Green Man festival 2015 review

August 26, 2015

Set in Wales and surrounded by the beautiful Brecon Beacons mountains, Green Man is a stunning festival with a line-up matching the views. This year the festival took place between Thursday 20th and Sunday 23rd of August and headliners such as Leftfield, Hot Chip, Super Furry Animals and St Vincent all graced the stage of the main stage and with them another array of amazing artists and comedians. EF travelled all the way to Wales for an exciting weekend filled with music, comedy and wholesome fun.

Last time we went to Green Man Festival was 2013 and we had a brilliant time so we couldn’t resist and go again this year with so many acts we were eager to check out. Our weekend started Friday with a great performance from legends Hot Chip. Being fans it wasn’t really a hard call to make and go see the band who have been touring this year. Probably one of the highlights of the whole weekend, Hot Chip delivered on so many levels, the music was on point, the show was tight and the band itself still has more style than any kid from Shoreditch. Hits like Over and Over and Ready For The Floor got old fans ecstatic but new material from the band’s latest album, Why Make Sense? went down a treat too.

Green Man Festival has been a clear favourite for families over the years and its easy to guess why. The place is a playground for kids and feels like a safe haven for parents and their little ones. Without kids you might be forgiven for thinking that Green Man Festival is not for you but actually this festival is a gem when it comes to music and once night time comes and the kids are off to bed the atmosphere changes ever so slightly to become something rather naughty. Indeed the Far Out stage doubles as After Dark where all the party animals can go and let their hair down. On Friday we had the pleasure of dancing with likeminded and some of the most polite people at any festival to the sound of 2 Bears’ Dj set until the early hours of the morning.

Saturday started out as a scorcher and everyone made the best of it by sitting on the grass and swimming the pond. Music-wise, Saturday was packed with good performances and some surprises. Country singer Sturgill Simpson’s band completely swayed us with their tight musicianship and infectious riffs. Saturday continued to surprise us with performances from acts we had not been able to see live before such as the completely bonkers Newcastle folk musician, Richard Dawson who dared to sing acapella for quite a long part of his set and sang shanties at the top of his vocal range, needless to say we were impressed. In the Walled Garden stage we also caught This Is The Kit’s set, which were absolutely mesmerising and suited the mood in the garden as the night started to fall.

It wouldn’t be a good Green Man Festival without local talent and of course Welsh acts were on the bill and sometimes even stole the show. H Hawkline who is a GM favourite played the Far Out stage Saturday afternoon and even though the sun was shining the Cardiff artist attracted a big crowd including us who couldn’t get enough from his blase rock and roll. Of course the one act that everyone at the festival was waiting for was Super Furry Animals who headlined the Mountain Stage Saturday night. Even though rain started to fall the crowd didn’t budge and indeed the biggest crowd of the festival was drawn to the Welsh rockstars set. The night however belonged to Jamie XX who did the honours at the After Dark stage and gathered an impressive crowd that surrounded the massive tent as unfortunately not everyone could fit in!

Elsewhere you could also check out some comedy however you had to be prepared to stand outside the tent especially when Rob Newman and Adam Buxton took on the stage and delighted the crowd with their humour. We also sat down to check out comedian and music performer Rob Deering, who had us in stitches with his combo of funny contemporary songs and jokes about the most mundane things such as kids, coffee and Lego.

Sunday started off as a downpour and it was really hard to face the day that seemed so wet however the weather quickly took a turn and by 3pm the sun was back out and so were most festival-goers. You might think that rain equals mud at every festival but this was not the case at Green Man. Yes sure there was the occasional mud patch especially in the campsite however if you braved the arena then you would have discovered that it seemed unfazed by the weather and there was still grass to sit on by the Mountain stage and if you didn’t feel brave enough for that you could have simply stayed in the covered stages.

We ended up at the Far Out for most of the day not because we didn’t fancy sitting on the grass but mainly because it was our favourite line-up of the entire weekend. Highlights of the day for us included an energetic performance from American duo Sylvan Esso who manage to rescue their set even though part of their equipment (laptop) died on stage. The tracks from the band’s debut album sounded better live then we’d imagined and the massive crowed clearly agreed with us. Another band we couldn’t wait to see at Green Man Festival were the eccentric duo now turned trio Public Serve Broadcasting. The last time we saw the band was at Green Man Festival 2013 where the band played the Walled stage and completely blew us away with their geeky electro pop. In 2015 the band’s sound seemed to have expanded and become bigger whilst the band’s show was still really fun with its interactive feel. Melbourne rocker Courtney Barnett gathered an even bigger crowd at the festival with her blend of grunge and blues tracks. Finally headlining the Far Out stage was the utterly bonkers and stunning Goat. The Swedish experimental band got on stage and pretty much completely mesmerised.