Green Man Festival Returns (Green Man Festival Feature)
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Written by Rhys Morgan
The 2010 ‘Best Medium Sized Festival’ winner returns with another outstanding line-up, boutique stores, taste bud adulterating food outlets, incredible cinema and plenty of hidden gems to be sought out
Fleet Foxes, Explosions in the Sky and Iron & Wine will all be headlining, each with back up from incredible 2011 albums. There are massive names to be found further down the bill too, including Noah and the Whale, Bellowhead, Gruff Rhys, Villagers and Laura Marling, who last year conceded Green Man to be her favourite festival on the touring calender.
If your heading to Glanusk estate this year and in search of a few tips, here we go. The Antlers are sure to give one of the best sets of the weekend, combing tracks from their iconic album 'Hospice' and 2011’s slightly more upbeat 'Burst Apart'. James Blake returns just a year after his body blowing DJ set as part of Far Out After Dark with a full solo set, his minimalist bass music combined with his natural vocal soul will surely be something to behold. Suuns make the kind of guitar/electronic hybrid music that will have the entire crowd sweating and writhing as one energised mass, plus this is the only place you’re going to catch them this summer. Lia Ices, is sure to be one of the little known suprises of the weekend, think Joanna Newsom with a piano. Her extravagant avant-garde piano pop is guaranteed to get people talking. Stereoboard’s final tip for you is Dry The River. They’re an indie folk band who cite Neutral Milk Hotel and At The Drive-In as there biggest influences, surely that alone makes them worth checking out?
Yes, The Green Man Festival may be about music, but it’s a place where you could quite easily spend the whole weekend enthralled and not indulge in any of the music on offer. There’s incredible world cinema, last year crowds were treated to the UK premiere of Leonard Cohen documentary, 'Bird On A Wire'. The festival also has a literature and comedy tent, which hosts fascinating debates and the best quality emerging stand-ups around, including; Tom Wrigglesworth and Edinburgh Festival favourite Tony Law. If you’re looking to leave Green Man having fed your mind and learnt something, then Einstein’s Garden is where you’ll need to head. Over the weekend you’ll be able to catch scientific comedians, musical philosophers and you’ll even be able to step into the world of Dr. Who, with The Science and Fiction of Dr. Who.
I suppose I can’t really forget to mention good old Chai Wallah’s either, can I? The Chai Wallah tent is the go to place to mellow out by day and get dancing by night. You can get fantastic alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, enjoy a sheesha pipe with your mates and if there’s nothing taking your fancy at any other stage, you can head over for some of the best and most consistent music of the weekend.
I am of the opinion that The Green Man Festival is, probably, the best place in the world. Yes, that is a pretty huge claim I know. But it’s the way I was left feeling in the weeks after the festival that will stay with me, simple, pure happiness and it’s the atmosphere around the festival site that creates this joy. Everyone’s you friend and everyone’s having just as much fun as you are. From mass choirs rapping the theme to The Fresh-Prince Of Bel-Air, to foam parties at The Bubble Factory and pushing stuck cars out of the mud (all activities undertaken by my friends and I last year), everybody’s high on life.
Last year the rain couldn’t stop the festival exceeding all expectations. Band members walked the arena, Wayne Coyne enjoyed some quality time at the aforementioned campfire, as did Darwin Deez. Even the festival organiser Jo Bartlett is willing to give the time to chat with festival goers. The weekend culminated with the burning of The Green Man, a 50ft tall bonfire shaped as a grandiose bearded druid. What follows is a stunning firework display and thousands of people looking for one final party before the weekend is over.
Simply put, watching the sun set behind The Main Stage and behind the picturesque Black Mountains beyond it, while Fleet Foxes grace the the festival’s natural amphitheatre is going to be purely breathtaking. But maybe that isn’t your thing, maybe you’d prefer to be losing your shit to Holy Fuck in the Far Out Tent. What’s that? Your fancy still hasn’t been tickled. Perhaps you’d rather get cosy around the bonfire/campfire for an acoustic singalong or just chill out at the Green Man pub with some good company while supping some of the best ciders and ales from around the country. What ever you feel like doing, you’ll be hard pushed to find a more beautiful setting to accomplish it in.
And that’s if it pisses down again, imagine the splendour if we actually get some beating rays too!
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I suppose I can’t really forget to mention good old Chai Wallah’s either, can I? The Chai Wallah tent is the go to place to mellow out by day and get dancing by night. You can get fantastic alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, enjoy a sheesha pipe with your mates and if there’s nothing taking your fancy at any other stage, you can head over for some of the best and most consistent music of the weekend.
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