Green Man 2019

[Johnnyb123]

Such a blast this weekend. Saw so much but missed loads I would have loved to see too. Festival was so well organised and people so friendly. Early birds for next year definitely. My highlights:

1 - Snapped Ankles

2 - Aldous Harding

3 - Four Tet

4 - Idles

5 - Stereolab 

[Andeeroo]

Highlights (in no particular order): Penelope Isles, Pottery in the Walled Garden, Amadou & Mariam, Julia Jacklin in the rain, Stella Donnelly, Self Esteem, The Big Moon, Marika Fucking Hackman, Lee Fields.

Shoutouts also to SvE, Adwaith, Bodega, Say Sue Me, Mapache and Big Thief.

Slight disappointments: Car Seat Headrest - pretty dull. The Rising stage - does it even have speakers?

Edited August 19, 2019 by Andeeroo

[Amy Lawn]

Sharon Van Etten brought the fucking house down, one of the best sets I've seen there in 5 Green Mans. 

[xxialac]

Top 3:

1) Sharon Van Etten

2) Big Thief 

3) Eels

Sunday’s lineup was embarrassingly good.

[BluePaul]

Great festival as always, but the queues for food are just getting silly now. More outlets needed!

And why do people continue to queue for the loos at Babbling Tongues when there is a completely empty row of cubicles two minutes walk away in the campsite? (Long may that continue by the way...)

[SighMo]

16 minutes ago, BluePaul said:

Great festival as always, but the queues for food are just getting silly now. More outlets needed!

And why do people continue to queue for the loos at Babbling Tongues when there is a completely empty row of cubicles two minutes walk away in the campsite? (Long may that continue by the way...)

At one point there were almost as many people queuing for the Dosa Deli as were watching the act on the  Mountain Stage ? Some pretty epic queuing going on for the Bloody Mary stand as well; they are very good though. 

The toilet situation at the campsite was as good as I’ve ever seen. Never saw one that you couldn’t go straight in. Massive queues for ladies at time though. 

[Amy Lawn]

I barely queued at all for food, only really had to for the vegan junk food stall during Aidan Moffat, which was fine because I just stood and watched the show while I waited. Maybe it depends what you go for and when you go?

[Ted Dansons Wig]

Had a fecking blast. First one this year bought as a second best after not getting G tickets. How wrong I was. Very much it’s own vibe - and great beer. Loved every second.

They really do need more food stalls mind. The best ones constantly had really long queues.

couple of band shouts that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:

Bodega on Thursday. Going to be big.

Liminanas in Far Out yesterday afternoon. Absolute hoot.

favourite moment - IDLES shout out the Bristol legend that is Big Jeff!!

[EOTGM]

Another great year.

Highlights for me were 

Eels

Aldous Harding 

Sharon Van Etton 

Lee Fields 

Fat White Family 

Say sue me

Only real disappointment for me were Big Thief as one of my most anticipated bands playing and being at the barrier I lost interest a few songs in sadly.

Another great year though 

 

[SweepingTheNation]

Just remembered something - was there a problem at the wristband exchange around lunchtime on Thursday? I arrived around 1.30pm and the queue was right back to the path which I've never seen anything like before at that time. I made a decision to go back off site into the mountains, then came back a while later and got straight into the tent.

[ciderbus]

3 hours ago, benali said:

Oh yeah, the brownies from the stall opposite the comedy tent. My word they are something else.

Forgot to mention David Trent. He was hilarious on Friday evening and his Reggae Breakfast on Green Man Radio was superb.

You aren’t wrong about those brownies!

1st time for us at GM so thanks again for the tips. Got a decent camping space in general/orange near the gate.

Getting in seemed a bit faffy but all great from there.  Also add my vote for SvE -amazing. Pottery were a great surprise and I only went to watch them as the general low level chat noise was distracting me from fully enjoying Aldous Harding.  Aidan Moffat was a beautiful set and the new full band TVAM also hit the spot.

Unexpected sights inc Jarvis dj , Wedding Present, wedding proposal at Big Moon and also Porridge Radio in the shop. Many more bands and beers. Amazing festival.

thanks all.

Edited August 19, 2019 by ciderbus

[Johnnyb123]

25 minutes ago, ciderbus said:

I only went to watch them as the general low level chat noise was distracting me from fully enjoying Aldous Harding. 

We were about 10 metres from the front and everyone was SO quiet. It really was amazing. There was just one point where a couple of young ‘uns were chatting away oblivious but I gave them a hard ‘could you not??’ stare

[rug568]

Had a fantastic year, favourite festival ever in terms of lineup and I have a feeling it may be my favourite festival full stop. Green Man is the best place in the entire world for me and wish I could do it all again.

Highlights were pigs x7, black country new road, sve and car seat headrest. Stella Donnelly was probably my favourite set of the weekend. People around me where in tears after her little speech before boys will be boys. 

