Festival Review: Green Man Festival 2022 - Brecon Beacons - Wales
Celebrating its 20th year among the hills of the Brecon Beacons, Wales’s most prolific festival is back bigger and better than ever before. We ventured into the most scenic setting of the season to join the party for Green Man 2022.
Throwing open their doors extra early this year (shout out to the rail strikers), the festival really got going all throughout the day on Thursday, putting on even more musical acts and opening the main stage - the formidable Mountain’s Foot set beneath the Black Mountains - early for the first time. The festival’s celebration of Wales has always been devotedly at the heart of everything they do, from sourcing local produce for food stalls, providing thousands to local communities and arts funding – this year alone donating £16,000 to Welsh food banks – and showcasing an array of the best Welsh talent at the festival, this year it feels even more prominent than ever. The honour of kicking things off on the main stage goes to Cardiff legend John Mouse, with his surreal, slightly unhinged, disco-laden stories that work the crowd from start to finish. Meanwhile the day’s lineup on the beautiful Walled Garden stage showcases some recent heroes of the Welsh language, like Papur Wal and Adwaith, spreading a pride in culture that should be treasured and fought for.
Yves Tumor - Mountain Stage - credit Nici Eberl
Elsewhere, in the main tent, the Far Out, the party is led by the recent solo antics and satirical pop boogie of Wesley Gonzalez, in a slot which last year was held by Wet Leg very soon before they skyrocketed into infamy. So as Green Man has forever been the place to catch the latest cool new thing, in the same afternoon I caught the genre-hopping, continent-crossing, art-punk seven-piece, The Umlauts, showing what a multi-dimensional festival we’re in with their new-aged multi-instrumentalist Kraut exploration, gearing us up for the big band on everyone’s lips tomorrow night. But more of that later. Keeping up the synth-pop party tonight, Metronomy are the first Thursday Mountain stage headliners in history, who have long been festival favourites with their vast array of indie-electronic hits as well as showing off their latest album, Small World. With such a hefty starter to sink our teeth into you’ve got to remember to pace yourself for the rest of the weekend – que a very bad Friday hangover.
Metronomy - Mountain Stage - credit Nici Eberl
As is tradition now, the festival’s charity, the Green Man Trust, host a yearly competition for one emerging artist to open the main stage on Friday. This year’s winners are local South Wales psych warriors Dactyl Terra, who tackle the slot which becomes more and more seen and appreciated by the early risers each year.
Now able to invite the world back without the same restrictions that hindered last year’s lineup, we get a more diverse and international lineup, with the likes of West African guitarist Mdou Moctar giving a momentously joyous, communal performance to ease those banging heads into the early afternoon. Or for a converse approach, the brutal energy of Stockholm’s finest noise-makers Viagra Boys tear up the Far Out tent, making up for having to disappointingly pull out of last year.
Back out into the sunset, South London’s greatest wordsmith (arguably of all time) Kae Tempest captivates in a way they always manage to do, to every audience ever lucky enough to be in their presence. The power of the spoken verse holds the entire valley in the palm of Tempest’s hand, and many tears are shed.
Kae Tempest - Mountain Stage - credit Parri Thomas
But now on to what we were saying about “the band on everyone’s lips” – tonight the mountains are most seriously shaken by the digital waves of the mighty Kraftwerk. Having 3D glasses handed out throughout the day is exactly what you might expect from the enigmatic godfathers of electronica, in an excitement-building foreshadowing of what audio-visual experience might lie ahead. What was experienced was as surreal as it was nostalgic, a timeless set of iconic music with an influence like no other. Simplistic to some, but something that felt like such a once-in-a-lifetime headliner, and definitely one to cross off the bucket list.
Kraftwerk - Mountain Stage - credit Parri Thomas
The late-night entertainment at Green Man has also become more of a showcased thing in recent years, and is tonight soundtracked by the hypnotic sonic rumblings of two thirds of The Comet Is Coming in their project as Soccer96, before the Walled Garden is taken over by the expertly melded live/electro rave sounds of Bristol’s Scalping. Another eclectic spectacle to sum up a varied day of fantastic music.
Green Man’s penchant for pioneering new music via their Rising Stage was also stronger than ever this year. The likes of Tapir! ease us into a relaxed Saturday afternoon under the sleepy mountain. Or for a more forceful change of pace, Irish feminist heroines M(h)aol spearhead the latest generation of political punk. Or so a far less cultivated, crude riot, Joe & The Shitboys close the stage on Sunday with their straight-to-the-point tracks like “Save The Planet, You Dumb Shit”.
Other Saturday highlights came from heavy Aussie psych-rockers and best name on the bill, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, who most likely had more crowdsurfers per song than the rest of the festival put together. Latest indie breakthough big-hitters Katy J Pearson and Black Country, New Road adorned the Mountain Stage and Far Out respectively throughout the evening. The latter are getting one of the first outings with a new setup and entirely new music, after lead vocalist Isaac Wood left the band only a few months ago. The difference in writing style is noticeable, but the strong talent in this group of young musicians is undeniable, and the set seemed to gain a lot of appreciation despite likely being entirely different to when they were initially announced on the lineup.
Another discovery for many were the recently-overlooked Scottish dark lords Arab Strap, who perfectly harness the setting sun as they showcase last year’s comeback album As Days Get Dark. As indie dream-pop two-piece Beach House headline the main stage for the night, I checked out the fun bounce of Willie J Healy drawing in a respectable crowd in the Walled Garden, before heading back into the depths of the night for the bold and plentiful audio-visual bombardment of Belfast producers Bicep. Another full-on feast of a day.
Beach House - Mountain Stage - credit Patrick Gunning
Sunday didn’t let up on its offerings either. Another aspect more prominent and organised were the record store sessions. Previously run by Rough Trade, now independently done within the festival, the onsite record store this year held a stage for many intimate performances throughout the weekend, quietly announced each day we were able to see the likes of The Umlauts, Keg, M(h)aol up close and personal. Also by having several of the tracks filmed they’ll likely be releasing these sessions online over the coming weeks to help ease our post-festival blues.
The big names on the cards today knew exactly how to close the festival in style, with huge darkly energetic post-punk sounds of Dublin’s The Murder Capital, or a taste of old-fashioned rock and roll glamour from Ezra Furman, there’s always something for everyone. Headlining the night came down to the hotly-anticipated, Murcury Prize winning Michael Kiwanuka. His warm vocals and folk-rock songwriting are translated into a huge sound with backing band and singers, reverberating and lighting up the Beacons for miles.
The Murder Capital - Far Out - credit Nici Eberl
Meanwhile, New York’s most chaotic cosmonaughts, Parquet Courts, bring the house (Far Out tent) down as they cycle through back-to-back hits old and new, barely pausing for breath between the fast punk moments and hugely danceable beats. At the strike of midnight though on Sunday we get the traditional closing ceremony of fireworks and the burning of the great Green Man figure in the middle of the site, to symbolise the freeing rebirth we get from the festival each year. As with all the best nights at Green Man, it’s all brought to a close in the ever-present Chai Wallah’s tent, where all the best beats from around the world are brought together to keep the party going into the small hours.
So whether it’s the unbeatable lineup of eclectic music, the heartwarming love for culture and country, or the pioneering for sustainability and caring for the earth, Green Man is and always has been at the forefront of everything that’s good in music festivals, and I’m sure will be for many more than 20 years to come.
Words by Alice Jenner
Photography provided by Insideout Agency
