Super Furry Animals leave huge crowd wanting more at Green Man

The Green Man Festival has grown in stature over the last five years, moving around various locations in the Brecon Beacons since it's incarnation in 2003. Alt-Folk duo It's Jo and Danny started the festival 5 years ago after relocating to Brecon with a small gathering for 350 people in the Craig Y Nos Castle. After a couple of years just outside of Hay-On-Wye the festival has settled in it's location at Glanusk Park, near Crickhowell and has been transformed into a fully fledged family friendly festival for almost 30 times the amount of revellers. But has this been a good thing for the festival?



Still with it's roots set firmly in leftfield folk it now has the ability to attract a wider range of acts from Americana to Electronica and an increasing amount of Indie, and the crowds that come with these genres. This, the sixth Green Man Festival, is set cradled in the rolling landscape of the Usk Valley, shadowed by the Sugarloaf Mountain and, for the second year running, the weather forecast isn't great. Last year's event turned into something of a mudbath but this doesn't seem to have stopped the crowds returning in 2008, weekend tickets have sold out and the site is pushing near it's 10000 capacity.

With a generous alcohol license and a relaxed curfew there is plenty of time to explore the site and for a large number of acts to play well into the night with headliners on the Main Stage not scheduled to start until 23.30. This makes a refreshing change from some other festivals where the Main Stages are all closed down by 23.00.

For the second week in a row we are welcomed to the festival by the almighty noise of the Fuck Buttons in the, not aptly named, Folkey Dokey tent. Having seen more than enough of the button twiddling duo over the last few months we decide to move to the elegant outside Main Stage whilst the weather is dry. Set in a natural amphitheatre the Main Stage is in a perfect location. Good visibility of the stage is guaranteed from almost anywhere and the sound travels extremely well. It is even possible to sit in one of the many food outlets at the top of the hill and still watch the bands on the stage.

First up for us on the Main Stage was King Creosote, the moniker of Fifer musician Kenny Anderson, part of the musical phenomenon Fence Collective. From regular listens to King Creosote on record, but never having seen him live, I was not quite sure what kind of show we were going to see. I was half-expecting a downbeat low-key affair but was surprised by the uplifting wit and banter from Anderson. "Since our last performance at the Green Man we have received some modest chart success... Our single entered the charts at number 93... falling out of the arse of the chart the next week".



'Twin Tub Twin' was an early highlight but it was the set-closing song 'La-Dee-Da-Dee-Da' by Scottish comedian Rikki Fulton that really entertained the crowd with it's lyrics about... well, I'll let you find out that for yourself.

The Cave Singers in the Folkey Dokey stage seemed a lot tighter musically as a band from when I last witnessed them. Astonished by the big crowd in the tent, "We've only ever played in bars before", the band played as if they were really enjoying themselves and this was repaid by the crowd's loud reaction, especially after the final pumping washboard-driven song 'Dancing On Our Graves'. Any criticisms I had made of the band in the past where completely blown away as the band played a set that fitted the occasion to precision.

American alt-rockers Drive-By Truckers, led by two strong songwriters Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood, gave a solid performance on the Main Stage playing tracks from their highly acclaimed eighth album 'Brighter Than Creation's Dark'. Sharing the vocals between Cooley, Hood and bassist Shonna Tucker the band stormed through their set with 'The Righteous Path' a particular highlight. Hood was in an exceptionally talkative mood, commenting on how much he was enjoying the festival and how we must all "Give thanks to Rock 'n' Roll".

As Ben Ottewell, the rough bluesy voice of Gomez and Black Mountain were headlining the smaller stages the difficult choice was made to watch the mighty Spiritualized on the Main Stage. Having missed opportunities before of seeing the band this was one that I just couldn't let pass by. Backed up with a set of gospel singers Jason Pierce and band performed a heavenly set in a bright white light show. Spiritualized songs are often huge with crushing crescendos and lack of any interaction with the crowd here didn't seem to matter, the songs are so powerful they do all the talking. 'Good Dope-Good Fun' and 'Soul On Fire' were prime examples of the beautiful soul on show, but the set closing combination of 'She Kissed Me (It Felt Like A Hit)' and 'Come Together' were real highs which left me speechless. It's been well documented that Pierce cheated death in 2005 when battling pneumonia and we can all be grateful that he did and continues to make stunning music.

In the early hours of Saturday the rain came and by the time the bands started at around lunchtime the site had once again turned into a mudbath. British weather is notoriously unpredictable and no blame can be placed in the hands of the organisers, but the audiences became noticeably smaller on the Main Stage as the rain continued all day, and with many families at the event with buggies very little was done to assist the crowds movement around the site. These, together with the number of toilets being completely inadequate for the size of the crowd, were my only complaints on the otherwise well run festival.

