once upon a weekend in august

a year had passed since my first time at green man festival, the magical music gathering held every august in the insanely atmospheric cradle of the brecon beacons in wales. and this august i found myself again, with fingers crossed and soon-to-be-muddied shoes on, setting off for yet another wonderful weekend.

green man has to be one of my favourite places i've ever been. even the mud and the soggy little tents and the bitterly cold nights seem to earn a certain charm. i feel like something innately human wakes up and compels my legs to stomp around the field happily, despite the puddles and crowds of fellow happy wanderers. all without, i must mention, too much argument from my brain which found plenty of contentment in the cosy bookshops nestled in the rows of friendly stalls.

i thought i'd share a couple of musical memories...

i. i still cannot get over of how much of a showman the beautiful bearded father john misty is. oh my. he is, without a doubt, one of my favourite finds this year in music, his two albums (1, 2) on cyclical overdrive in my spotify playlists. which made the fact that I MET HIM even more amazing. my friend k, a seemingly hawk-eyed fellow fan, let out an excited scream as she spotted mr. tillman walking past and we ambushed him. he was so lovely. the ridiculously lazy photographer i am, i completely missed out a photo op then (d'oh!) but i did manage to snap the pic above, from the front row, as he clambered down mid-performance to serenade us.

ii. if you haven't yet heard the folksy siren songs of marika hackman, prepare to swoon. this was the first time i've heard her live, alongside a handful of veteran fans i was lucky enough to be friends with. and boy do i know this will not be the last. i am absolutely in awe of marika's bittersweet, offbeat vocals and her weird and twisted and anatomical lyrics. not much else awakens the werewolf-strength instinct to pick up and (albeit, badly) strum a guitar as much as her jams. pop over to her youtube channel; i promise you won't regret it.

iii. i'm ready to shout from the rooftops about songhoy blues, an unstoppably groovy desert blues punk band hailing from the trouble-ridde land of mali. green man hosts a rough trade tent, a homely set-up selling band merch including, much longed-after, vinyls and t-shirts (of which you can spot my father john misty tee in my blog photo to the left). throughout the weekend, rough trade held several intimate acoustic sets featuring the smaller bands playing the festival. one of which was songhoy blues. i was immediately entranced by their jangly guitar riffs and smiling, grateful, immensely musical expressions. a new favourite for sure.