Live Report: Green Man Festival 2024
When a festival sells out its ticket allocation of 25,000 in two hours, before the lineup has even been announced, that signifies a healthy degree of trust in the yearly proceedings. Green Man’s relentless excellence has built the gorgeous Welsh festival a cult fanbase, appropriately so given the pastoral settings and ritualistic closing ceremony. Its jaw-dropping mountainous location, lack of corporate sponsorship, accessibility options, decently-priced range of food and drink, open-minded vibe and, of course, stellar music and nightlife means that Green Man has built a loyal and friendly clientele that revel in its continued commitment to singular quality.
Here’s a look at how this year’s edition went down.
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Thursday
Though there’s the option to stay from Monday onwards in the ‘Settlement’ camp, the majority of the Green Man opens on Thursday. The beautiful Walled Garden stage hosts HMS Morris – Welsh art rockers that are an adroit choice to catch early doors, providing a fun, quirky and nuanced set that mirrors the festival itself. Riding the buzz, it’s then up to the large Far Out tent to catch KOKOKO! giving the tent’s soundsystem a workout. Their bass-heavy African rhythms draw a massive, eager-to-dance crowd.
Later in the night, Metz decimate Far Out with a contender for set of the weekend. The Toronto noise rockers are a touch more abrasive than most bands on the weekend’s bill, but win over the crowd with a gripping set (highlighted by epic closer A Boat To Drown In) that incites a huge mosh pit. The night ends back down in Walled Garden with some rave-rock from Das Koolies. The Super Furry Animals offshoot have an odd stage set up that pushes screens to the forefront, but make for an energetic end to a first stellar day.
Friday
Following a drizzly Thursday, Friday sees the arrival of glorious sun. Blue Bendy’s Walled Garden set is a delight to catch beneath a clear blue sky, ambitious song structures and strange but chill vibes. JOHN provide something more straightforward at Far Out – all gruff noise/alt rock and an early afternoon mosh pit. To mix it up further, the nearby Back Of Beyond stage serves up all-day circus pleasures, while an adjacent stage sees a team of Spanish barbers providing ornate haircuts to the sound of dub reggae. An oddly engrossing spectacle.
Green Man’s main Mountain Stage, which is set in front of the stunning Black Mountains, opens on Friday and Johnny Flynn’s traditionalist folk couldn’t suit it any better. Next door, tucked behind a pond and some trees, lies the Rising Stage. Here, a one-two-punch of Man/Woman/Chainsaw followed by Revival Season get the weekend off to a flyer. The former’s heavy experimental rock is fresh and accessible, while the latter’s southern rap draws a large, giddy crowd. Endearingly, both acts seem pleased at the size and enthusiasm of their crowds, a theme that continues throughout the weekend.
Later in the evening, with the sun low in the sky, Arlo Parks takes to the Mountain Stage to deliver a heartfelt set. Her singular voice is as commanding as ever and her tight band matches her for chops. By this point, the well-arranged main festival area (you can get from one side to the other in 20 minutes) is pulsing with energy. A great addition this year is the ‘secret’ Wishbone Stage – a bar and tent behind a vintage shop. A host of wild and fabulous drag acts from across the country get the party truly started.
Back on the Mountain Stage, Jon Hopkins arrives half hour late, before dishing out a fun, if repetitive set of cosmic techno. The party continues on Far Out with a late Sherelle DJ set, rife with seriously-heavy rave tracks, before decamping to the Chai Wallas tent for myriad late night shenanigans.
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Saturday
Following a heavy Friday, Bdrmm’s blend of shoegaze and experimental rock makes for an enjoyable recovery session. Again, the band seem amazed by the size of their crowd. In the Walled Garden, Tapir! prove even more therapeutic prospect. Arriving on stage to an amusing recording of whoops and cheers, their oddball folk/indie goes down a storm, with On A Grassy Knoll sounding especially resplendent.
Among the many joys of Green Man is the Mountain Stage’s amphitheatre-style shape. Sitting on its grassy banks in the daytime is a joy and makes Wednesday‘s charming country/alt rock fusion an all the more lush proposition. The band’s clever lyrics and lap steel guitars charm a sizable late afternoon crowd. Similarly, later that night, Devendra Banhart’s set charms the hell out of the Mountain Stage. His quirky charisma and admirable if ropey attempts to speak Welsh are seriously endearing, as are his interactions with Welsh touring guitarist H. Hawkline.
Big Thief headline the same stage, but the real party is up in Far Out with the Osees. The pysch/garage rock legends complete their soundcheck with 15 minutes to spare so say “fuck it, shall we just play?” Ripping through an all-classics set that sets the whole tent bouncing, frontman John Dwyer is a tour-de-force, as are the band’s powerhouse double drummer set-up. Following this, it’s back to Wishbone for some more chaos, as well as a late night rave in the packed Around The Twist tent, courtesy of a Mermaid Chunky DJ set.
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Sunday
Following a cooler Saturday, the sun shines down again on Sunday. Lambrini Girls’ draw an enormous Far Out crowd with their razor-sharp punk and impassioned inter-song speeches. Down on the Rising Stage, Dog Unit’s instrumental post-rock delights, while Blondshell’s set lives up to much on-site excitement. Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum’s vivid lyrics and effortless cool sets the mid-afternoon crowd swooning.
Sunday proves a great day for music. Royel Otis literally fill Far Out, offering a stellar back-to-back punch of Oysters In My Pocket and their Murder On The Dancefloor and Linger covers. Expect to see them on the Mountain Stage next time. The powerful-voiced Omar Soulyman provides one of the weekend’s most unexpected delights – an hour of Syrian rave that sets seemingly the entire festival dancing.
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That evening sees a strong run of acts take to the Mountain Stage. Black Country, New Road play a head-spinning set of mostly new songs. Tracks like Turbines/Pigs are stunning, but the set feels almost too rich, like an amazing meal where all the courses come out a bit too quickly. The loose and fun Ezra Collective make for a nice tonic. Their high-energy jazz-funk draws the Mountain Stage’s largest crowd and feels practically transcendent in its outpouring of collective joy. Sampha closes proceedings. Set up in an inwards-facing shape, he and his band (shoutout to the terrific drummer) provide a jazzy and emotive end to this wonderful festival.
Following a quick trip to catch some of Model/Actriz’s thrillingly camp techno-punk, many revellers march up the hill, accompanied by the distant sounds of Explosions In The Sky’s triumphant post-rock, to watch the ceremonial burning of the green man effigy. As its embers rise into the sky and fireworks erupt overhead, it’s hard not to feel like this is as about as perfect a festival as one could ever wish to experience. Roll on next year.
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Words: Tom Morgan
Photography: Patrick Gunning, Kirsty McLachlan, Marieke Macklon
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