Glanusk Estate, Brecon BeaconsMogwai, Nadine Shah, Fontaines DC and more mesmerise in the festival’s overwhelming, glorious comeback
![Green Man festival review – magical return for this psychedelic carnival](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9bf18a7a87b6b10d22a4ddba44db649018bee908/0_0_4896_2938/master/4896.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctcmV2aWV3LTUucG5n&enable=upscale&s=48c02562dd2c83152421f34d1b42ba32)
‘This is friggin’ overwhelming,” exclaims Nadine Shah, grasping for words to sum up the hyper-emotional, multi-sensory overload that was returning to a
music festival. Everyone present for the Tyne and Wear singer’s revitalising set of blown-out rock’n’soul early evening Friday will have known exactly what she meant.
Arms jabbed, throats and noses swabbed, antiseptic liquids flowing along with the real ale and the tears: Green Man was back. As with most festivals, last year’s Covid-related cancellation imperilled this carnival of pastoral-psychedelic delight beneath the Welsh mountains. But its late summer berth allowed organisers to gamble on restrictions lifting in time for a full return in 2021. Fans kept the faith – most tickets were rollovers from 2020 – and were repaid with a programme that, despite few international artists, still somehow felt as solid as ever: a magical mixture of cosmic rock, alt-folk, ecstatic jazz and sanitised hands-in-the-air club music.