Green Man Festival 2023

 This August, my band The Lavender Menace were given the brilliant opportunity to play on the Solar Stage at Green Man 2023! It's the first time we've played a festival like this, and I have to say we were pleasantly surprised. We were given day tickets for Friday 18th August as part of us performing, so our experience was limited to that date but after the great first impression we're hoping to go back next year and make a weekend of it. 

So, what is the festival? Well, it's a music and comedy festival based near Abergavenny in Wales which goes on from Thursday to Sunday in mid-August every year. The setting is beautiful, with the Mountain Stage (pictured below) sitting at the foot of the mountain and the festival spreading over several fields. The weather isn't always great (we unfortunately went on one of the rainier days) but that doesn't limit the fun as several of the stages like the Far Out stage have covered areas surrounding them. In terms of food and facilities, I found them awesome. There is a huge variety of food, including great options for vegetarians and vegans, and also several bars selling drinks including lots of kombucha. One thing I really liked was that it seemed like the kind of festival where you could have a great time without drinking an insane amount, which ties in to the fact that it's very family friendly. It felt very safe, with a nice community atmosphere. 

The Mountain Stage, 18th August

One thing I really admire about this festival is their commitment to charity and to keeping things green. And this is not just something I picked up on, my bandmate Frankie told me in our debrief that 'It was all nice and green/eco friendly.' and then went on to joke that she couldn't see any bars selling lemonade for kombucha stalls. The festival's website (greenman.net) has lots of information about the things that the organisers are doing to help limit the event's effect on the environment. This includes selling no disposable plastics on site, switching to compost toilets and teaming up with two different charities aiding refugees (Help Refugees and Newport to Calais Aid Collective) to donate any undamaged camping supplies, food and drink. These amazing commitments help to make the festival one of the greenest options for those who are environmentally conscious and still want to enjoy live music. They even power all of their stages using hydrogen, solar and HVO power, with the stage we played being entirely solar powered!

Overall, I would definitely recommend the festival and so would Frankie. If you're interested in attending next year feel free to check out their website greenman.net, and if you're looking to play there they host the Green Man Rising Bands competition for bands to play their Rising Stage.