Green Man Festival 2017: Ten acts to see

Set in the UK's most beautiful festival setting, Green Man celebrates its fifteenth birthday with a bumper bill. If you're heading to the Brecon Beacons, here's who we think deserves a spot on your Clashfinder

Preview by Gary Kaill | 09 Aug 2017

Ryan Adams
An inarguable Mountain Stage headliner, the key with Adams, as ever, is to expect the unexpected. His stage-vaulting, limb-fracturing days may be behind him, but he remains an electric live presence and an increasingly generous showman. His last UK run included last-minute solo gigs at implausibly tiny venues and recent album Prisoner displayed more vison and hunger than his loyal fanbase might have expected. Get a spot early for this one. Mountain Stage, Saturday

Daniel Avery
If he unleashes Drone Logic high spot Knowing We’ll Be Here at the right moment, look out for a large tent making its way across the Brecon Beacons: the festival equivalent of raising the roof. Avery’s booking as part of the After Dark strand is a smart one, and alongside Green Man’s committed dance crowd, expect the merely curious to be ultimately turned on to his accomplished tweaking of techno norms. After Dark, Saturday

British Sea Power
Recent album Let the Dancers Inherit the Party continued the recent restyling of the agit-pop collective's mode: a gradual smoothing of their sound inspired by exploration rather than buck-chasing. They may not rail quite as they once did but their live show is as explosive as ever, and there is no fanbase quite as commmitted as the BSP hardcore. Mountain Stage, Friday

Shirley Collins
2016's superb Lodestar marked the return of the folk veteran after a near-forty-year absence. The voice might not be quite what it was but Collins' spirit and enterprise remain undimmed. This savvy booking could well turn out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. Mountain Stage, Saturday

Julia Jacklin
The Australian songwriter is in her mid-twenties and has just the one album under her belt but already she sings with a deep and convincing sense of personal history. A rich and storied repetoire, her songbook is built upon debut Don’t Let the Kids Win but new songs and choice covers (she revitalises The Strokes’ hoary old indie disco standard Last Nite) flesh out her live show. Expect Jacklin – and her exceptional touring band – to make this one to remember. Mountain Stage, Sunday

Anna Meredith
Green Man’s Far Out Stage is the perfect late night setting for Meredith’s ersatz rave anthems. The classical provocateur’s first pop album, Varmints, deservedly nabbed the 2016 SAY award, its mix of beats and complex orchestrations winning plaudits across the globe and making for a heady live experience. Meredith and her band work their audience with breathless abandon; if you're looking for a breakneck intro to this year's schedule, they’re billed just below BADBADNOTGOOD and the resurgent Ride on the opening Thursday night. Far Out, Thursday

Sleaford Mods
Clashfinder hell for many, no doubt. PJ Harvey headlining the main stage as she continues to attract breathless notices for her ambitious The Hope Six Demolition Project shows, accompanied by the finest backing troupe she’s ever assembled? Or messrs Williamson and Fearn with staging a tad more, um, minimal? Well, there are few current acts who can employ the laptop and can of lager to such fulsome effect and the Mods could be just the antitode to Green Man’s more 'wholesome' endeavours. “This one’s for your fucking managers,” snarled Jason Williamson at Glastonbury two years ago as he introduced Fizzy. This should be electric. Lose the man bag and the beard oil, and prepare for some hard truths. Far Out, Sunday

Angel Olsen
The response to Olsen’s last album My Woman was unanimous: here was an artist extending her sharp aesthetic and expanding her (already considerable) vision. By letting her songs breathe, daring to toy with their length and by introducing a playfulness previously absent, Olsen retained her gravity – she is, no question, a deeply serious artist – but became more relatable as a result. Green Man will love her. Far Out, Friday

Nadia Reid
The Auckland, New Zealand singer has toured the UK extensively of late and seen her audience expand with each visit. Her compositions, airy and spectral, have the advantage of surprise: seemingly formless, they reveal themselves in their own good time. Before you know it, the cryptic poetry of Reid's songbook has worked its dark magic and your heart is captured. An effortless and captivating live act, she's a Green Man must-see. Walled Garden, Friday

Siobhan Wilson
It should have come as a surprise to no one that the Scottish singer's recent album There Are No Saints was a work of maturity and scope. Wilson had been honing her songcarft for several years and here she's perfected her craft and uncovered a voice more distinct by some distance than that revealed on her earlier releases. Will her shadowy chamber pop work at a UK summer festival? The answer is contained somewhere within her recent win in the annual Green Man Rising showdown: a competition amongst emerging acts to secure the opening spot on the main stage. In short, yes. Mountain Stage, Friday; Rising, Saturday


Green Man 2017, Brecon Beacons, Wales, 17-20 Aug. The full line-up can be found here.

http://www.greenman.net/