When a mountainous vista meets a rangy lineup and changeable weather, that’s textbook Green Man Festival. Buzz’s Emma Way got stuck in for four days, and found much to praise…

The 2023 edition of Green Man continued a winning streak last weekend as the Glanusk Estate, situated in the Brecon Beacons National Park, opened its gates to 25,000 people. This was apparent from the thousands of tracks engraved in mud: the rain didn’t stay away for the whole weekend, regrettably, but blue skies were sure to follow suit, turning the festival’s mountain backdrop into a bowl of music and arts spectacles.

With this year’s event selling out 11 months in advance, it’s clear Green Man is the highlight of the year for many festivalgoers, Green Man being one of four remaining large-scale independent festivals in the UK currently.

The organisers have put in considerable work to make GM23’s entertainment lineup the most diverse yet. One thing Green Man can claim is its capability for improvement, this year achieving its pledged 50/50 gender split across all stage lineups and headliners. The green-thumbed, woman-majority ownership introduced female urinals and an inclusive Pride parade in 2022, maintained this year and boosted by Peequal urinals, water-free compostable toilets utilising mountains of sawdust across 240 acres, and camping equipment donation points across campsites. (On the other hand, the absence of Green Man Radio was felt.)

When it came down to food and drink consumption, it was thumbs-up all round – the number of Welsh beers and ciders available almost surpassed the festival’s music lineup and was diverse in equal measure. Retaining its pouring rights and remaining unsponsored allows Green Man to showcase Welsh independent produce – from the festival’s very own refreshing Growler to Mad Dog’s Marmalade IPA – served in recycled stack cups which became an extension of festivalgoers’ hands. Meanwhile, Happy Maki and No Frickin Chicken were two traders offering delicious plant-based food.

Being Wales’ largest music and arts festival, there was a clear intention for Green Man to focus on its national tongue: this year, festival programmes and lanyards featured a phonetic Welsh phrase book and Welsh language music was abundant, including last year’s festival favourites Melin Melyn.

Thursday: Green Man opens with Pigeon Wigs & The Bug Club

The crowds swarmed in on the festival’s opening day: tents were pitched by all, apart from Lost Map Presents Weird Wave’s frontman Johnny Lynch (or so he claims onstage), and Cardiff’s riff makers-and-shakers Pigeon Wigs opened the festival to a packed-out Chai Wallahs. Plastic Mermaids played a bucket list show, after performing to a full room at last year’s Sŵn Festival.

The Sheffield-based Sister Wives played 2021’s Green Man, on the Rising stage: this year the four-piece ascended the ranks to second on the bill at the Walled Garden. “While we were playing the sun was setting over the mountains. It was a really gorgeous gig. There were lots of our friends from Sheffield in the audience and when we came offstage, we were just absolutely riding high!” vocalist Donna Lee tells me afterwards. Caldicot garage trio The Bug Club followed, headlining the high garden walls with the debut of a new song in the run-up to their new album, their lighthearted, easy-breezy set deliciously mood-boosting.

Friday: downpours don’t deter Devo or Green Man Rising winner Eve Appleton

Spirits were lifted during the downpour of Friday as Melin Melyn played the Mountain Stage to a sea of hoods. The local band dressed up as supermarket workers for an unhinged 45 minutes before frontman Gruff Glyn honoured the passing of his father Aled Glynne Davies, performing a cover of ELO’s Mr. Blue Sky in his memory.

Just before, Green Man Rising winner Eve Appleton opened the festival’s biggest stage, the experience proving a full-circle moment for the singer-songwriter. “I was four for my first Green Man – it was the second year – and I’ve been to all of them since!” the 20-year-old tells me later. Before headliners Devo played one of their final shows before retirement, the likes of Sorry, Jockstrap and Squid – bands who’ve gained popularity in venues like tastemaking Brixton pub the Windmill – provided shelter for many at the Far Out stage. Folk artist Rozi Plain sang late into the night, while Slowdive blessed the festival with their signature broody, knotted shoegaze sound for the first time since 2015.

Saturday: Self Esteem and Bob Vylan feed the masses

The clouds cleared, but so did the crowd at Far Out, leaving Crows’ James Cox fending for his life after a nosedive mishap. Luckily the London postpunk band’s vocalist was able to finish the brooding set backed by ferocious guitars and killer drums. Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan announced she was done with sad songs after the band’s midday appearance, the set stamped with emo(tional) heartbreak approval.

Headliner Self Esteem advocated for women’s rights and wrongs during a set of tight choreography: Rebecca Lucy Taylor is a star from the get-go, opening the show with Prioritise Pleasure before Fucking Wizardry. Hip-hop experimentalists Clipping. also spoke of horror themes for an evening of fuzzy, groundshaking bass, metallic textures and rap.

My personal highlight of the day was the MOBO-winning duo Bob Vylan. Singer and guitarist Bobby Vylan introduced himself with some light yoga before darting in and out of the crowd, amidst a grime-meets-punk soundtrack, while drummer Bobbie Vylan found what was left of a scone in his pocket, which some of the front row later received as a mid-show snack.

Sunday: Green Man 2023 closes with English Teacher and Young Fathers

The sun blazed strong and heavy for Green Man’s closing day, as crowds opted for whatever shade they could find: Luckily, the site is known for including 200 different species and cultivars of Quercus oak trees. Postpunk four-piece English Teacher welcomed early risers with an equally distributed mix of released and unreleased material, Lily Fontaine fronting with countless moments of carefully curated lyricism over noodle-shaped guitar lines, tapping bass and dynamic drums.

Opening the Walled Garden was Indie-folk songwriter Clara Mann, who provided a solo performance of gorgeous, fragile vocals and settling lyric arrangements. The Last Dinner Party must have been one of the most talked about acts of the weekend, with punters turned up for the quintet at the Rising stage almost an hour before stage time. In turn, TLDP provided a glam rock-induced set of wonders, opening with the unreleased, catchy-as-hell Burn Alive and closing with the joyful Nothing Matters.

Punk rock straight from Australia followed: Amyl And The Sniffers – fronted by Amy Taylor, who bellowed, screamed and danced with the festival’s exceptional BSL interpreters – held the entirety of Green Man within their hands for their sub-headline set. Before the annual lighting of the green man to close the festival, Young Fathers made themselves one of the hardest-to-follow acts of the weekend, their set an engulfing experience. Lucky, then, that no one needed to follow the six-piece live band, whose members individually and collectively commanded the Mercury prize winners’ discography.  

Green Man 2023, Glanusk Park Estate, Crickhowell, Thurs 17-Sun 20 Aug

words EMMA WAY