotic five-minute instrumental, before bidding her country farewell in Welsh.
“This is truly a beautiful festival. It’s as good as it gets,” said Robin Pecknold, Fleet Foxes frontman, jumping into the band’s debut single White Winter Hymnal, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this summer. For what was their only UK appearance and the final show of an 18-month tour, the band couldn’t have picked a better venue.
Green Man’s main stage is set in an open air amphitheatre flanked by the Black Mountains, and from any position, the audience can sit with a picnic and have eyes on the act.
As Fleet Foxes started Blue Ridge Mountains, the screen flashed with lightning in a moody sky. But overhead, the weather held, and rain-free brilliance prevailed – for the whole weekend.
By Sunday afternoon, sunburn was everywhere as revellers gathered for Anna Calvi’s vigorous art rock. Later, headliners The War On Drugs drew the crowd into a synchronous sway during song of the summer Red Eyes, they and Grizzly Bear serving up a mix of complex, euphoric and genredefining indie music over the evening.
At the close, festival goers young and old regrouped for the ceremonious burning of the Green Man. Within minutes, the hill was ablaze with orange light from the flames, and a burst of fireworks signalled that it was all over for another year. Bedtime, children.