It’s always a delight to descend upon the splendour of Bannau Brycheiniog for four days a year, and while it’s surely wonderful outside of a certain weekend in August, nothing beats being there for the ever-perfect curation of Green Man Festival. Now well into its third decade of operation, it’s become a mainstay of the indie festival circuit, with many punters and artists alike proclaiming it as their favourite place to play. This year saw a whole host of stunning acts perform in the famed national park, both those on the cusp of stardom to a veritable spread of legends. With WAX in attendance to soak it all up, it couldn’t have delivered more on the promise of a good time. Here’s our review of the festival, plus two interviews with performers The New Eves and Eno Williams of Ibibio Sound Machine.
With tents assembled and good spirits in full flow from the get go, the Thursday night programming got things off to an exceptional start with Philadelphia rock group Sheer Mag. While they may try to avoid being labelled as revivalists, their clear homages to classic rock and garage punk are their biggest selling point. The guttural roars of vocalist Tina Halliday are the perfect accompaniment to the Thin Lizzy-esque dual guitar interplay.
With lots of flitting between the Far Out stage and the Walled Garden, next up were Welsh indie outfit The Tubs. Many of the band have a storied history in the UK DIY scene, and with the festival itself, having played there way back when as members of noise-pop group Joanna Gruesome, and their jangly C86-inspired pop kept the audience roused throughout. A return to Far Out was met with the furious noise-rock from Canadian trio METZ, who showcased many songs from new album Up on Gravity Hill while demonstrating that they’ve not lost their bite over the course of their five studio records and continue to create monstrous riffs sure to deafen all in attendance.
In an effort to digest as much musical variety as possible, a brief trip to Round the Twist for the Spinny Nights b2b BUFFEE DJ set saw the tastemaker label flex their diverse wealth of musical knowledge alongside one of their current flagship artists. While they’re both noted for having their ears kept close to the underground, they kept spirits high with smatterings of Charli XCX and Britney Spears to ensure everyone in the tent had something to depart smiling about. It’s a shame the same couldn’t be said about Thursday headliners Sleaford Mods, who despite having garnered success after years of relentless graft still manage to polarise crowds. There were still plenty lapping up the potty-mouthed rage of frontman Jason Williamson, but their often hard-to-stomach style meant that as a headline act they fell flat with those who weren’t going all-out for the Nottingham duo.
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Interview: The New Eves
It’s been a massive 18 months to two years for you and I feel like this is the culmination of all of your hard work coming together. How does it feel to be at Green Man for the first time on the prestigious Rising Stage?
Kate: It’s very good to be in the mountains.
Nina: It’s nice to play on a stage where you can see the sky and not just a black wall.
Kate: It’s really good to be at Green Man in general. We’ve never been before, and I’ve always wanted to come.
Ella: It’s nice to have a mission or a reason to be here as well.
Are you able to enjoy the rest of the festival as well, are you here for the whole weekend and is there anything you’re looking forward to?
Nina: I want to watch Black Country, New Road, because I’ve never seen them, but I think maybe we’re clashing with them tomorrow, because we’re doing a live session. Maybe we can see some of it.
Kate: I want to see Tinariwen.
Ella: We’re gonna see John Maus maybe as well.
Kate: Yesterday I saw Opus Kink and Mermaid Chunky. They were great, right up my street that is.
Violet: Our friends Borough Council are on tomorrow as well. There’s quite a lot of good things on.
Speaking of the past couple of years, what sort of things have you learned about yourselves from touring together in that time?
Kate: We need hot dinners every day.
Ella: Three meals a day or we die.
Violet: Lunch is approaching, actually. That’s probably what we’re all thinking about.
Kate: [towards me] You’re in the danger zone, the hangriness might come out soon.
Nina: Yeah, we’ve learned how we function as human bodies, but also so much about the music industry working together 24/7.
Ella: And how much we’re capable of doing ourselves, I think. It’s been really empowering, and the more that we learn about the industry, the more that we realise we know what we’re doing.
In what ways have you seen yourself grow as a musical unit as well?
