Live Review: Fleet Foxes, Boy Azooga and more @ Green Man Festival

More stellar acts on day two of Green Man Festival 2018: featuring Teleman, Bo Ningen, John Grant, Cate Le Bon and Boy Azooga.

Day two of any festival usually brings the day crowds and with it, a sense of anticipation that the line up should step up a gear from opening day. This is evidenced by the jam-packed line up of brilliant and diverse artists set for Saturday at Green Man 18. Local act Boy Azooga find their ideal setting in the Far Out bog top to demonstrate why they’re gaining so many plaudits of late. Combining indie, funk, soul and rock together into one happy package makes the packed out tent dance to their beat. Adding horns to the offering to cover Kool and the Gang’s ‘Jungle Boogie’ tops out a storming set that was described by many as being headline-worthy. Japanese acid rock band Bo Ningen bring the heaviness to proceedings with their powerful guitar-driven rock. The audience, many of whom apparently never having seen the London-based band, are left agog with the impressive stage presence and lighting backing the sonic aura they create. Green Man marks the single UK festival appearance of 2018 for another local talent Cate Le Bon. Le Bon’s unique style of Celtic folk and heartfelt vocals finds a welcome home with a mountain backdrop. Poetic, jaunty and somewhat haunting, the set is deeply personal and taken very seriously by the artist and multi-instrumental backing band. Another shift in style comes Teleman, with their angular and dancey indie-electro sound. With impressive stage presence, the band combines stylings of Roxy Music and Kraftwerk to create a hypnotic and efficient blend of rhythms that create one big party in the tent, one which the band are more than happy to participate in. The main stage plays host to the former frontman of Indie band The Czars, the towering and bearded John Grant. His rich voice resonates outwards from the stage, twirling his surreal lyrics over beautiful piano lines and synth wizardry that is both charming and inspiring in equal measure. One of the shear highlights of the weekend so far. Headliners Fleet Foxes are marking ten years since the release of their self-titled debut album launched them onto the global scene. Despite numerous hiatuses and only two albums since, the band demonstrate why they are the right band for this stage, this festival and this slot. Their eclectic palette of musical voices is refreshing and intelligent. Their sound is so distinctive and uniquely their own that it gives them a kind of calm confidence to find space to explore and enjoy their songs. For more at Green Man 18 see here Photo credits: Marieke Macklon, Eric Aydin-Barberini & Jonjo Rooney