With their 2026 edition, Green Man continues to cement a peerless excellence, championing singularity where other festivals lean into commerciality.
Winding through Bannau Brycheiniog feels extremely cinematic; the smouldering remains of the hillsides scorched by the recent wildfires shrouds the landscape in an ominous fog, further building anticipation for the weekend that lies ahead. Green Man festival is nestled in the foothills of the dramatic Black mountains, bordered by a babbling river. Once pitched up, we head into the festival for a well-deserved Wrexham lager and promptly begin exploring the stunning site.
The heavens open just before Irish band-of-the-moment Madra Salach take to the stage, sending swathes of people seeking refuge into the Far Out stage. The tent is bursting at the seams by the time the Dublin sextet kickstart their powerful and brooding trad-infused punk, which serves to further justify the hype this band have been enjoying over the last few months. They somehow manage to make even the biggest crowd feel like an intimate gathering; frontman Paul Banks is a force to be reckoned with – intense and pacing one minute, then cracking on with the audience like they’re his new best pals the next. It feels like you’re witnessing something incredibly special, an apt way to kick off what continues to be a huge weekend (spoiler alert). The crowd is united in song: “I am drenched from the rain // but the man who seeks pleasure // is the man who seeks pain” and the band receive a huge cheer from the crowd when they end their set with chants of “Free Palestine”, teeing up the political tone for the festival.
“Your New Favourite Wonk Pop Band” Lime Garden are up next, and their cheeky fusion of synth-soaked alt-pop and anthemic singalong indie enraptures their huge crowd. A shock of red hair, Chloe Howard oozes star quality (her t-shirt brilliantly reads “Julian Casablancas’ controversially young gf”) as they rattle through their wall-to-wall banger setlist. The unreleased track they debut sounds like an instant classic, and it’s testament to the strength of their discography that they can whip out a cover of The Cardigans’ “My Favourite Game” and have it feel like it could’ve come off their recent record. For their final tracks they’re flanked by backing dancers doing the macarena – iconic. Lock in or lose out.
Vibe whiplash ensues when we witness Mogwai’s wall-of-sound masterclass straight into the chaos of Welsh icon Charlotte Church’s Pop Dungeon, covering everything from Black Sabbath to the Twin Peaks theme song. Was it weird? Yes. Was it good? Jury’s out.
Waking up to the stunning view of the mountains doesn’t feel like it’ll ever get old. You really couldn’t ask for a better view to peel open your tent zips in the morning. Shaking off the remnants of the night before, we meander through the campsite and hop over a stream to reach the backless Rising Stage, which puts on the hottest new acts framed by a stunning vignette of the Black Mountains.
Up first is Little Grandad, the London four-piece rapidly making a name for themselves with their brand of Americana-infused indie. Fronted by brothers Jack and Harry Lower, their songs feel lived in and immediate; no doubt proof of how they’ve crafted and shaped them through an intense year of playing live. Ned Ashcroft’s stunning trumpet interludes provide sonic sunshine to a raincoat-draped audience during set highlight “Unmasked”. Jack quips that he was “one of us” last year as he used to drive a band who played that very stage, so it’s a special moment for them to be included on the lineup. Considering they’ve only been playing gigs for a year, it’s an impressive feat. After this set, it seems likely they could be making the short journey over to the main stage in a year or so time.
This was the very trajectory for Westside Cowboy, whose set we catch next. “We played on that stage last year,” guitarist Reuben Haycocks says, pointing back over to the Rising Stage. Their Friday afternoon set lands on the release day of their future classic album It Goes On. The performance stands proud as a victory lap for the Manchester band, whose rise to recognition as one of the leading lights of UK guitar music is a joy to behold. They’re the kind of band that makes you want to start a band yourself; Aoife O’Connell’s primal yet pitch-perfect harmonies are anchored by the band’s kinetic engine room in the form of propulsive drummer Paddy Murphy. They end their set as has become their standard; all crowding around one microphone, a perfect and harmonious illustration of the palpably close bond between the four friends and musicians.
This short hop from Rising to Main Stage within a year is a perfect illustration of the booking prowess of Green Man Festival, whose keen ear for up and coming talent is a perfect litmus test for predicting the ‘next big thing’. It also shows that there’s a real sense of camaraderie between bands and the festival itself – the audience seems to really root for the artists and follow their journey far beyond the weekend. The brilliant booking also means that you have to make the difficult decision of catching a hot new band you already know, or winding your way through the estate’s manicured hedges and stumbling upon your next favourite band. It’s at this point I happen upon Ghanaian disco cult-fav Ata Kak, whose funky fusion of house-adjacent tunes lures me in across the site and completely cures the post-lunch slump after enjoying a delicious onion bhaji wrap. It even incites a conga line that curls through the main-stage crowd; it’s so joyful that I don’t even realise it’s raining.