Nina: I think all of us individually and collectively have gained so much more confidence since we started this band, which is a huge thing.
Violet: We’ve learned how to work with each other better.
Kate: We’ve learned how to communicate with each other in such a way that it’s becoming this weird kind of four way marriage that we’ve had to work on.
Nina: It’s a real family dynamic.
Violet: Yeah, we’re all like sisters.
Were you all quite close friends beforehand?
Ella: Yeah, we all knew each other, but I feel like we’ve crafted this space musically that we can all go into even if we’re feeling really shit or we’re feeling really good. Whatever it is, we can go into a space and work really well together. It feels like we’re always on the same page when we’re in that zone, which feels like a really cool superpower.
I wanted to ask who coined the term ‘hagstone rock’ to describe your music and wanted to ask where that came from?
Nina: I think it was all of us? It was maybe before Kate joined the band.
Ella: We were actually thinking of band names, and we kind of made the term up before we really knew about our style. It was almost like a joke, and then we realised we didn’t actually have a name for that music.
Kate: People always ask us what kind of music we play, and we didn’t know what to say. We thought it just needed its own name.
I feel like there’s a lot of folk elements and then garage, but there’s a lot of traditional elements and a lot of modernist elements. What do you feel is the right way to strike a balance?
Nina: It’s never thought out for us, it just happens.
Kate: I guess all of those things you said are something that’s within us as a group, and then it comes out, and that is just the balance that it is within us as people. If someone was to ask us, I wouldn’t be able to come up with that list. That was a good list. Maybe you should send it to us so we can send it to people.
Do you often get comments from people who are more rooted in the traditional folk sphere who like your interpretation of the genre?
Nina: I think there’s a lot of people at the moment bringing fresh life into folk music, and they’re really excited about what we’re doing, and vice versa. I don’t know if we’ve encountered any traditionalist folk musicians like that though. Someone told Violet she played the violin wrong once.
Ella: I mean, we all get that. I don’t think we’re really in a scene with any traditional folk musicians, but I’d hope that people wouldn’t have a problem with it.
Speaking of the instruments you play, I wanted to ask you a little bit more about your musical backgrounds. You all swap instruments around on stage and I wondered how you might have fallen into playing drums and flute together, for example.
Ella: Well, I actually started playing the guitar and then the piano secretly when I was a teenager, but I didn’t show anyone that. I didn’t play music with anyone until I was 18, and then I started playing the flute when I was 20, I think. I really took to it, so it’s one of my main instruments now. I didn’t play the drums until The New Eves. We were just jamming, and no one wanted to play the drums, so I just decided I’d give it a go and I really liked it. I couldn’t play sitting down, but I could play immediately if I was standing up, so that’s why I stand up. All hell breaks loose, so I just cut out the feet. That opened up a whole different musical world for me, because everything that I did before was very much in the melodic realm, so it’s been really amazing.
Nina: Ella’s my favourite drummer in the world. I was actually classically trained on the cello, but it was a very toxic environment if you had any sort of creative ideas at my college. I ran away from that and had to find my own way of playing a cello, I guess. I still miss being in a symphony orchestra and the scale of that, but it’s definitely been healing for me to learn to play the instrument in my own way. I wanted to play the guitar when I was little, but I couldn’t get a place, so that’s why I started playing cello. When I started playing the guitar in the band, it was like my 10-year-old self was so happy.
Violet: I started playing classical piano when I was seven, and then I trained to be a classical ballet dancer and left music behind a bit. I quit because that was also toxic and horrible. I then started playing the guitar, and then quit when I was about 16, so I picked the violin up for the band.
I’m sensing a theme that you all wanted to do something, and now this has given you a vehicle to do it.
Violet: Yeah, this is a big teenage dream sort of band.
Kate: I learned the guitar when I was younger, and had rock school lessons when I was nine. Then when I was at university, I noticed everyone played the guitar, and they played the guitar better than me. I got a bass because the bass line is always my favourite bit of the song. I love funky bass lines. Almost immediately, I was then playing music with other people and things started happening. It took me a while to find my place properly with you guys, but you know, that’s where I’m supposed to be – playing the bass.
