Green Man Festival August 2018

Our second trip to the Brecon Beacons and The Green Man Festival. This time round we decided to take the train and spend a couple of pre-festival days in Abergavenny. Sadly a stomach bug prevented Sheelagh from fully enjoying the delights of the many charity shops and interesting market hall. We did manage a decent look round and I have to say it's a lovely little town, I think next time we'll go after the festival though. I did manage to have one good meal out - some lovely welsh lamb!

Luckily after our two night stay Sheelagh was feeling much better so we took a short taxi ride to the festival site arriving around lunchtime on the Thursday. We had come prepared for rain but the weather was simply glorious and I did feel a small about of guilt that I wouldn't have to pitch the tent as we'd decided to camp in comfort and have everything all ready and waiting for us.

Although billed as a 3 day, Friday to Sunday festival , the Thursday actually had a full line-up of bands beginning around 4pm. So heading in to the festival site for a bite to eat and the purchase of the Green Man drinking vessels, a requirement if you wish to sample the local ales and ciders! We had our first look round. A fair few of the traders were there last year and Sheelagh was pleased to see the vintage tent was back - I could already feel the cash drifting away. heading for eats - really cannot recall what it was, but we did notice pretty much every food stall now offered a vegan or vegetarian option - although we probably opted for meat! Running alongside the music festival is a beer festival as well, so the first ale - Jemimas Pitchfork was quickly downed, and very nice it was to. Time was moving on and although we'd stopped here and there to listen to the music we didn't really pay much attention  until we came across Groovelator playing in the Chai Wallers tent, pretty decent 'groovy' jazz fusion. Heading back to the Far Out Stage we took in ever presents Pictish Trail (they'd played every single festival). Remember enjoying them better in the tent than on the main stage last year. Headliners for the night were Public Service Broadcasting and given that their latest album, Every Valley, is the story of Welsh mining this appearance seemed pretty apt. They played a cracking set Gagarin and Go being highlights. As a special treat after the encore, on to the stage came a full Welsh male voice choir to sing the final song on Every Valley 'Take Me Home' and it was a pretty moving experience greeted with rapturous applause. All in all a cracking end to day one.

FRIDAY 17th August

Friday started in fabulous sunshine and although we took in Amber Arcades and Eleanor Friedburger it wasn't until King Tuff hit the stage that we paid any real attention. King Tuff were good, establishing a healthy rapport with the crowd. With still no sign of clouds or rain, neither Sheelagh or I felt particularly hungry on a really hot sunshine filled day. So we decided to go for a simple pizza washed down with some lovely refreshing cider. Little did we know that this would be the eating pattern for the rest of the festival. But hey pizza and cider is wholesome food! Off on a wander again, we'd spent the first part of the day in front of the Mountain Stage, we managed to catch <Beak, unfortunately I can't remember if they were good or not! Opting for something a bit mellower we headed to the Walled Garden, a real gem of a performance space, to watch Susanne Sundfør a Norwegian Singer/Songwriter with a great voice. Headlining for Friday were King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizards - not the best band name I've come across.  Pretty much unknown to me - live they were great, full of energy and a great light show, at one point in their set there was even a mosh pit!  The Friday had been a good start and it looked like being a great sunny weekend.

SATURDAY 18th August

Started the day with a breakfast from the'London Bus' and the sun was still shining, something of a rare treat in the Brecon Beacons. The breakfast bus is close to The Babbling Tongues tent, so we hung around for a while catching a poetry reading by Owen Sheers reading from his book about the NHS - something very close to South Wales hearts. Wandering around the site, as you do when it's sunny we spent a fair bit of time just taking in the general atmosphere, visiting the Green Man and as is so often the case when vintage clothing is involved Sheelagh spent vast amounts of time looking through the various clothing on offer, while I took myself off and investigated the vinyl on offer from Rough Trade.

The site as last year featured performance artists, art installations and of course The Green Man, which would be burnt to the ground on the Sunday night. Have to say this years Green man wasn't as impressive as the previous years. This one definitely having a somewhat evil look to it!