Saturday kicked off back in the Folkey Dokey tent for us with Cate Le Bon, best known for her work with Neon Neon on 'I Lust You'. Le Bon perfomed a nice set of songs but didn't seem at any point to be particularly happy. Her mixture of Welsh and English sung tunes were good, and she's definitely got potential with her wonky-folk, as displayed on the songs from her Welsh-EP 'Edrych Yn Llygaid Ceffyl Benthyg'.

Another Welsh folk band (this is, after all, a folk festival in Wales) were up next on the Main Stage. 9Bach provided a darker side to Welsh folk, but were still entertaining with heavily pregnant Lisa Jen giving a nice vocal performance.

Later on the Main Stage was one of the real surprises, for me, of the festival. I have to admit that with a name like Jennifer Gentle I was expecting a female solo artist, but how wrong was I? Jennifer Gentle is, in fact, an Italian indie band, which, at first, had me bewildered. Lead singer Marco Fasolo has a very bizarre voice and initially I wasn't too keen. However, as the set went on and the songs became stranger and even more melodic, I grew to become very entertained and really enjoyed the whole experience. Like a cross between The Monkees, The La's and The Small Faces... but with a squeaky Italian accented voice.

North Sea Radio Orchestra, followed by Emmy The Great were next inside the Folkey Dokey tent. Chamber ensemble North Sea Radio Orchestra dished up some splendid tunes fronted with some strong vocals from Sharron Fortnam backed up by composer husband Craig on acoustic guitar and a set of musicians with instruments ranging from bassoon to violin. 'The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls' was impeccable but it was an instrumental piece that really moved me, it grew into a melody reminiscent of David Axelrod's masterpiece 'Holy Thursday'. Emmy The Great is Hong Kong born Emma-Lee Moss and part of the Anti-Folk movement, with a voice similar, at times, to that of Polly Paulusma. She put in a sweet performance and her album, coming in 2009 will definitely be one to keep an ear out for.

A sterling three acts were left on the Main Stage on Saturday and first up were the brilliant Junior Boys, an electronic-pop outfit from Canada. The crowd for their set was disappointing, probably due to the continuing downpour, but those that did attend were treated to some great synth driven songs backed up by a live drummer, which makes a change from the laptop beats that so many electronic bands prefer. 'Count Souvenirs' and 'In The Morning' were the best bits of my weekend... so far.

Another real pleasure was Richard Thompson. Empathising with the wet crowd "You poor long-suffering bastards" Thompson filled the Main Stage with just himself, in his trademark beret, and his guitar. Performing songs from his expansive back catalogue it was the superb 'Dad's Gonna Kill Me' that stole the evening. Thompson explained the content of the song beautifully with its use of military slang and what was already an emotionally charged song became even more moving. I knew very little of Thompson before the weekend, except for his involvement with Fairport Convention, but I now know why the man is such a legend and I have a great deal of catching up to do.

Headliners on Saturday nights Main Stage were Welsh superstars Super Furry Animals. Coming on stage decorated in his often worn Power Rangers mask, Gruff Rhys sang first song 'Slow Life' through the helmet before tearing into a set consisting of many gems such as 'If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You', 'Hello Sunshine' and 'Golden Retriever'. However having only one hour on stage many were left disappointed as their favourites were inevitably left out but a finale of 'The Man Don't Give A Fuck' and 'Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy' eased the pain. There was no encore, and the band could have easily played for another hour without it becoming boring, but the huge crowd was left chomping at the bit for more.

Sunday came and overnight the rain had continued, although to a lesser degree. Cymbient were on first with their set of Teenage Fanclub style tunes, followed by Radio Luxembourg from Aberystwyth, like Gorky's Zygotic Mynci but with more harmonious vocals. They were really great fun and should have been a perfect start to another excellent day of music with Los Campesinos!, Laura Marling, The National, Iron and Wine, Pentangle, and Caribou still scheduled to come. However, on returning to our car to pack up our tent to assist a quick getaway after the bands ready for work the next morning it was clear that the car park was gradually getting torn up by vehicles already leaving, so we made the difficult decision to follow them before we became stranded in the Brecon Beacons.

Weather aside The Green Man was a lovely festival, with a huge amount to keep people entertained. After the bands finished each night there were campfire sing-alongs and parties in the Rumpus Room for those without young children! However, as demand grows the organisers really need to be careful, either improve the infrastructure or limit the crowd since the arena just felt a little too crowded to be comfortable.

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