When it comes to the perfect festival experience, you want to leave the drivel of regular life behind at the front gate. You want limited queueing with little to no preparation needed and to have as much fun as possible. The following list might help: just a few of Emma Way’s must-see, under-the-radar picks from this month’s Green Man festival line-up.
Getdown Services
The name on the lips of many Cardiffians after their 2023 Swn Festival set in Tiny Rebel, Bristol two-piece Getdown Services would be the perfect collaborators to stick on a deserted (for recording purposes) island with locals Panic Shack. The results would be an album’s worth of gaze-heavy, crowd-friendly bops covering how to pronounce Worcestershire sauce, Stephen Mulhern and the Bristol Clean Air Zone.
Byrne’s Night
Late-night tribute to, dually, the works of Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and Address To A Haggis poet Robert Burns. Formed by two music industry folk, Maddy O’Keefe and Lola Stephen, and debuting at Hackney’s Moth Club in 2023, Byrne’s Night features rotating house bands, with musicians put together following little to no rehearsals. In the past Byrne’s Night has featured members of Shame, Goat Girl, PVA, Sports Team and Dream Wife and is now a UK festival regular, hence an inclusion on the Green Man 2024 lineup.
Tinariwen
Saharan blues brought to the mountains from desert campfires. Tinariwen, a Grammy-winning collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of northern Mali, combine traditional Tuareg and African music with Western rock and jazz influences. Lyrically, they touch on themes of politics, social issues and hardship accounted for within their home country.
Blue Bendy
South London experimental postpunk outfit Blue Bendy fit nicely on the Green Man 2024 lineup amongst the likes of Black Country, New Road and Opus Kink. The band’s April debut So Medieval features lush soundscapes, intricate guitar lines and synth work that dances around Arthur Nolan’s lead vocal.
Deptford Northern Soul Club
From their first party at South London’s Bunker House to last year’s Green Man, Deptford Northern Soul Club unite fans of authentic northern soul, funk classics and modern dance music late into the night, vowing to deliver music in the capacity it was meant to be heard in. Formed by childhood friends Will Foot and Lewis Henderson, the idea to recycle soul hits through Deptford came from the discovery of a parent’s record collection. Now they’re spinning those same discs across Glastonbury and monthly nights in London and Manchester.
Blondshell
On her recent visit to the UK, southern California’s Blondshell made her Glastonbury debut as well as selling out smaller shows in Birmingham and Manchester, playing her 2023 self-titled debut and as-yet-unreleased material. After a recent single release – Docket, featuring Bully – and appearing on Everyone’s Getting Involved, A24’s tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, Blondshell’s potential for world domination grows with each passing week. Listening to anthemic tracks Salad and Sepsis only enforces this.
Nabihah Iqbal
British musician, writer and broadcaster Nabihah Iqbal’s 2023 release Dreamer showcases transporting soundscapes, cool yet studious spoken word and driven basslines, its name perhaps a tongue-in-cheek reference to its expected consumer. Iqbal recorded her second album at Somerset House. London, while still an artist-in-residence. The space the artist has created – somewhere between postpunk, dreampop and dancefloor – teases a perfect escape on Green Man’s lineup in 2024.
Popperz
It’s Brat summer, don’t you know, so of course we have to mention London’s most unhinged night, death dropping into the Round The Twist stage. Popperz is brought to the lucky folk at Green Man by Jewish drag princess Ash Kenazi, and you can expect full-throttle camp goodness brought to you by live performers Princess Xixi and DIY popstar Kuntessa, as well as DJ sets from Technodaddy666, Sorry’s very own Marco Pini, Beth Knight and more.
Green Man, Glanusk Park, nr Crickhowell, Thurs 15-Sun 18 Aug
Tickets: £260/£235 NUS/£190 ages 13-17/£45 ages 6-12/£32 ages 3-5/free under-3s (sold out). Info: greenman.net
words EMMA WAY
