REVIEW: GREEN MAN FESTIVAL 2011
It always rains in Wales…or does it? Not for the 10k plus festival goers who headed to the beautiful Brecon Beacons for this year’s Green Man Festival. This eco-friendly (it’s in the name) festival has always been one of my favourites and this year did not disappoint, despite the pretty extortionate prices on everything (£4 a pint and £7 a meal – ouch). The organisers must have realised that us festival goers don’t got bottomless pockets and they had relaxed their rules on bringing food and drink into the arena, thankfully, otherwise this could’ve been a very hungry, sober festival for me.
That aside, what about the music? The main reason most of us were there. Rumour has it they forked out the majority of the budget on the Saturday night headliners Fleet Foxes but that didn’t mean the rest of the programme was lacking, at all. In fact, the Fleet Foxes came and went with little more than a cursory glance from a lot of folk – with their inoffensive Fleetwood Mac-esque Americana. Pretty but somewhat two-dimensional. Friday’s headliners Explosions in the Sky divided the crowd, some loved it, while others found them lacking in something which their Scottish counterparts Mogwai nail.
Aussie musical comedian Tim Minchin treated early birds to a Thursday night set, which was repeated again on the Friday night but I managed to bypass the comedy tent for the whole festival due to the multitude of musical acts I was keen to see. Treefight for Sunlight played a decent set on Friday lunchtime, though their pleas for people to get up off their asses fell on deaf ears – even when the dude launched into a falsetto rendition of Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights. I was standing, and I don’t even like Kate Bush!
Holy Fuck smashed the Far Out Stage on Friday night with their unique brand of electro indie, which had sniffs of The Cure, Erasure and Radiohead all at the same time. There was a lot of natter over the weekend about that being one of the highlights and I’d have to agree. Another highlight came in the shape of Villagers on Friday evening. The Irish equivalent of Bright Eyes (hell they even share the same name) won the crowd over with his pitch perfect, yet wonderfully fragile tales of love and loss. The expressions he pulls as he bleats out these folky ballads are almost as captivating as the songs themselves.
I almost missed She Keeps Bees cos I was thinking it was Sea Of Bees. Thankfully, my curiosity for the latter took me to the main stage for an amazing set from the former. Frontwoman Jessica Larrabee’s enchanting, mellow vocals filled the whole stage without the need for any accompaniment. With the understated cool vibe of Patti Smith, the sassyness of Alison Mosshart from The Kills and vocals Cat Power would be proud of she shone brighter than the Brecon Beacon. Like Wye Oak at End of the Road, may this be the start of a beautiful relationship with an awesome new band.
Noah and the Whale pulled in one of the biggest crowds of the weekend (albeit predominantly teenage girls with those ridiculous plastic flower garments in their hair). Some of the more snobby music lovers dismissed them as pop fodder but they pretty much slaughtered their biggest hit Five Years Time though clawed it back with L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. As expected, it was the material from their second album (the one which followed lead singer Charlie Fink’s break up with Laura Marling, who also played this year’s festival), which demonstrated just how good Noah and the Whale can be, the title track First Days Of Spring building into a beautiful crescendo of melancholic hope.
After catching Josh T Pearson support Drive By Truckers in Bristol earlier this year, it’s fair to say that he was the main draw for me. His stark and honest stripped back blues may not have been best placed in the evening slot but that didn’t phase Josh. He apologised in advance for the emotional clout of the songs and kept reiterating that, despite the mammoth beard, he was not Iron and Wine. His inter song humour lifted the set from the heartbreaking tragedy it could’ve invoked and his jokes were pretty good too. What’s the difference between a musician and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family. Ha ha. But the crowd wasn’t here to see him tell jokes, they were here to see him play his long and lonesome songs, including the epic Sweetheart, I Ain’t Your Christ. I would’ve shed a tear again except I was mesmerised by his insane guitar picking. The man must have fingers of steel!
James Blake showcased his minimal dub influenced indie and eased the typical Green Man goer (beard, lover of all things folk etc) into the world of dubstep with the main stage bass amps blowing off dust. I have to say, seeing the stage shake with the force of the bass was a little concerning, considering the all too recent stage collapsing event at Pukklepop in Belgium, but that was just me being silly. It’s funny, the thousands of fans watching Blake play in this field were quieter than the couple of hundred people I say him with at the Thekla, which made the experience a whole lot better. You gotta be respectful of music like his godammit.
It’s amazing what having a shave can do for you. The Low Anthem’s lead singer, Ben Knox Miller, was barely recognisable without his facial fuzz. In fact he had a touch of the Jeff Buckley about him. Dreamy. Like their music. Their newer material got a good airing with the wonderfully serene Apothecary Love proving the highlight of a near perfect set. They ended the set with a beautiful cover of Leonard Cohen’s Bird on a Wire, during which many a fan was welling up.
Fans waiting for local hero Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals) at the Far Out Stage on Sunday night were getting a little impatient when the soundcheck overran by more than half an hour (which meant this reviewer never made it to Iron and Wine at the main stage in time to take some snaps). However, his endearing persona won over any grumpy folk as he launched into material from his brilliant recent album Hotel Shampoo. Sadly, I had to leave before the end to go and catch Iron and Wine and see what all the fuss was about.
I have to say, I saw Iron and Wine’s stripped down set at End of the Road Festival and was pretty underwhelmed, but here he was playing a much jazzier set, which was nothing short of a delight. Of course, this was interspersed with the soul searching ballads made for someone with a big beard and a furrowed brow like Samuel Beam (aka Iron and Wine). This proved the perfect end to the musical proceedings of the festival, then it was up to the giant Wickerman-style Green Man sculpture for the ritual burning and fireworks.
Other bands worth mentioning are Dry The River, who are destined for big things, with the style of Kings of Leon and the heart-wrenching, soaring tunes of Mumford and Sons; Martin Carr of Boo Radleys fame, who treated a small but appreciative crowd to some solo songs as well as Find The Answer Within; Ellen and the Escapades who transformed the Beatles’ Here Comes The Sun into a honey-toned, layered ballad. Beautiful.
And a special big up to BBC Wales Introducing’s Jen Long who played an awesome DJ set at the Green Man pub, which culminated with her being carried round the field on the shoulders of half a dozen admirers. A fitting tribute to her girl-friendly set, which opened with Kenickie and went on to feature Gossip, CSS and plenty of indie anthems.
Words and photos: Laura Williams