I wanted to ask you a little bit about Brighton. Having lived there, I don’t think there were as many bands coming out of the city six years ago as there are now. What are your experiences of being an up and coming band in the area and what have you seen change?
Ella: I did see that after the pandemic when people could come out of their houses again, it was like the creativity just erupted in Brighton again and there were so many new young people coming onto the scene with all of these really amazing ideas.
Nina: Maybe that’s not just for Brighton, because you can see throughout history that when something’s fucked and everything’s really difficult societally, it seems to nurture good music. It’s like a counter reaction, like when punk happened. It gets hard, and then you have to have to process it. Something’s born from all the friction, definitely. I think we came from that as well.
Violet: People actually had the time to let their creativity come out and not be working nine to five.
Nina: In Brighton it’s sad, because a lot of venues might have to close, or they have closed, but there still are a lot of really good, supportive places for people to play and everyone is really supportive of one another.
Ella: They’re just rooting for each other, and everyone is so happy to see each other play and help out with everyone’s projects and stuff. There’s no kind of competition there, which is really nice.
If you had to pick a venue in Brighton to call home, which one would it be?
All in unison: Green Door Store!
Ella: More and more places are closing or changing, it’s a difficult time.
Nina: Artists move to a place because it’s cool, or cheap or whatever, but then it’ll be like, “oh, it’s cool here now, so we’re gonna do all this stuff”.
Kate: There’s this certain kind of prescribed thing where you have bigger venues, and you lose the places where people can just come and do their own thing and where group creativity actually comes from. There is still a lot of good stuff happening, but it’s getting harder.
Who are some smaller Brighton bands you’d love to give a shoutout to?
Violet: Ideal Living, they’re really sick. Flip Top Head as well.
Ella: If we start trying to name everyone, we’ll miss someone out and feel really bad afterwards.
Nina: Shout out to Woody Green.
Ella: Freddie J Watts is about to hit the scene too. It’s gonna happen soon, so watch out.
What are your big festival dos and don’ts?
Kate: Me and Nina are opposite on a lot of things, I don’t know how we’re friends really [laughs].
Nina: My do is to have a good night’s sleep, but it just doesn’t work. I talked about this morning that it’s not even worth trying to go to bed early because you just have a shit time trying to sleep. I might not do that tonight.
Kate: My do is you’ve got to dance, because if I don’t dance or stand still, my back starts hurting.
Violet: Have earplugs is my do. Protect your ears, people.
Ella: Just bring a fucking sleeping mat. It’s not okay to sleep on the cold, wet floor.
Violet: Don’t be loud in the campsite past 12. We’re trying to sleep!
Kate: I’ve been listening to the Dune audiobook to get to sleep. That’s my method. Once it’s on, I’m in my cosy zone. I’ve got earphones though, I’m not blasting it out to the whole camp. Maybe if I did, everyone would sleep really well because it works for me.
Nina: Don’t be that person that comes with no tent and no food, and then just needs to take everyone else’s stuff.
Kate: We’ve got loads. We could write a book.
I hear you’ve recently played in Sweden, how was that?
Ella: We played at Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg. It was really good.
Nina: It was a very corporate festival, which was weird.
Kate: There were some big pyro DJs and a Babybel stage sponsor where they were just DJing and giving out Babybels.
Ella: Everything was like a business doing a business thing, but the musicians were incredible. It was such a good lineup.
Nina: I really liked the venue we played.
Kate: They were playing drum and bass in between the sets, so we were trying to tune the cello with drum and bass which was a challenge.
Nina: The site was in this big park, but then they had this thing after the main site closed, where there were the venues in town. So that’s where we were.
Violet: We were the afterparty, hence the drum and bass.
Nina: It’s amazing when you go somewhere where pretty much no one knows you, apart from my dad who was there, and they turn up and love your music.
Ella: Halfway through, Nina revealed that she was Swedish and the crowd went wild.
Nina: I just got so shy.
