Green Man 2025

By markontour, August 25, 2025

This was a sun-drenched, chilled-out Green Man festival, which reverberated to Free Palestine chants, celebrated tolerance and diversity, and delivered joyous moment after joyous moment. As always, the line-up was full of wonderful introductions as well as old favourites. The food and drink were next level compared with most festivals (the variety of cakes on the Llangattock School stall making up for the lack of mango ale or cider this year) and the rolling hills of the Bannau Brycheniog providing the ultimate framing.

Thanks to a running injury I navigated this Green Man on crutches and a mobility scooter, which provided an eye-opener about what it means to be physically disabled, but also a temporary insight into how things can be organised to remove the barriers that society otherwise creates. A huge shout-out to the festival organisers, the wonderful volunteers on the disability platforms and other spaces, and to Event Mobility for providing for providing my wheels.

Here follows markontour’s review of Green Man 2025, plus a little playlist of the bands featured here.

Thursday / Dydd Iau

Heartworms, Far Out, 4.45pm
Evoking Disintegration-era Cure and rocking a modern goth look, Jojo Orme impressed but I was only passing. One for headphones.

W.H. Lung, Far Out 6pm
Indie bands look a lot different these days. Gym-muscled and clear skinned, WH Lung’s lead singer pulled off the occasional shimmy but otherwise looked too taut to dance. Sounding slightly Smithsy at times, and named after a Chinese supermarket in their hometown of Manchester, WH Lung have some great songs, which sounded best when the keyboard player harmonised on vocals.

The Wran, Chai Wallahs, 6.30pm
Irish bands really have taken over British music festivals this year and Wran delivered some glorious Celtic folk. Four musicians – banjo, guitar, drums/drone, and accordion – seated in a row across the stage and harmonising on vocals, this was an intense performance and it was impossible not to make comparisons with Lankum. I forget who it was now, but one band member delivered one of the most thoughtful and heartfelt of the many appeals across every stage of the festival to stop Israel’s genocide in Palestine.

Adwaith, Far Out, 7.30pm
I love Adwaith and feel bad about not giving them proper attention at Green Man, because I was catching up with old friends. But ‘Eto’ stood out and a big crowd in Far Out were clearly loving this Welsh-language three piece.

Kneecap, Far Out 10.30pm
The main event of the festival, never mind the opening night. The sense of anticipation was palpable and the biggest crowd I have ever seen for the Far Out stage sprawled out right up to the Green Man (a chirpier, beer-swilling interpretation this year). Singer, Mo Charah, was just days from a court hearing on an outrageous misuse of anti-terrorism laws. Kneecap aren’t taking this latest attempt to silence them lying down and started their set with a silent, powerful big screen message about the genocide in Palestine and need for political pressure in the countries like Britain whose governments enable it. After that, Kneecap were reliably raucous, playful, creative, political and keen to share their boundless energy with the crowd. Thanks to Jackie for getting me a spot on the disabled platform, from where I could enjoy the huge mosh without fear of further knee troubles.

Friday / Dydd Gwener

Pys Melyn, Walled Garden, 11.45am
Gorkys Zygotic Mynci with a saxophone. I really enjoyed seeing the end of Pys Melyn’s set in Swansea recently and the full show in the beautiful Walled Garden was even more impressive. Gorkys are my favourite Welsh band of all time so I don’t throw out the comparison lightly. They seem to have a similar DIY ethic and explained that this is why their new album hasn’t had much promotion. I will now be buying it on vinyl. If I can find it.

The Joy, Mountain Stage, noon
They were promising a lot with that name, but these five South African young men singing a-capella did a great job of living up to it. I loved the bit where they demonstrated the tenor, soprano, bass etc aspects of their harmonies.

Yuuf, Rising Stage, 1.30pm
Yuuf didn’t look like what I was expecting for a band that promised dreamy psychedelia – more Haircut 100 than Spacemen 3 – but the hazy guitar-based tunes were gorgeous.

Tir – The Story of the Welsh Landscape with Carwyn Graves, Babbling Tongues, 4.15pm
Welsh woodland is in retreat pursued by rapacious sheep and yet coed (woodland) of global importance hangs in the unlikeliest of places, like the hills above the former coalfields of Ebbw Vale. Carwyn Graves gave the gloomy statistic that Wales has lost 98% of its orchards since 1945 and, ironically, a decisive shift in government policy which succeeded in intensifying food production, but in increasingly grotesque, nature destroying form – far more sheep than people in Wales. Yet, still, there are thousand year old hedge-banks and the possibility of producing food for people in a way which also protects precious biodiversity.