Heading to the Mountain Stage, supplied with pizza and cider we settled down for first performance of the day - Seamus Fogerty an Irish songwriter with quite the sense of humour Carlow Town was great fun. We stayed in front of the Mountain Stage for Nubya Garcia, but I really cannot recall anything from her performance. Heading back up to the Far Out Tent it was time to see this years Japanese entry - Bo Ningen. They were simply amazing, what was not to like, loud, driving, grungy guitars and a possibly slightly insane front person. They are not everyone's cup of tea but this turned out to be the performance of the Festival for both Sheelagh and I. At twenty to six they announced they were playing the last song of the set. They eventually finished around 15 minutes later, the last song could’ve been longer, to be honest. Heading out in to the late afternoon sunshine we were so elated by Bo Ningen that we simply forgot to go see anyone else for an hour or so. Instead taking on more cider and yet another pizza!

We made our way back to the main Mountain Stage to see John Grant and even though we sat through the full set, I just don't remember any of it. There was a bit of a time gap before Saturdays headliners, Fleet Foxes, were due to take the stage so we headed back to catch part of Teenage Fanclubs set, which was ok but as I wasn't really aware of them first time round it all sounded a bit tired to me. So it was back to the Mountain Stage, refuelling with more cider as we settled down in the warm evening air for Fleet Foxes. Comfortably the biggest audience of the festival, it seemed everyone was here to see them. If I'm honest I found them a little dull, good, tight band but none of the songs really stood out for either of us. It was close to midnight, but there was one last band to see before heading back for the night. Leaving Fleet Foxes early we headed to the Walled Garden. Now the Walled Garden is a completely enclosed performance space, one of the more intimate areas at Green Man. Taking a seat at one of benches, there was probably just over 100 people present we watched the end of 9Bach's set. Who if I remember correctly were pretty good.

By now it was well past midnight and there were only a couple of hundred people here for an 'after dark set from Snapped Ankles.  This was one of the best performances I've seen for a long, long time. Their propulsive, groove laden music comes with a heavy dose of weird. Snapped Ankles bring something of a Can vibe, but wrapped in pagan, shamanic costumes. We knew we'd entered some alternative world when a whole host of 'Yetis' made their way through the audience to join them on stage banging percussion as if their lives depended on it. Excellent stuff!!

Sunday 19th August

Still buzzing from the previous day and still bathed in sunshine we headed out once more, maybe a little on the tired side to! First up would be Lost Horizons, ex-Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde's new band. And very good they were to, I made a mental note to get their debut album. Being tired and frankly a little worn out from the night before we decided to just stay in front of the Mountain Stage taking in Xylouris White followed by Curtis Harding. Don't really recall much about Xylouris White but do remember being disappointed by Curtis Harding. Cider and pizza beckoned once more and after eating, Sheelagh decided she wanted to prepare for our departure and begin packing. Following advice from daughter Lani Hall, I decided to hang round for Anna Calvi. Although it felt like quite a short set Anna Calvi was simply wonderful, what a great voice and playing guitar like she was possessed. Top of the list for getting some albums by when I return!

I went back to get Sheelagh and we headed to The Far Out Stage to see Black Angels, grungy, stoner rock, a pretty solid performance without any real high's. Of course by now, in the relentless sunshine, we were both flagging a bit, though the cider might have had something to do with it! Heading back for Festival closers on the main stage, The War on Drugs we settled in for the night to see them. But they were so visually dull, I mean very good musically but coming after Snapped Ankles and Bo Ningen it was just not that interesting, I could have just put the album on and been just as entertained. So about half way through their set we headed back up to The Green Man ready for the burning. There were already a good many people there but we decided to take in last band of the Festival - The Brian Jonestown Massacre. More stoner rock, to end 4 great days of music.

We grabbed yet another pizza and probably more cider and found a decent spot for the Festival finale - the burning of The Green Man and the fireworks. We had a great view, better than last year and who doesn't like a burning and fireworks! Tired but very happy we made our way to the tent ready for Mondays journey home. Oh and all that cider has given us quite a collection of GM2018 drinking vessels!

Even if not every set on the line-up was killer, such is the amazing atmosphere that almost whether the music is any good or not is irrelevant because there’s magic in the Brecon Beacons air.  If you can make it to the Black Mountains next year, be sure that you’re going to find something unbelievable.

Will we be back... almost certainly.