Kate: When we got to Sweden you were freaking out and felt like you were responsible for everyone having a good time.
Nina: I’ve never played a show in Sweden apart from college, so it was huge. I sort of ran away from that really bad experience in classical music college, and moved to Brighton. This is what I brought back with me, I guess.
Finally, I saw an Instagram story recently of you driving along to Flight of the Conchords. Are you Team Bret or Team Jemaine?
Violet: I’m Bret, I think.
Nina: Nah, I’m Jemaine.
Ella: I think I’m Jemaine as well.
Kate: What about Murray?!
Nina: They do help us through dire situations.
Ella: It’s become the most relatable show for us.
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After a not-so-early night, Brighton art-rockers Opus Kink kicked off the very same stage the following day with blasts of horns permeating their way through agitated riffs. The more bizarre their jazz-punk gets, the freakier the performance from frontman Angus Rogers becomes, and with a lengthy day ahead they managed to inject some much-needed oomph into the heaving tent. Swiftly following them were fellow art-rockers Blue Bendy, with the lyrical wit and peculiar melodies of frontman Arthur Nolan returning to bless the festival after their standout performance two years prior. While they’ve released a stunner of a debut album in So Medieval and gone through a few lineup changes since, they’re still the same Blue Bendy – a group that know how to warp the boundaries of what rock can be in order to create awkward yet cathartic epics that change mood every few bars. A slight breather from being gobsmacked was in order after this, and the songwriter-turned-actor Johnny Flynn blessed those basking in the sunlight over the Mountain Stage with a set of sunshine folk.
London’s Man/Woman/Chainsaw may be newcomers to the scene, but you certainly wouldn’t know it from the confidence which they possess. With the Rising Stage designed to platform artists who could well become the next big thing, M/W/C certainly have everything in them to break through into the limelight. Their styles flit from post-punk to math pop and all in-between, but the chaos doesn’t ever feel contrived and their musicianship shows off a truly kinetic bond between the six members on stage. Continuing in a similar vein over at the Walled Garden were Dutch septet Personal Trainer, who having released their second album Still Willing a mere couple of weeks ago produced a typically raucous set. Frontman Willem Smit and his band might be known for being merchants of mania, but in between spitting beverages down his bare chest and having an intimate makeout with the microphone, the band showcased their innate ability to craft melodic indie-pop while maintaining a feelgood factor.
Meanwhile over on the Mountain Stage, mellow vibes washed over the early evening crowd as Arlo Parks pulled out all the stops in her performance. It’s rare that a hitmaker of her calibre graces the festival but her presence was much welcomed in the valleys as she played many of her most celebrated tracks from Collapsed in Sunbeams and My Soft Machine. It came as something of a surprise that she came only with the most sparse lineup, but really managed to fill the amphitheatre with her soulful vocals and the odd ripping guitar solo.
Conversely, A. Savage, an artist better known for bringing raw fury to his sets, presented a far more stripped-back side to his character. Seeing him without his usual compadres in New York punk act Parquet Courts or any other accompaniment really brings out the strength of his songwriting abilities, and while he may have been uncharacteristically nervous playing in this fashion, his usual dry candour began to seep through as the set ran through highlights from his two solo records. What shook the audience most however was his surprise rendition of ‘Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth’, a track that rarely gets played at Parquet Courts shows but remains a fan favourite, and the lyrical genius of the track left many with mouths agog.
Things moved further into downtempo territory afterwards with Mount Kimbie taking to the Mountain Stage for their sub-headline slot. Their five records have all had distinctly different feelings, but they gel so well in a live environment as they blend electronic post-punk with minimal techno at times. There was even a surprise cameo from frequent collaborator King Krule for their two collaborative efforts ‘Empty and Silent’ and ‘Blue Train Lines’, though his presence might have been too fleeting to have made their set stand out amongst their peers that day. Back at the Rising Stage, it was a different story with Shelf Lives whose set came packed with energy. However, this exuberance became their downfall as various bits of their equipment couldn’t handle their riotous sound and decided to prematurely falter, marring an otherwise fun set.