B.C. Camplight, Mountain Stage, 5pm
The surprise guest who seemed a little confused himself as to why he was with us, but gave a heartfelt, ramshackle performance about a messed-up life, that worked well as the sun settled on a hot day.

Keo, Rising Stage, 6.20pm
Smashing Pumpkins for the 2020s. I loved the first song, and the second and third, but a little less because it was largely the same, and then it was time to wander off.

Wunderhorse, Mountain Stage, 9pm
Highly anticipated by a big crowd, Wunderhorse front-person, Jacob Slater, was unhappy about something from the off. He ripped through powerful songs, but didn’t utter a word to the crowd until it was to stroppily explain that there was a problem with the amps. We couldn’t tell so maybe he was unable to hear himself properly, but 20 minutes before the scheduled end he stormed off. Shame.

Santou Susso, Chai Wallah, 10.30pm
What an antidote to Wunderhorse! All smiles and glorious kora-playing. Susso insisted we dance and led a conga through the crowd. It was so unexpectedly wonderful and life-affirming I missed the start of Wet Leg and didn’t mind.

Wet Leg, Mountain Stage, 11pm
With a really good ‘difficult’ second album behind them, Wet Leg paraded their new sexy image, gave the boys in the band a chance to chatter to the crowd, and generally looked to be really enjoying being headliners. If one wanted to be churlish, they don’t quite yet have enough songs for the top spot, but the ones they have are so good that no-one minded.

Saturday / Dydd Sadwrn

Singing with Seamus, Chai Wallahs, 11am
To complete his Community Service sentence for anti-social behaviour, Cornwall Council required Seamus to run a singing class. Seamus hates singing. Maybe that’s why he got 120 people singing “If the people get up off their arses / Change will come in the way that they want it”. There was also dancing bum-to-bum and a trust exercise based on squatting on the person behind you (not for those with crutches). Great start to the day.

Broadside Hacks’ Tribute to Bob Dylan, Mountain Stage, 12.30pm
A chronological hour of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, from a goose-bump creating acoustic ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’ and a as relevant as ever ‘With God On Our Side’, moving to a full electric band for a better version of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ than I’ve heard Dylan himself deliver the last few times I have seen him.

Gwenno, Mountain Stage, 3pm
All dressed in flowing black despite the serious afternoon sun, offset by peroxide hair and rock-star sunglasses, Gwenno looked and sounded pitch perfect. Some new songs in English from her just-released album (which I bought onsite) and ending with that one about cheese from her last Cornish album. Always a treat.

Melin Melyn, Far Out, 4.30pm
One of the stand-out performances of the festival and a show that was part music, part theatre. Two year’s ago the residents of Melin brought bright yellow fun to the Mountain Stage with a disparate set of supermarket-themed songs. Half the festival left wearing their bright yellow baseball caps. This year, with a first concept album under their belts, the gang were back to entreat a full-capacity Green Man crowd to help save Melin’s eponymous yellow mill from rapacious development. Placards were held aloft, boos and cheers enlisted, and mass relief when front-person, Gruff Glyn (who is a real-life bakery delivery van driver when he’s not a screen and stage actor), took a call from the town’s Mayoress during the set to announce that the redevelopment proposal had been rejected. The quality of Melin Melyn’s country pop can get a bit lost in all the fun and I have really been enjoying the album since we got back. But the main purpose of Melin Melyn is to put a smile on the faces of everyone present and this they did with alacrity.

Fat Dog, Far Out, 7.45pm
Getting better and better all the time. Still raucous but a tight band with it now, and able to get a big crowd eating out of their hand. A fast paced, blood-pumping live experience not to be missed.

CMAT, Mountain Stage, 9pm
If I was forced to pick one performance that rose above all others at Green Man 2025 it would have to be CMAT. This was a joy-filled set, full of laughter, deep chemistry between the band, and constant connection with the crowd. CMAT chatted, she danced, she called out the haters, and won the large home crowd over by calling for a rendition of “the Welsh national anthem” before launching into Catatonia’s ‘Road Rage’. “CMAT stands for Cerys Matthews” she tongue-in-cheeked. The biggest singalong of the weekend for ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!’, stimulated by a super-fan in the front row who demonstrated the ‘CMAT Two-Step’ to the crowd using her custom-made CMAT Barbie. 11/10

Underworld, Mountain Stage, 11pm
I felt a bit for them having to come on after CMAT, but the crowd was possibly even bigger and this was a triumphant Welsh homecoming for this Cardiff-formed band. Obviously ‘Born Slippy’ was a highlight.

