Last weekend was spent at The Green Man Festival. It was an epic weekend thanks to the following good souls…
Peggy Sue
Three thousand cheers for Peggy Sue, not only did they provide one of the greatest gigs of the festival, but they were solely responsible for getting me there in the first place. Double heroes. They’ve got to be the one band I’ve seen the most, and they never stop being brilliant.
She Keeps Bees
It’s thanks to the finely tuned ears of Alessi and Anika that I have finally righted a horiffic wrong and caught She Keeps Bees. Brooklyn seems to be the source of no end of incredible sounds at the moment (coughForestFirecough), and Jessica Larrabee is no exception. The queen of soulful bluesy stripped-back grit. Legend.
Animal Collective
It’s only recently that I’ve got into Animal Collective, and now I’m finding myself totally stuck on the Baltimore 4-piece and regretting every minute that I haven’t spent filling my ears with their incredible sounds. An absolutely epic headliner for Friday night. Highlight has to be My Girls. Brilliant.
Rozi Plain
Without a doubt one of the highlights of the weekend. And something totally different than expected. I’ve long loved Rozi Plain’s live solo sets, though due to my inability to ever leave London I’ve never caught her with her band before. Shame on me. Truly this is a different, but equally brilliant beast. Joined on stage by an incredible group of musicians including Francois (trumpet/guitar/vocals) and the always-incredible Rachael Dadd (providing clarinet and vocals)- the gig was nothing short of perfect. Catch her this Sunday at the Strongrooms in Shoreditch to see what I mean. You can also hear her live on our first podcast here.
Bon Iver
Ok, so this is kinda a given, but Bon Iver blew my tiny mind. Ashamedly this was my first time catching him live, having spent the past year with his literally-totally-goddam-perfect album For Emma Forever Ago pretty much on loop. Here’s a great version of Flume from La Blogotheque’s incredible Take Away Shows
Peter Broderick
An absolute hero. First caught by accident at a Wildbirds & Peacedrums gig, and I’ve followed ever since. He’s an astonishingly great violinist, pianist, singer, guitarist and all-round noisemaker with 6 albums behind him and several other projects on the go. And he’s only 22. Damn it. Check out his album “Home” through the awesome Bella Union, it’s one of the best things to have happened last year.
Joe Gideon & The Shark
This was my first time catching the brother and sister duo Joe Gideon & The Shark. Their album Harum Scarum came out a couple of months back through Bronzerat Records, it’s great and catching them live cemented my love for these guys.
- Chris