The day did finish on two exceptional acts however, starting with Moonchild Sanelly blessing the Walled Garden with her futuristic afro-pop. It’s hard to tell how many in the audience were already familiar with the South African born singer, but many will have walked away as fans as her earworms embedded themselves within each and every person who witnessed her spellbinding set. Her choruses are simple and effective, not least ‘Big Man’, her recent collaborative effort with Self Esteem, which was being yelled back at her with every bit of enthusiasm available. Incredible hooks with an abundance of booty-shaking and bad bitch energy, what more could you want?
In response to that, SHERELLE’s set might have been the ‘more’ people were looking for. With Green Man having improved its nightlife programme over the past few years, there was no better person to have keeping the night going strong than the London footwork and jungle trailblazer. Her unrelenting set of 160bpm heaters and flawless mixing ability was a real tour de force and the most jaw-dropping end to the first full day.
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Interview: Ibibio Sound Machine
How does it feel to be back in the mountains?
Eno: We’re literally so happy to be here, absolutely chuffed. We’re obviously looking forward to playing but want to explore too, I’ll hopefully get to see Nadine [Shah] afterwards as I’m a fan of hers. It’s always such a great place to see a variety of music.
Your latest album, Pull The Rope came out a few months ago, and I would say it’s incredibly well catered to festivals. What are some of the responses you’ve had to the new material at other festivals?
Eno: It’s been amazing because people know the lyrics and are singing along and getting involved. The reception has been great, so we’re just really grateful. We’ve been in the US and Europe pretty much for the last couple of months, and then back here doing festival season as well. We’re gonna be back and forth.
I wanted to ask about the themes on display on the record as well as a lot of it is quite politically charged. How would you briefly sum up the messages you wanted to get across?
Eno: Well, ‘Pull The Rope’, the title track on the album is basically just inviting us to come together and unify as one, rather than fighting each other. It’s about having a dialogue and trying to squash issues. That’s just a general consensus, we kind of try to spread that positive vibe of hope. Songs like ‘Them Say’ draw the lens on who we are as people. We are all from different parts of the world, but we find ourselves in a land where sometimes we might feel like strangers. At the end of the day, we’re just the same, really.
You have a new EP, The Black Notes that’s coming later in the year as well. Does that explore similar things?
Eno: That’s more fun and vibey, and it’s just welcome to interpretation. “You’ve been playing me like the black notes”, I thought was a fun line, and the song has that kind of fun summer vibe. It’s just a mixture of the sun and rain, and a bit of black and white. You know, we’re all black and white, why not come together to have fun?
Did that come out of the same sessions?
Eno: Yeah, pretty much. I was sort of trying with the lyrics, and then I was sitting there at the piano with the black notes and came up with that line. It’s just a lot more fun, and not taking life too seriously.
I actually wanted to ask you about the Ibibio language and wondered what you can tell me about it and is there anything you can teach me?
Eno: So if I wanted to say hello to you, I’d say ‘aba die’, and then you would reply ‘asong’, which means fine. I mean, it’s quite straightforward but in terms of songwriting, if I was to put an English phrase and then translate it, it would be probably twice the length of an English phrase, because there’s just a lot more vocabulary, a lot more words and a lot more intonations that culminate. One sentence might be a little bit more in Ibibio, so it would have to be a lot more structured when singing it or saying it.
Do you find it easy to mix the two within lyrics?
Eno: Initially, when we started, the whole project started as a bedroom experiment, just experimenting with stories that I got told as a child. When I took it to Max [Grunhard] – our producer who also plays the saxophone on most of the album – he found the language itself very rhythmic. Because it’s quite rhythmic already, it lends itself musically to writing and being able to mix both English and Ibibio together. On this record, for example, we tried to be a bit more inclusive and to write a bit more in English because people always want to sing along. People will always go and learn the songs and want to try and be involved with the vibe of being a show feel included.
What are some artists that sing in the language that provided a lot of influence to you when you were growing up?
