So the 20th anniversary of Green Man festival at the Glanusk Estate near Crickhowell turned out to be a vintage year, writes Nancy Cavill.

The festival, which started out life as a small and slightly ramshackle affair with a heartwarming vibe, has matured into a superbly-run event and Wales’ largest music festival.

And, as a veteran of 18 out of 19 Green Man festivals, I can report that it hasn’t lost its soul along the way.

Talking of soul, Mercury Prize winner Michael Kiwanuka did a great job of wrapping up the last night of the festival in style. He seemed genuinely joyful to be there – having been booked as headliner initially in 2020 – and the audience responded with affectionate applause.

Not to be outdone, Ezra Furman who preceded him on the Mountain Stage with the stunning backdrop of Pen Cerrig-Calch, played a passionate, barnstorming set which was hard to take your eyes from.

Friday night’s headliners Kraftwerk were probably the most mature performers at the festival with an entertaining 3D lightshow and crowd-pleasing favourites like The Model played mid-set and The Robots. They referenced their Germanic time-keeping skills with a well-received joke ending bang on schedule.

BeachHouse were Saturday night’s headliner and their laid-back style made for a mellow end to the evening for the crowds gathered in the natural amphitheatre around the Mountain Stage on site.

On the second biggest stage at the festival, the Far Out tent, the Viagra Boys proved a hard-hitting and punky draw – competing with the equally popular but polar opposite sounds of Mercury Prize-nominated actress and singer Jessie Buckley with ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in the Walled Garden.

The Walled Garden often provides some of Green Man’s finest moments and this year came up trumps again with a selection including Art School Girlfriend, Torres and the ethereal tunes and off-the-wall banter of Arooj Aftab.

Talking of banter, the ‘Babbling Tongues’ tent often provides a few gems for those festival-goers who can tear themselves away from the live music.

This year probably the most packed slot was the chat between journalist and author (and Green Man stalwart) Caitlin Moran and Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips. The MP proved more than a match for wise-cracking Moran with a comic touch herself which had the audience hanging on her every word and applauding enthusiastically. Festival-goers then queued up to get books signed at the tent next door, which is run by Book-ish of Crickhowell. Owner Emma Corfield-Walters said it was her longest ever book-signing queue – longer even than the queue for Billy Bragg.

Last but not least, Green Man should be congratulated for an innovation that was a major talking point – at least for 50 per cent of the festival-goers – the female urinals. After some initial trepidation, many women quickly became converts to the faster alternativeto the compost loos. Comments ranged from, “it’s about time” to, “I can’t believe they haven’t done this before!”

Roll on GM2023 (which will actually be the 20th festival due to missing a year in the pandemic) – keep the innovations and surprises coming.