Live Review: King Gizzard, Snail Mail and more @ Green Man Festival

Dreamy day one: soaring and wistful hippy tripping in the Welsh Mountains at Green Man Festival 2018 - featuring King Gizzard, Joan As Police Woman, Snail Mail, Amber Arcades and King Tuff.

Green Man 2018 Festival nestles snuggly in the Welsh Black Mountains and is the template for the modern festival. Large enough to boast a stellar and diverse lineup, but without the claustrophobia and cynical commercialism of larger events. It also manages to successfully combine a family experience, hedonistic abandon, and hippy naturalism. Amber Arcades kick off the weekend on the impressive Mountain Stage with their jingle-jangle, wistful tales of happiness and heartache. Slightly haunting harmonies and guitar solos echo across the landscape and hints at their potential climb up the bill over coming years. The legendary Annie Nightingale regales the crowd with stories of her career in music and tackling the adage that “DJs were thought of as husband substitutes”, as an unlikely feminist. King Tuff brings a varied and rockier vibe to the proceedings. A combination of a more twisted Dylan and a jaded Springsteen, his gravelly voice and tales of sorrow allude to a darkness underneath. The band, largely consisting of women, are talented and very tight, providing the ideal vehicle for the songs. Their sound is heavy and searing and wants more from the stage production that the early billing lacks. Joan As Policewoman, the project name for Joan Wasser, has a similarly strong backing that helps to bring to life her soulful songs that woo the crowd. Wasser’s aficionados at the front, dressed to match her, dance through the set that is polished and road tested. Despite the indie leanings and obscure name, it’s easy to imagine that she is destined for bigger and bigger things. Snail Mail, fronted by 17-year old Lindsay Jordan, are quickly gaining plaudits from all sides since they popped on the scene at 2017’s SXSW. Guitar and vocal driven songs that are mature beyond Jordan’s years and hark back to an early 90s sound. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard headline the first day at Green Man and craft their impressive sound to the sizeable crowd gathered to witness. With no fewer than five albums in the last year to draw from, their material is fresh, connected and delivered with enthusiastic abandon. The seven-piece outfit dial the psych vibes to the max, with a wash of sound that is deeply rooted in the 70s, yet clearly contemporary at the same time. Photos credits: Nici Eberl & Jonjo Rooney More Green Man 2018 reports can be found here