Eno: I’d say there weren’t that many singers. They would have been more like the folk storytellers. Back in the day, when I was growing up, there was a gentleman by the name of Inyang Henshaw. I remember my grandparents used to listen to him a lot. He was more like a highlife kind of musician. Then there was another lady by the name of Afi Usuah; she was more like a classical singer, and they both sang in Ibibio, I remember. As a child, I just used to be fascinated at the way that they were able to deliver the musical context as well as singing. That kind of stayed with me, but then over the years my parents introduced us to a lot of Western music as well as African highlife. We were listening to stuff like Manu Dibango, Angélique Kidjo and Miriam Makeba, but also a bit of The Beatles, Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson. Just hearing the lyrical singing in Ibibio initially, and then hearing the music of the West, when we were sort of trying to come up with the whole concept we realised it hasn’t really been done before. It was just a trial thing, to see what it sounded like, and it kind of worked because the rhythmicality of the language lends itself to the music. It kind of made an obvious pairing.
So you had quite a big exposure to Western music from a young age?
Eno: Oh, definitely. I must say, now the world has gotten much smaller with the Internet, so now we can actually access more music. It feels like that whole mixture has helped to inform the kind of music we’re making now.
When you first moved to the UK, how quickly would you say that your tastes began to adapt?
Eno: I think being in London, but having spent a lot of time growing up in Nigeria informed by highlife and Afrobeat, moving back here and just having the musical essence of multicultural London really enhanced my musical taste. Everywhere you go in London, there’s clubs where you can go and listen to everything from pop to punk to rock. I wasn’t really into rock music and stuff, but just going out and listening to music, I was able to absorb all that. As the band is quite multicultural, there’s a lot of us from different backgrounds that also influence our musical tastes as well.
How important would you say it is to the whole ethos of the band to have all of these different voices coming from different places and combining to make something unique?
Eno: To be honest, I think it’s because music is a universal language in the first place, so it’s very important. If we’re able to come together from different parts, with our different backgrounds and different heritage, and bring that together musically, we can make something that speaks of oneness and togetherness. I think that’s quite important for the whole world.
How would you say that you’ve evolved as a band as well in the 11 years you’ve been around?
Eno: Oh my God, it’s been a work in progress, and we’re still evolving. We started out with heavy Ibibio lyrics and with electronic and highlife, and it feels like we’ve done like a 360 degrees roundabout turn to where we started from. We’re still pushing towards more electronic sounds, and towards vying for what the music of the future would sound like. We’re still trying to find new ways of mixing traditional African instruments and electronic sounds and just pushing the bar. All these guys in the band are really talented. Alfred [Bannerman], for example, our guitarist – we call him a highlife legend because he’s played on some of the most amazing records over the last few decades. In the same vein, with the electronic side, Max tends to try to mix all that with what Tony [Hayden] plays on the synths. We try to sometimes filter the traditional sounds by feeding them through electronic shapes and stuff, just to try and emulate or mimic the sound and give it more like an electronic vibe. Everyone has their main function where they try to derive a bit of an electronic sound from traditional African instruments.
Who are some other artists that you would say make that combination work as well, whether contemporaries or inspirations?
Eno: Someone like Fatoumata Diawara, she’s someone that has done that pretty well with her collaboration with Disclosure. Talking Heads did that as well, and we listened a bit to William Onyeabor as well, because he was doing that way, way back in the day.
You mentioned Talking Heads – I don’t know if you’re aware but there’s a performance later called Byrne’s Night. If they were to invite you to do a song from David Byrne’s catalogue, what would you choose?
Eno: Off the top of my head, I do like ‘Once In A Lifetime’. I love a lot of their songs, but that one really sticks out. There was something I saw on a documentary about how he came about the sound of the chorus by going to Pentecostal gospel churches, and was inspired by the way the preachers delivered sermons. I love that.
What can you say about your show to anyone who hasn’t seen you? What are they in store for?
Eno: I don’t know if I should repeat this, but someone once said ‘come with an oxygen tank’. I mean, it is high energy. There’s a lot of dancing and a lot of positive vibes. Just bring your dancing shoes, and we can hope to lift people up and have fun.
