Never Enough Notes e-zine // reviews + interviews + music

As seems the progression of festivals -popularity predicts an upsizing and from humble beginnings, small becomes large and inevitable change comes. The Greenman festival, now in its 7th year, is no exception, though it seems that the festival is doing its best to stay beautiful!

Still in its original outdoor site, an old castle grounds in the Brecon Beacons, Wales, (a wet Wales – two of the three days of this year’s festival were rained on), the Greenman team bring together over 100 music acts, films, comedy, literature readings, a healing field and an area dedicated to eco/art projects. Around the site, despite the rain and mud, were roaming performance artists and musicians, art installations and food in plentiful supply.

Our focus here is of course music and hats off to Greenman for the line up – local and international – here’s a pick of four day-by-day, followed by words from Billy Bragg as heard in a Greenman/Mojo Magazine interview on Saturday night.

Friday
Renowned primarily for its love of folk music Greenman’s line up found space for a huge variety this year. Friday saw the driving gothic post punk of O. Children and the intense electronica of ATP signed Fuck Buttons on the second ‘Far Out’ stage. While the main stage hosted Ireland’s Fionn Regan, who’s set was half acoustic and half electric dylan style, and later Beirut who made it back to the festival after pulling out three years earlier with line up problems.

Saturday
Alongside the main and second ‘Far Out’ stage, the Greenman pub stage also hosted acts throughout the weekend next to the pub tent. Featuring many local artists in the day, the headliners came from further afield. On Saturday night was harmony singing Swedish sisters First Aid Kit. The second stage hosted homegrown nostalgic pop of Moshi Moshi’s Summer Camp while the main stage featured Radio 2 folk award winners The Unthanks and the huge live show of The Flaming Lips, including a light show, giant glitter balls, balloons, confetti, bear costumes and front man Wayne Coyne’s trademark spaceball.

Sunday
After the theatre of the previous night Sunday quietened down to the sound of Sons of Adrian and Noel playing in the cinema tent following a documentary ‘A Day to Fix my Hedgerow’ charting English folk music with interviews from Chris Wood, Johnny Flynn and the band themselves. Continuing the exploration into folk the Alisdair Roberts band brought their new material (out on this year’s Drag City record) to the main stage and Sweden’s The Tallest Man On Earth played on the ‘Far Out’ stage, joined at the end of his set by old Bon Iver band mates Megafaun for a tender version of Gillian Welch’s ‘Everything Is Free’. As in 2007 Joanna Newsom closed the festival with her band playing to a field of listening audience standing in the pouring rain…

…it brought to mind the words of Billy Bragg from a Mojo hosted interview he did earlier in the day in the literature tent: ”Music won’t change anything in the world, the audiences will’.

Wet pack up Monday morning and out – good ho Greenman 2010. Much love, much rain.