Green Man Festival
Glanusk Park, Wales
20/08/2010 – 22/08/2010
 
It rained. Alright? Good. We mean, it’s not, it’s a bastard nightmare, but it won’t be referred to again. More deserving of words are Beirut, who are on splendid, triumphant form at this year’s Green Man; effortlessly filling the main stage in terms of sound, crowd and Zach Condon’s ample girth. Nevertheless we make our excuses and shoot over to Fuck Buttons - and what turns out to be a certain highlight of the festival, and indeed this summer’s fests as a whole. Sure, there’s a formula – slow-build melodies and layers, then, around the six-minute mark, turn the ‘white noise’ dial all the way up - but their method and execution is immaculate, and they illustrate why they’re now genuinely Big League.

Saturday starts with natives El Goodo, and they pull off this tricky spot with style, powering through corking tunes from their ‘Coyote’ album. Fellow Welshie The Gentle Good is hot on their heels with a part-solo, part-band set of finely-constructed, charmingly-delivered folk. Mothlite, meanwhile, look and sound like they’ve been neutered, bafflingly. The rock balance is more than redressed by The Besnard Lakes, whose storming set comes across like ‘The Great Destroyer’-era Low minus the mental instability. Voice of The Seven Thunders perform admirably though comparatively fail to ignite, and Avi Buffalo just lack the depth to match their undeniable charm.

It’s with passing interest that The Fly calls on Neon Indian, and aren’t we glad; they capture the moment with a simply breathtaking, electronic-indie-pop set that gets the whole crowd moving, and is to remain unsurpassed at Green Man 2010. Metronomy, meanwhile, are dogshit. But, luckily for them, the Weekend Wanker’s hat is reserved for Darwin Deez, whose performance is even more irritating than his name, astonishingly. NY trio Bear In Heaven’s synth-prog, however, proves to be very special, despite the singer’s vocal similarity to Peter Cetera. Notably, they also feature the best and worst moustaches of the weekend. Tindersticks are Tindersticks, which is fine, then Girls replicate their patchy album with an equally underwhelming show. Which leaves it to Efterklang, who are sadly lacklustre and nowhere near as magical as they really should be.

But, overall, as diverse, beautifully-conceived weekenders go, Green Man is close to perfect.

Andy Slocombe