Only negatives were the slightly annoying food queues, deciding to see fjm over idles and them running out of the ipa on Sunday night. Also a bit of a tradition is to get the dosa on Sunday night and watch the final acts sitting on the hill so it was a shame they sold out so early. 

[SighMo]

A few of my pics. 

[OddRon]

had a fantastic time for my first Green Man, loved Father John Misty, EELS and Car Seat Headrest the most and really nice site

only complaints were there never seemed to be a place that just played fun sort of club music like propaganda/indie hits stuff until like 2/3am unless I just couldn't find it, kinda wished there was something like the Disco ship/silent disco that eotr had

kinda felt like four tet/shy fx attracted a certain type of crowd, not necessarily all bas but plenty who it felt like they were only there for those two acts and decided to be an arse the rest of the time, particularly a group of lads who were loudly shouting during father John Misty as well as necking budweiser kegs and pissing on my girlfriend/others. 

a very personal final complaint would be that a group of 3 turned up late, unpegged our guy ropes, camped in the fire lane right behind our tent and literally loudly shouted the entire time whilst exclusively pissing and smoking by our heads, they didn't see a single act until the third day and made us actively avoid being around our own tent

it's a testament to how good the festival's music and "vibe" that they didn't ruin our weekend but they came close at points 

[Dancers Stand Very Still]

Wow! A fantastic weekend. What a festival! As has been said, the people are generally pretty awesome and the site is perfect. My quick-fire review:

Positive surprises: Rising continuing to be incredible set after set - I thought the sound was great, although I was 2/3 rows back at all times; Intergalactic Republic of Kongo; the speed at which the site dried after Friday's rain; the friendliness of the staff, especially security.

Minor letdowns: The burning/fireworks - I just don't get it; Bill Ryder-Jones; to some degree Eels;  the sound on the Mountain Stage (except Four Tet); food queues and a slight lack of vegan options, especially once the Dosa place ran out. I'm really having to look for those though and all are just minor gripes!

Top acts:

9.5 - Pozi

9.0 - Amadou & Mariam; Khruangbin; Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert; Four Tet; Sharon van Etten; Intergalactic Republic of Kongo

8.5 - Audiobooks; Peaness; Porridge Radio; Stereolab; Yak; Idles

8.0 - Pottery; The Wedding Present; The Beths; Gwenno; Just Mustard; Jockstrap

Disappointed to miss Squid, Black Country New Road (although I caught a bit of their extra Far Out stage and was underwhelmed) and Snapped Ankles, but they've all got upcoming dates so I ventured elsewhere.

[benali]

Had a look on the Green Man forum and someone was saying that the crowd for Idles was too big, dangerous and security said they were lucky no one got seriously hurt.

I got in there about 20 mins before and easily worked my way reasonably near to the front, just to the right of the stage. It was busy where I was but by no means stupidly rammed. 

My 13yo son was right at the front, he's massive so had no problems. From what I could see it looked fun down there rather than anything I'd consider dangerous. Obviously it's going to hurt if you get a stray boot in the head or fall over but it's not like it was Donington from the late 80's or anything.

One thing that does surprise me is that there's no crowd control outside. I know the whole entrance is open unlike EOTR who put stewards by the entrance and stop people going in. It was obviously going to be very busy there because about 20% of the whole festival were wearing Idles t-shirts. Add in the people who bizarrely sit by the barrier to the fireworks from 4pm and it was all pointing to that area being very congested. Maybe they should have had some sort of plan in place?

[the wonderwhy]

Woah what a LOVELY festival this is. Friday's wash out was annoying, but Saturday and Sunday were two of the nicest days I've ever had at a festival, including Glasto. 

Highlights (no surprises here): stumbling across The Wedding Present having seen nowt about that change, Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly,  Big Thief, Car Seat Headrest, Eels, Sharon Van Etten, Father John Misty, vegan mac n cheese, never once having to queue for a toilet. 

Only disappointment was there were too many fucking chairs. 

[the wonderwhy]

Was surprised by the size of SVE's and FJM's crowds. Eels had a massive following and then in dwindled from there, weirdly. 

[Odessa]

This is such a good festival. I volunteered again and got really well looked after again by them with food etc, so if the cost of the ticket is ever the difference between you being able to go or not then defo just go as a steward. I spent less than £20 on food and hot drinks in 5 days because they provide so much to staff.

I didn't see a great deal of acts cos I was sometimes tired from working so couldn't be arsed leaving camp to see stuff for the sake of it. The Beths were great and I immediately booked tickets to see them again in a couple of weeks. I would have liked to see Julia Jacklin and Whitney but not enough for me to bother getting soaked when I could give the stuff at Far Out a chance. Pigs x7 made no impression on me at all tbh, was expecting them to be good after what I'd read about them. Braved the rain for Fat Whites who absolutely smashed it, and then Bill Ryder-Jones was decent later on as well.