Next we head up to Round The Twist stage for thredd, whose self-proclaimed “music for people who are up for a party, down for a cry” perfectly describes their set; Imogen Williams’ emotive vocal floats atop Max Winter and Will Lister’s soundscape of gut-trembling bass and club-ready synth. This trio makes “cold pop” feel HOT. A vibe whiplash once again as we descend into the natural amphitheatre of the main stage for Aldous Harding. With barely a word spoken, she transfixes the audience with her otherworldly stage presence and off-kilter folk. It’s an absolute wonder to behold – a main-stage set late into Friday night, and you could hear a pin drop, save for the thunderous applause between songs. Another demonstration of the festival-goers’ reverence for musicianship and performance, and how this crowd celebrates singularity where other festivals lean into commerciality.
Trudging back up the hill over to Far Out, we catch the final songs of Baxter Dury’s set. With his blazer jacket dangling from his arms, striking poses not dissimilar to a drunken uncle at a wedding disco, he commands the crowd with outbursts of “Green Man let’s get naked…appropriately!” and “SCREAM!!!!”. By the time he kicks into epic banger “Allbarone” the tent erupts.
Suitably loosened up, we race over to the Walled Garden stage for Leeds dance-punk outfit Adult DVD. Led by Harry Hanson who stalks around the stage with a justified swagger, they launch headfirst into an unrelenting assault of acid house synths, big beat drums and absurdist singalong lyrics. They bring out the eponymous Real Tree Lee character from their recent video – recalling Chemical Brothers videos of years gone by – and incite the first crowd-surfing we’ve encountered all festival. If anyone in the crowd wasn’t feeling up for a night out before, they certainly will be now. Their set is a pre-drinks, a night out and an afterparty all chucked into one set, a wonderful cocktail of chaos.
Saturday’s highlights include mary in the junkyard’s enchanting alternative folk in The Walled Garden, with the set acting as a stunning showcase of their acclaimed new record Role Model Hermit – the beefy ‘New Muscles’ and the whispery, whimsical ‘Mouse’ are surefire standouts. Then we head into the packed Chai Wallah’s to stomp around to Opus Kink’s explosive and frenetic ska-soaked set, with multiple band members impressively thrashing their instruments while simultaneously crowd-surfing. Back down the hill into Sorry’s dark and spiky lair in the Walled Garden, where moments of tenderness during “Echoes” are perfectly juxtaposed with the strutting and irreverent “Starstruck”.
Sunday sees us emerge from the tent a little worse for wear, and we thank our lucky stars that we had the foresight to book a sauna session in the quaint ‘Nature Nurture’ area of the festival, the Green Man equivalent of Glastonbury’s Healing Fields. Feeling slightly more human post cold-plunge, the first act we see is Dove Ellis on the Main Stage, and what a way to begin. The Galway-hailing, Mercury-nominated musician kicks off his set triumphantly with the soaring anthem “Love Is”, and the set then goes from strength to strength. His captivating performance and expansive songwriting make you forget that there’s a sea of people around you, mouths agape as they witness what genuinely feels like the beginnings of a generational talent – truly goosebump-inducing, even as the welcome afternoon sun gloriously beamed down.
After bopping around to the dub of Scientist, we then catch North Carolina cult favs Wednesday – an enchanting presence with smudged black lipstick, Karly Hartzman’s vocal ranges from a delicate whisper to a cathartic roar, and their track “Elderberry Wine” inspires devotion amongst the crowd. Fcukers managed to inject all the energy of a Friday night into a slightly weary Sunday evening crowd within seconds: Shanny Wise coos “do you guys like to paaaaaarty?” – for this crowd, the answer is yes – skipping through garage beats, dub-house and electro-pop all held together by a brilliant live drummer and scratch DJ, they turn the Far Out tent into a sweat-slicked club in downtown New York. The tent is rammed and everyone is dancing. It’s an absolute highlight of the weekend.
Onto the final act of the festival: the formidable Wolf Alice, whose glittery stage production perfectly matches their hard-won festival headliner status. The leather-clad Ellie Rowsell is an absolute marvel – she pivots effortlessly from the cinematic singalong “The Sofa” into the snarling trio of “Yuk Foo”, “Play The Greatest Hits” and “Smile”, all whilst clutching a Flying V guitar and screaming into a megaphone. Then they roll over and show us their tender underbelly once more by inviting Anna Calvi and Dove Ellis up onstage. They perform “Sunday Light”, which they recorded together for the collaborative HELP(2) record, and a stunning cover of Mazzy Star’s ‘Fade Into You’; a fitting show of musical unity, capturing the overall spirit of Green Man. Bassist Theo Ellis gets the crowd to turn around and look at the moon, naming Green Man as “sacred ground” and saying that “nights like these don’t come around very often”. He’s right, and it’s a perfect way to close out the festival.
Green Man Festival is an absolute triumph. It’s unique in the way it fosters a genuine collective spirit. Even the progression from punter to future headliner doesn’t feel completely unheard of here, which is genuinely unique in the current festival landscape. It’s no wonder the tickets sell out within an hour without even a whiff of a lineup announcement. The absolute trust in their curation keeps people coming back for more. Diolch and see you next year!
Words – Eden Gardener