A handy trio of gigs

Sorry to say I've neglected the blog so far this year and I still have a lengthy backlog of gigs from 1980 onwards to sort out! Anyway this update deals with the three, very different gigs, up to Augusts Green Man Festival which will be a post all of it's own!

Going back to March 25th and Steven Wilson playing at The Sage, Gateshead as part of the To the Bone Tour. This would be the 6th time I've seen SW. This time round I was all ready to give it a miss and it was at my wife's insistence that we both went. If I'm honest I wasn't really enjoying the To The Bone album finding it a bit lightweight and just not as interesting as his earlier work.

As is so often the case when SW performs, there would be no supporting band, and we would get 2 sets from the man.

Arrived just in time at The Sage and took our seats, which were bang in the centre but towards the back on a slightly rising section. They were a in a great position and turned out to be a perfect spot for tonights show. The show opened with Nowhere Now from the new album, but second song - Pariah - set the tone for the whole show. it's clear a great deal of thought has gone in to the way Steven Wilson presents his music and the presentation of Pariah was stunning with Ninet Tayeb's face being projected in an almost 3D way (she wasn't actually there) as she duetted on the song with SW. The first set felt like Steven Wilson was drawing from some of his more aggressive songs.

After a short break the second set opened with one of my favourite Porcupine Tree songs - Arriving Somewhere but not Here, yes it goes on a bit but its a classic, Lazarus another Porcupine Tree is in the setlist to. So the song selection really took in all times and styles from Steven Wilsons career. Overall though it was the visuals that made the show a special one, I'm still not keen on the new album but next tour, I'll definitely be getting tickets!

At the other end of the scale would be a gig by The Lake Poets at Wylam brewery in Newcastle, this would be on April 30th 2018. The Lake Poets are essentially singer-songwriter Martin Longstaff. Martins songs are very personal and intimate and in a venue like Wylam Brewery worked perfectly. If he's playing anywhere near you I highly recommend you go see him.

Ending this trio of gigs is Sheryl Crow, also playing The Sage in Gateshead on June 21st. Now Sheryl Crow is one of those people I've always meant to go see live, but just never got round to it. Well this time round I did go and managed to catch her on what was a greatest hits tour. Her band were tight and she was on top form delivering a near perfect collection of songs. Loved every minute of it!

You can see the setlist here.

Kicking off 2018 with Mogwai

At long last I've solved the problem of standing behind those big tall individuals who always seem to see that the best vantage point to watch the band is just in front of me. As a bonus it's also solved standing on the route to the bar or being next to the group of friends who would rather shout at each other than watch the band! The solution, simple really... just stand at the front!

So arriving in good time and having already had a drink in the packed, small or cosy depending on your point of view, Town Mouse, Sheelagh and I duly took our position centre stage and within touching distance of the barrier!

First up were Scottish trio Out Lines, a new project from The Twilight Sad’s James Graham, Kathryn Joseph and Marcus Mackay. Very interesting they were too, the set featured songs from their debut album, Conflats - full of melancholy, sadness and distinctive accordian sound. Pretty good though and I'll probably be hunting it down.

Sticking to our spot at the front we waited patiently for Mogwai. Their album Every Country's Sun was my top album of 2017 so this was one I was really looking forward to. After a short wait on they came and launched in to 'Crossing the Road Material', and the intense guitar hammering began - a promising start following it with I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead from an album I've not got by them. It was great being up close actually able to see the band for once, but there was something missing. Maybe it was the volume but the subtlety was missing, for me a key part of any Mogwai song and if I'm honest the lighting in the first part of the show was pretty dull. But all was not lost and Mogwai would kick it up a gear for the last third of the gig starting with album title track Every Country's Sun.

The deep and warm analogue synth tones of Remurdered provided another standout highlight from their later catalogue. The near sell-out crowd reacted to the anticipated queasy volume leap in the middle of classic track Mogwai Fear Satan (Sheelagh actually jumped in surprise!) followed up with the heat-seeking helter skelter of Old Poisons, which was accompanied by all the lighting firepower they had failed to use earlier and some of the biggest cheers of the night were for the final part of the set. Standing at the front was taking it's toll and before the encore Sheelagh and I headed to the bar for a final drink.

The encore of I Know You Are But What Am I? and the exceptionally loud and distorted brute metallic force of We’re No Here ensured they went out on a high.

All in all a good start to 2018's gig going.