They Say Jump, Chai Wallahs, half midnight
A great mix of Rage Against The Machine style vocal delivery with Afro-beats and a lot of dancing.

Sunday / Dydd Sul

Gruff Glyn speaking to 100 Part-time Jobs, Babbling Tongues, noon
The Melin Melyn front-person talking about how he formed a band because there’s never enough work to be a full-time actor, but still needs a day job as a baker’s van driver. Glyn is the kind of person it is impossible not to like – warm, passionate, funny and self-deprecating – and so we shared his angst as he detailed the litany of careers he has briefly tried out in order to put bread on the table, from working at a call centre selling breast-enlargements, to role-playing STD patients for NHS training, and typing up complaints submitted in Welsh about pylons in Snowdonia. The band doesn’t make any money either and Gruff reminded us that most bands only make money off the merchandise they sell, and the opportunities for touring are getting harder as smaller venues struggle to stay afloat. Melin Melyn’s first concept album, ‘Save Our Mill’, is an allegory for saving music venues (support the Music Venue Trust). Nevertheless, throughout, Gruff exhorted everyone to form a band ‘because it’s brilliant’.

Natalie Wildgoose, Rising Stage, 1.05pm
Ghostly piano-led folk, including songs found in a book left to her by her grandfather. Perfect lie in the sun and soak it in stuff.

Oisin Leech, Walled Garden, 3.45pm
One half of the Los Brothers, providing deep, shimmering, gorgeous melodies in the sunshine. I need to listen to his album but I remember one song in particular – The Colour of the Rain – as being something of real beauty.

Folk Bitch Trio, Walled Garden, 5pm
Not the best choice of name, given the closest comparison would be with the wholesome folk of First Aid Kit, but the three-part harmonies were fantastic and you could hear the Wilco and Aldous Harding influences that the band celebrate.

Divorce, Far Out, 5.30pm
They may be my favourite touring band of the year and I can’t get enough of this arty, alt-American influenced Nottingham band. Every song, video and performance seems both truly heartfelt and carefully crafted. Antarctica remains my favourite of their songs and sounds so good live, but Checking Out (their first hit) and Hangman now close the show.

Yard Act, Mountain Stage, 6.35pm
My how they have grown. I have liked Yard Act from Fixer Upper and Green Man 2021, although my review of that year only goes as far as “they have a lot of potential”. Well it has now well and truly been realised. Last year’s ‘Blackpool Illuminations’ marked a new high in the sophistication of their song-writing and this performance demonstrated that they also have the live presence to command a big main stage audience. Mixing minute observations on everyday life with incisive politics (lead singer, James Smith’s, plea for everyone to do something to stop the genocide in Gaza, but don’t feel guilty for having a good time today as well, was spot on). I suspect I am going to be buying tickets to Yard Act gigs for many years to come.

Joshua Idehen, Walled Garden, 8pm
I popped by just to hear the ironic ‘Mum Does the Washing’ – “Capitalism: Your mum washes does the washing / You pay her a dollar. / You get her to do your mates washing / Your mate pays you 50 dollars”. But I enjoyed the set enough to want to hear more of this spoken word poet, whose performances were billed in the Green Man programme as “part sermon, part rave”. About right.

Beth Gibbons, Mountain Stage, 8.20pm
Admittedly I only heard this set while getting some food and changing into my evening suit (an African print from Kenya this year), but the Portishead numbers at the end were breathtaking, and I had to sit down and pay full attention.

Big Special, Walled Garden, 10.45pm
Gritty and powerful but never bombastic, this was a proper festival-ending performance from a duo who are the kind to garner a devoted following. Joe Hicklin’s spoken-word delivery feels so intensely revealing of his perspective on life that it is not surprising that drummer, Callum Maloney, does all the talking between songs and is generally in charge of whipping up the crowd. Two albums in now, Big Special, like Yard Act and Divorce, feel like a band who are going to become a fixture in my music buying and gig-going.

The Fleetwood Mac Celebration, Wishbone, midnight
I mean, it was just DJs playing Fleetwood Mac, but it was exactly right for the night!

Deptford Northern Soul Club, Walled Garden, 1am
The right and proper end to Green Man, enjoyed by dancing with old friends and festival acquaintances probably never to be encountered again, trying to remember those steps we learned a decade ago at Festival Number 6 and translate them to a dance for one leg and a crutch. A Green Man institution.