The Big Moon and A Certain Ratio were both really fun on Saturday afternoon. The proposal to one of the band members at the end of the former's set was a lovely moment. Big Thief sounded nice, we just sat and watched from the bank. UFOF is one of my favourite albums of the year but I shoulda listened to more of their old stuff beforehand. Stereolab were ok I guess, not really got a lot to say about them. I was planning to see Car Seat Headrest but when it came to it and everyone I was with was seeing Four Tet, I couldn't be arsed going off on my own to see a band I don't overly care about. Great decision as Four Tet's set was mindblowing. I wasn't expecting to like it anywhere near even half as much as I did. The sound was incredible (as it was on the Mountain Stage for everything I saw).

I was seriously flagging all day Sunday thanks to my shifts and lack of common sense about getting enough sleep, but thankfully Eels eventually woke me up. They were good but then Sharon Van Etten and Father John Misty were both ridiculously good. It felt like seeing three consecutive headliners. Seventeen live was everything I hoped it would be and the entire crowd around us was captivated throughout SVE's set. Hopefully she returns to headline at some point. FJM is an amazing performer and was almost as funny in between songs as Mark Oliver Everett had been earlier on. 

I'll probably just buy a ticket next year if the lineup appeals again. I was looking forward to some respite after this after going to a mad number of festivals this summer, but I've ended up with a free Leeds ticket for this weekend now. Can't think of anything worse right now in my current state but there's a handful of good things on. Tempted to only do a couple of days tho.

[March Hare]

10 minutes ago, benali said:

Had a look on the Green Man forum and someone was saying that the crowd for Idles was too big, dangerous and security said they were lucky no one got seriously hurt.

It was busy and packed at the front but from halfway there was plenty of space to move around. Plenty walked out with little difficulty.  I thought they nailed it as FTM and IDLES split the crowd well.  

Massive highlight were Khruangbin and Maribou State. It was also nice to see average bands like The Beth’s get a decent crowd when people hid from the rain.

Shout out to the volunteers who were so friendly and helpful as well as keeping the site spotless. 

[Dancers Stand Very Still]

28 minutes ago, the wonderwhy said:

Woah what a LOVELY festival this is. Friday's wash out was annoying, but Saturday and Sunday were two of the nicest days I've ever had at a festival, including Glasto. 

Highlights (no surprises here): stumbling across The Wedding Present having seen nowt about that change, Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly,  Big Thief, Car Seat Headrest, Eels, Sharon Van Etten, Father John Misty, vegan mac n cheese, never once having to queue for a toilet. 

Only disappointment was there were too many fucking chairs. 

Agree about the chairs (also blankets and those weird mini kid trolleys). All fine, but not on such a large scale and in high-traffic areas.

[SighMo]

1 hour ago, benali said:

Had a look on the Green Man forum and someone was saying that the crowd for Idles was too big, dangerous and security said they were lucky no one got seriously hurt.

I got in there about 20 mins before and easily worked my way reasonably near to the front, just to the right of the stage. It was busy where I was but by no means stupidly rammed. 

My 13yo son was right at the front, he's massive so had no problems. From what I could see it looked fun down there rather than anything I'd consider dangerous. Obviously it's going to hurt if you get a stray boot in the head or fall over but it's not like it was Donington from the late 80's or anything.

One thing that does surprise me is that there's no crowd control outside. I know the whole entrance is open unlike EOTR who put stewards by the entrance and stop people going in. It was obviously going to be very busy there because about 20% of the whole festival were wearing Idles t-shirts. Add in the people who bizarrely sit by the barrier to the fireworks from 4pm and it was all pointing to that area being very congested. Maybe they should have had some sort of plan in place?

Agree with this. It was pretty full on down the front at times but anyone who was there wanted to be there. 

Was your son wearing a Shame tee shirt? We were chatting to some lads before Yak who were from Southampton and I asked the lad how old he was and was surprised when he said 13; looks a fair bit older. We were talking about the Joiners. 

[lessthanwill1]

https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2019/aug/19/green-man-festival-review-four-tet-father-john-misty-yo-la-tengo?__twitter_impression=true

Guardian review great as expected! 

[benali]

35 minutes ago, SighMo said:

Agree with this. It was pretty full on down the front at times but anyone who was there wanted to be there. 

Was your son wearing a Shame tee shirt? We were chatting to some lads before Yak who were from Southampton and I asked the lad how old he was and was surprised when he said 13; looks a fair bit older. We were talking about the Joiners. 

Yeah, that's him, he's 14 next month. The friends he was with are kids he's met over the years at Green Man and live all around the country. 

Were you wearing a Joiners tshirt? He said he spoke to someone wearing one.