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Having garnered a reputation for being a family-friendly festival, it came as something of a surprise that the programmers booked Lynks to open the main stage on Saturday. The masked queen of queer pop is known for their often frank and vulgar descriptions of casual sex, and they’re never shy when it comes to using vivid imagery as part of their flamboyant live sets. While it might have freaked out those with their five-year-olds in tow as they struggled to explain questions about Grindr hookups, it was a perfect way to start the day if slutty pop bangers get you going. Hull shoegazers bdrmm really dialled up a tense atmosphere afterwards on the Far Out stage, with their equally punishing but beautiful soundscapes creating a simultaneous sense of awe and dread.
As predicted, one of the biggest audiences to descend on the Rising Stage all weekend belonged to Brighton neo-folk outfit The New Eves. With the more traditional elements of the genre often being shunted to one side in favour of psychedelia and Nuggets-era garage rock, the band all adorned white dresses with ruffs and frills to almost give off a cultish vibe. With their remarkable harmonies and blends of classical instrumentation and rawness they almost certainly came away with more recruits for their fanbase. In a similar vein, Tapir! have experienced a massive rise since their debut album landed via Heavenly Records earlier this year, and their unique take on pastoral folk mixed with sparse electronics drew an enormous crowd to the Walled Garden. Despite their gentleness, these songs don’t lack in bare emotional impact. Frontman Ike Gray’s crisp vocals soared over the crowd and hit punters right where it matters on songs like ‘Gymnopédie’ and the stunning ‘My God’.
Vibrant and joyful from start to finish, one of the weekend’s highlights was surely Ibibio Sound Machine’s set on the Far Out stage on Saturday evening. Serving as a reminder of how wonderful it is to be alive while still paying due consideration to some of the injustices we face as humans, they delivered a powerful blend of West African high-life, electronica and disco-punk that kept the audience firmly on their toes throughout. Vocalist Eno Williams proved to be their shining light, with her disco ball helmet and striking ability to keep the crowd in the palm of her hand. The audience made their appreciation for her talent known by returning the favour with a three-minute round of applause mid-set that brought the singer to tears.
Moving across Africa but keeping crowds lively were Tinariwen on the main stage, who brought their Tuareg blues to a wider audience. It’s always a pleasure for many attendees to discover lesser-known pockets of music from across the globe at Green Man, and their immense musical proficiency and tightly locked grooves went down a storm with the festival faithful this time around. Following them was cult icon Devendra Banhart, who has covered everything from freak-folk to art-rock in his fascinating 20-year career to date. Accompanied by local legend H. Hawkline and butchering every entry on the Welsh phrasebook he kept retrieving from his pocket, his set was full of pleasant surprises – not least a cumbia interpretation of Aaliyah’s ‘Try Again’ and a cover of Madonna’s ‘Don’t Tell Me’. His calming presence and quiet confidence were hard not to be won over by, and his strange charisma kept those patiently waiting for the headliners satisfied throughout.
While a spellbinding headline set from Big Thief was always on the cards, the manner in which they delivered it was far from predictable. Opting to split their setlist between crowd favourites and unreleased material, it was slightly disappointing that certain hits from their vast catalogue weren’t delivered upon, although we did get rousing renditions of ‘Simulation Swarm’, ‘Vampire Empire’ and ‘Not’ pitted against new cuts. It’s hard to criticise frontwoman Adrianne Lenker when new songs such as closer ‘Incomprehensible’ were able to solicit several minutes of the crowd singing after the band had departed the stage, only reinforcing the conclusion that she is a once-in-a-generation talent when it comes to writing simple yet effective ballads. As the hordes shifted away from the Mountain Stage and into the night, there were very few dry eyes left amongst those who witnessed them.
Capping off a spectacular day of entertainment on the Walled Garden was Byrne’s Night; a ramshackle but thoroughly entertaining tribute to the erstwhile Talking Heads frontman curated by members of London slacker rock group Hank. With appearances from members of Porridge Radio, Oracle Sisters, Sorry, and Nadine Shah among others, the ensemble rotated its cast of contributors to each cover a track from his back catalogue and celebrate Byrne’s storied career in style – all delivered with the charm of a drunken wedding band.
