Covid: Green Man festival sold out as return given go-ahead
- Published
The festival is set in the Brecon Beacons National Park
One of Wales' largest music festivals has been given the green light to go ahead next month, following a further easing of Covid restrictions.
The Green Man festival will welcome people back to the Black Mountains in Powys on 19 August for its 19th year.
Tickets have sold out for acts including former Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, Charlotte Church and Irish post-punk band Fontaines DC.
Local businesses are looking forward to 20,000 people descending on the area.
What is the Green Man festival?
Held in the Brecon Beacons National Park, the festival, as its name suggests, prides itself on its green credentials.
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These range from using recyclable items such as cups and powering the stages from the sun and other renewable sources.
It started off in Hay-on-Wye - another Powys town which is famous for a different type of festival - drawing hundreds of people in over three years from 2003.
Charlotte Church is bringing her Late Night Pop Dungeon to the festival
However, it was in 2006 when it moved to the Glanusk Estate near Crickhowell that it really took off - with numbers attending growing to 20,000.
This year, revellers can experience 10 areas, and as well as the music, there will be stages for comedy, literature, mindfulness, theatre and contemporary dance.
One of the more intimate stages at the festival in 2017
It is the only major UK music festival to have a female director - Fiona Stewart - with controlling ownership, and is estimated to contribute £10.4m to the Welsh economy each year.
Who's playing at Green Man festival this year?
Taking centre stage will be Swedish electronic act Little Dragon, with the quartet from Gothenburg headlining along with Scottish post-rockers Mogwai and Irish post-punk act Fontaines DC.
Singer Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon will take centre stage
Formed in Dublin in 2017, the Mercury Prize and Grammy-nominated outfit, who won BBC 6 Music's album of the year in 2019, are set to close the festival on 22 August.
The fourth headliner is Caribou - the stage name of Canadian Dan Snaith - who has enjoyed much critical acclaim, including 2014 album Our Love being named the IMPALA album of the year.
Other acts that will be more familiar to a Welsh audience include Charlotte Church and Gruff Rhys, who has had a long career both with the Super Furry Animals, as a solo artist and through other collaborations such as Neon Neon.
Fontaines DC formed after the band's members bonded over a love of poetry
Former Welsh Music Prize winner Gwenno and harpist Catrin Finch will also perform.
Where is Green Man festival?
It is nestled in the the Black Mountains, in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
Abergavenny and Crickhowell are nearby, with businesses looking forward to the boost to the local economy usually brought by the festival.
The nearby town of Crickhowell is looking forward to welcoming visitors from the festival
Buster Grant, head brewer of Brecon Brewing, said the Green Man festival had been "very important" over the years to his business.
"Events have a twofold impact - there's the financial gain, so not having those events made a big dent in our sales and turnover," he said.
"The other one is public perception - so getting out to those events and we probably see something like 2,000 people.
"We hopefully keep a lot of them very happy with the sales of our beer, so [without the festival] those onward sales weren't happening."
Buster Grant says his brewing business loses out without events
Mr Grant said his company lost 90% of its business overnight when the first lockdown happened, and developed 19 new beers and ciders in bottles and cans for people to drink at home.
His company has also began working with the Welsh Rugby Union to supply beer and cider, and is in discussions with the Football Association of Wales.
"We had to think very fast and modify what we do."
- Published25 February 2021
- Published10 February 2021
