Well that was all excellent.
Got there Wed night and stayed on a little site just by Crickhowell; really nice atmosphere in the village - great weather, pubs busy, lots of festival workers/attendees around - chippy was doing a roaring trade. Will def come on the Wed night again as getting in on Thurs morning was a piece of piss - arrived around 9 and straight into parking. We ended up being about 10th in the queue to get in so had choice of where to camp. We were set up, beer and spliffs in hand, before the festival gates opened; a first for me.
Saw Plastic Mermaids who were OK and Alice Boman who was great - nice sounds, beautiful voice. I think I must have wandered about for the next few hours until Spiritualized. I dunno, I completely love everything up to Songs in A&E and there are good bits off the latest album but live, he's kind of stopped doing it for me. This is the third time I've seen him over the last few years and it's been pretty much the same setlist every time. Good but not great.
Friday started wet and got wetter and wetter. Tents/boots/brolly all stayed waterproof and apart from around the Far Out/Chai Wallah tents, which became pretty grim, the rest of the site held up OK with no really deep mud pits. Though I stopped using the urinals around then; ankle deep in pissmud, no thanks. Watched The Orielles (love them - gorgeous sounds), Gently Tender (bits of Palma Violets and The Big Moon) who were excellent; right up my street; tunes, guitars, lovely voice. Then huddled down in the absolute torrential rain to see the always perfect Beth Orton. Must have seen her half a dozen times and she does it every time; warm, funny, ace. I would have happily stayed to see The Delgados but Mrs FA's cold, soaked legs meant a return to tents for dry clothes.
Later ended up in Chai Wallahs and saw Amy True - young Irish/Ugandan poet, rapper, singer. Excellent performance - loud, jumpy, shouty, sweary. Later saw Slowdive who were described by members of our team as variously "fucking cathedral of sound" and "fuck me this is boring". I thought it veered between the two tbh. It was still pissing down with rain after, so we swerved Devo and squelched back to tents.
Saturday started early doors with bongs and Bloody Marys so it's all a bit vague...then bumped into old mates, pooled our er resources and proceeded to get merrily fucked all day. Courtney Marie Andrews was perfect for the mood; country tunes and the sun was out. Lankum were by far my favourite act of the weekend. Just so good. Managed to miss Bob Vylan and later blew out GOAT to see Self Esteem. 3rd time I've seen her (including at GM a couple of years ago) and she's still awesome. Danced, laughed, cried. The rest of the night is a blur of dancing, gurning and mucking about; Confidence Man played a part iirc, plus various DJs in Chai Wallahs. Back to tents for 4ish for badly rolled spliffs and whispered munted nonsense.
Sunday took a while to rev up ie couldn't get out of tents until boiled out by the sun. Happily the afternoon was soothed by more Bloody Marys and a large pie, peas, mash and gravy. Gilla Band made a horrible noise for my hungover ears but Horace Andy was imperious and perfect for the early eve, crowdpleaser spot. Amyl & the Sniffers were fucking brilliant; my second absolute highlight - the cunt count was in the mid-twenties by about the 4th tune and children were having ear defenders slapped on all over the field. Perfect programming to have them main stage, between Horace Andy and First Aid Kit. Then caught Young Fathers who do their thing exceptionally well. They are all so cool looking and tight af. A great noise.
Despite deciding early on not to, the night by then had turned into another dilated pupil mashathon. MadMadMad were perfect for the occasion followed by Deptford Northern Soul Club who finished a perfect weekend with us all singing along to Do I Love You at the top of our fucked up little lungs.
A great festival imo - all ages but loads of naughtiness; loads of people but never big crowds or crushes; great food selection; booze pretty good (Wrexham Lager fitted my bill perfectly); mellow atmosphere but fucked up parties available.
Would post photos but they all look like this:
www.greenman.net
