To paraphrase the Mighty Bob Dylan on his 1962 classic tune A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall…’where have you been my blue eyed son?’
Well Bob, I’m glad you asked, just outside Abergavenny in fact. To a beautiful town called Crickhowell, where they hold the annual Greeman Festival.
Nestled in the lovely Welsh countryside adjacent to the river Usk, it provides four days of eclectic auditory and visual sustenance for seekers of music, both new and established, if you’ve got an open mind, come to the Greenman and have it blown.
Arriving Thursday and the first thing to startle you is the notable absence of Welsh rain, on numerous previous occasions it’s been damp veering on monsoon, not this weekend though, we’re experiencing a rare Welsh heatwave. I’d never thought I’d say that.
So, slapping on the suncream and donning my rock n roll shorts the first band to divert my attention from the fabulous, stocked bar is West language trio Adwaith, offering a superb sonic reverberation and an omen for the carnage to come in the form of Kneecap, you might have heard of them, about ten thousand of the Greenman crowd had.
I have never seen that stage attended by so many. I wasn’t one, I had an early night and thanks to Boomtown next to my tent, didn’t nod off until 4am.
Here are some impressions, not chronological, of the following three days. Lots of sunshine, lots of cider, a man dressed as a penguin playing drums, three men dressed as pilots wearing individual Jumbo jets (not to scale).
A riotous performance from Fat Dog, a headline spot from veterans Underworld, which Immediately entered my top five gigs ever, the twin assault of the music combined with a stunning lightshow was unbelievable.
Joshua Idehen
Bumping into old friends, 25000 people surfing on peaceful vibes, a rap poet called Joshua Idehen who played at the ungodly hour of 9.30 am on Sunday morning, a band called Sex Week who were so good I came twice, think Mazzy Star meets Cocteau Twins, dreamy.
The ludicrously infectious vibes that emanated from the Chai Wallah stage never stopped, I’ve never seen anything bad in there (apart from me dancing) there was a trio of three Welsh rappers who did a cover of Wee Willie Winky (I kid you not !) and mid-afternoon Saturday an African band called Filu Miziki played an amazing set of original funky high tempo hypnotic rhythms clad in masks and way out gear. They went down a storm.
Fulu Miziki (Pic by Brian Wilson)
What can you say about the divine Mr G, John Grant has come a very long way indeed since the classic Queen of Denmark, he’s still playing the hits such as chicken bones, Marz and GMF but now the emphasis is a lot more on the electronica, a lot more, but still brilliant.
Hint, Glastonbury is having a fallow year in 2026, Greenman isn’t.
Words and pictures by John Haylock
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