As the fatigue started to make itself known, a slower start to the final day was in order with Norwich alt-country newcomers Brown Horse first on the agenda. Their Walled Garden appearance ended up being one of the surprise highlights of the weekend for many, and the fact that they seemed overjoyed to be at the festival only enhanced their charm as they blended lap steel guitars and accordions to create their unique take on the genre. Shortly after on the Rising Stage were instrumental ensemble Dog Unit, whose refreshing take on krautrock and post-rock elements drew them comparisons to the likes of Tortoise and Cavern of Anti-Matter. As they moved through their set they generated a feeling of floating through space, with their music lulling you through the atmosphere.
There was a lot of emotional purging taking place on the main stage with Blondshell, as Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum’s project produced an intense brand of indie rock akin to the likes of Mitski. While its mid-afternoon placement felt a little unfair, it’ll be interesting to see how far up the pecking order the band climb in the near future. Similarly, baritone sax and drum duo O. were dealt an unfair hand having been given the opening slot on Far Out on the Sunday, but seeing their intimate live session recording at Round the Twist in the early evening dealt a batshit blend of jazz, metal and hip-hop over the course of three taut songs. The musicianship on show between saxophonist Joe Henwood’s staccato honks and Tash Keary’s brutal blastbeats were a sight to behold, but it was unfortunate that it only lasted less than fifteen minutes.
As beloved as they are, Black Country, New Road still continue to surprise their fans at every turn. While many would have had valid concerns about the band’s stunted growth following the departure of vocalist Isaac Wood two years ago, the six remaining members have shown an ever-growing maturity in their approach to splitting the songwriting and singing duties ever since. Following the release of Live at Bush Hall – a taster album of what was to come from the art-rock band – they appear to have been hard at work crafting perhaps some of their most adventurous and engaging material to date. No member is ever shunted to the background anymore, with everyone given equal chance to flaunt their virtuosity on multiple instruments, and the often theatrical nature of their new songs demonstrates both a humorous and a heartbreaking side to their songwriting that we have previously only glimpsed. For a band that showed immense promise from the moment they formed, it seems impossible that they only ever seem to get more exciting.
Following shortly after, Ezra Collective are another example of a group riding high off the back of years of honing their craft. Having been honoured with the prestigious Mercury Prize for their most recent album, Where I’m Meant To Be, the jazz ensemble presented the Green Man crowd with an expression of love and unity that constantly egged on the audience to give it their all as they slowly ramped up the intensity. Bandleader and drummer Femi Koleoso guided the crowd through a whirlwind of sound and educated them on the history of all of their global influences as they kept promising they still had more in the tank before reaching 100%. For the tiring crowd, matching their energy seemed an impossible task, but they made a respectable showing and gave the group as much vigour as they deserved.
Closing the Walled Garden in spectacular fashion were New York dance-punks Model/Actriz with a performance filled with high camp and righteous fury. Their set was uncompromising in every aspect, with disco-esque drum beats being layered with anxiety inducing guitars for an entire hour as the pirouetting and Vogue-smoking frontman Cole Haden held court both on and off stage. His frequent ventures into the crowd to personally greet everyone in attendance and bark in their faces as the band made steadfast attempts to hold everything together were one of many highlights, but the sheer intensity to their songs and overall performance were mind-melting in the best possible way. With all due respect to headliner Sampha, there was no better place to be at that moment in time.
Green Man never fails to spoil its guests for choice year upon year, and this edition of the festival was no different. From showcasing acts new and old, local and further afield and offering plenty of entertainment aside from its musical contributions, it’s never short of a delight to make the visit down to the Welsh mountains for four days of marvelling.
Words: Reuben Cross // Cover photo: Patrick Gunning
Purchase early bird tickets for Green Man 2025 via the festival website. Listen to the official festival playlist below.
Great review!