Green Man 2018 - All About Far Out

Given the classic status I'd already awarded in my head to the last two Green Man festivals, there was always a fair chance that GM2018 would fall slightly short.  This it duly did, though shortfalls elsewhere were generally compensated by a truly inspiring line-up in the Far Out marquee.  Always the most energising of the Green Man's stages, this time it truly excelled itself to rescue this year's festival from what perhaps its first flirtation with mediocrity.

In line with much of this summer, it was a dry one this year, which was very welcome, though it does have its problems.  I've written in previous reviews of the danger of the festival being embraced as little more than a posh camping weekend by some middle class families and the better weather this year brought that out.  The Mountain Foot and Walled Garden stages both suffered from large numbers of patrons who downed seats, set up a picnic and didn't, it appeared, have a great deal of interest in the music that was set before them - it simply became a soundtrack to a pleasant weekend in South Wales. 

Thus the atmosphere at both of these stages became heavily diluted and only a few artists managed to cut through it.  At the main (Mountain Foot) stage, Cate Le Bon did it and, early on Sunday afternoon, a wonderful performance from Xylouris White combined majesty with discord and either made the picnickers sit up and take notice or else bugger off elsewhere.   More of this at the Mountain Foot stage and we might have driven off the sitting arseholes and reclaimed the slopes earlier in the weekend.

The challenge wasn't greatly different in the Walled Garden, though again some artists overcame it.  Stella Donnelly's performance, like Le Bon's, was fuelled by an underlying strength that belied the gentle acoustic veneer, while the riffs of Sacred Paws were genuinely uplifting.  The Surfing Magazines, late on Sunday evening, were genuinely enjoyable, although there is a problem both in terms of people getting the joke and in how they execute the parody.  Starting with a deliberately amateurish version of 'Roll Over Beethoven' might have been better had they kept it to one verse and launched into surf instrumental midway through.  As it was, only when the band left the parodic elements to gestures between songs in the second half of the set did they truly dish out the quality more than hinted at on their debut album.

Saturday afternoon at the Cinedrome dished up its usual series of quirky delights.  There was a welcome return to the Green Man for Islet and an uncompromising, percussion-driven delight of a set from the raucous and brilliant Charismatic Megafauna (left).   Accu and Perfect Body both made promising debuts at the Green Man Rising stage.  Otherwise, though, it was left to the Far Out stage to make this another memorable festival, a mission it rose to with spectacular success.

The always excellent Bas Jan made a game attempt to set the ball rolling on the Thursday night, though they were probably hindered in this pursuit by the fact that other stages don't open until the Friday, leaving them with a large audience comprising those who, like me, eagerly embrace their quirky stylings and those who appeared a little baffled and would probably have preferred the option to be somewhere else.

The Lovely Eggs (right) had no such problems early on Saturday afternoon, when a packed marquee saw them deliver on the relative polish of their recent 'This Is Eggland' album and demonstrate that the duo have lost nothing of their raucousness or gleeful DIY spirit.  The Eggs continue to expand their appeal while sacrificing nothing of what makes them so treasured by established aficionados.  They are a genuine national treasure and, thankfully, more and more people appear to be realising it.

From there, we never looked back.  BEAK> returned with a set that managed to improve on their previous GM outing, which is a feat in itself. Teenage Fanclub continue to make fine music but there was an extra relish in the performance of the classics during their Saturday night set: 'The Concept' almost took the roof off, while 'Everything Flows' was a glorious way to end it all.  Follakzoid, from Chile, delivered an enticingly hypnotic groove while Sorry confirmed their promise by showcasing the fine material that lies beyond that brilliant 'Drag King' single, although stage presence needs a bit of work - and if lack of stage presence is what they're aiming for then I'm afraid it doesn't do justice to the acerbic quality of their lyrics.   Great tunes, but they really could do with looking less like a bunch of reluctant BTEC Performing Arts students.

Then the show-stealers arrived on Sunday night without even being announced in the programme.   I hadn't seen The Wedding Present live for 27 years: before that, I'd watched them perform more than any other band and they reminded me here why I'd flocked so eagerly to their earlier gigs whenever the chance presented itself.  A late addition to the bill, as soon as they kicked into 'Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft' to start their set we knew we were in for something special.  David Gedge's arm's ability to drive that signature rhythm guitar riff hasn't declined with age and neither has a stage presence that managed, as always, to combine dynamism and what you sense is a genuine warmth for both music and audience.

In the end, I suppose it's also one of the slight drawbacks of the festival this year that so many of the artists I enjoyed were those I'd seen before, either years ago or more recently.  That said, it would be great to welcome back the Weddoes to a Green Man line-up in the future, and the same goes for the other artists listed in my top ten below.  But please can we give some thought to how to alleviate the periods of sterility at the other stages next year?

1. The Wedding Present (Far Out, Sunday)

2. The Lovely Eggs (Far Out, Friday)

3. Teenage Fanclub (Far Out, Saturday)

4. Charismatic Megafauna (Cinedrome, Saturday)

5. BEAK> (Far Out, Friday)

6. Bas Jan (Far Out, Thursday)

7. Islet (Cinedrome, Saturday)

8. Xylouris White (Mountain Foot, Sunday)

9. Follakzoid (Far Out, Sunday)

10. Cate Le Bon (Mountain Foot, Saturday)