Green Man Rising Final reveals five acts competing for slot
The shortlisted artists include Cardiff band Shale, a Lesser Version, lots of hands, Sarah Meth, and Wing!
The Green Man festival, which is the largest music, arts, and science festival in Wales, announced the details of its 16th edition of the Green Man Rising Final.
The event will take place at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff on May 20 and will be hosted by BBC 6 Music's Huw Stephens.
The Green Man Rising competition is part of the festival's commitment to support future headliners.
It offers new artists from across the UK the opportunity to compete for a slot at the sold-out 2025 edition of Green Man, taking place later this summer.
This year, the competition saw a record-breaking 4,000 applicants, with the final five shortlisted artists revealed on Monday, April 28.
The Rising final will see each of the five acts perform in front of a panel of leading industry professionals.
The winner will be awarded the coveted opening slot on the Mountain Stage at Green Man 2025.
The runners-up will also secure a slot at Green Man 2025's Rising Stage.
Each shortlisted artist will also receive a professional recording at the festival.
Fiona Stewart, Green Man managing director and owner, said: "Supporting emerging talent is at the heart of Green Man, so we're excited to have selected our Rising finalists for 2025.
"Shortlisting the applications from a record-breaking 4,000 entrants was no easy task, and I want to thank all those who applied.
"The standard was incredibly high, and we can't wait to see who the panel will choose to open Green Man 2025 on the iconic Mountain Stage."
Free tickets for the Green Man Rising final are available now through Dice.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wales Online
a day ago
- Wales Online
Green Man 2025 review: A weekend of bliss in the sunshine
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Just imagine it, you're embedded deep in the Welsh countryside. It's a hot, sunny weekend and you have an amazing mix tape of music, food and beer at arm's length for a whole 72 hours. You'll have to imagine it because the 2025 edition of the festival is now over and it was a classic year. I've been to Green Man a fair few times over the past decade and a half and it's always been a fun experience, I've seen Super Furry Animals, PJ Harvey, Belle & Sebastian, Michael Kiwanuka, Television, Sleaford Mods... I could continue but I can't remember any more right now, but I guess they are the ones that made their mark. The 2025 line-up was bristling with diverse genres as per usual with names like Wet Leg, TV on the Radio, Wunderhorse and Beth Gibbons of Portishead. But this Saturday night of Green Man made my gold standard, side one, mix tape of my times at the festival over the years. I dabbled in a little Gwenno - queen of Welsh and Cornish atmos-pop with echos of Julee Cruise - ran over to Melin Melyn for some excellently twee-but-fun indie with matching outfits and connective narrative, then planted firmly on our usual spot at the Mountain Stage hill for Irish singer CMat who led into atmospheric dance legends, Underworld. The last two acts, completely different but had me mesmerised for almost three hours. CMat, who charmed audiences at Glastonbury earlier in the summer seemed over the moon to finally be playing Wales and treated the huge audience to a rendition of the 'Welsh national anthem' aka Road Rage by Catatonia. From superstar gigs to cosy pubs, find out What's On in Wales by signing up to our newsletter here She's a great crowd pleaser and eventually had the entire natural amphitheatre doing a two-step, sorry, CMat - it's the Treorchy two-step, not what you dubbed it (she said it so quick I couldn't even tell.) Her fiery take on honest, country-pop makes her more fun and you can 't help but feel that charm. Underworld posed an entirely different genre, but were equally grateful to have made it back to Wales, Karl Hyde commented: "Well well, Wales, Richard.. it's been a long time since we've been able to say that. A load of people told us how lovely this festival is - they're true [sic]." He went on to thank Graham Hyde - aussuming his dad, who "worked his arse off" to get him through college in Cardiff and if that hadn't happened he wouldn't have formed Underworld with Rick Smith. With that heartfelt message they launched into their biggest hit, the soundtrack of a generation, Born Slippy. Dancing for 90 minutes straight on a hillside during a warm August night can really help you to escape the every day, something that's often needed at the moment. Not that Green Man shirks when it comes to how the world could be made better. Its commitment to environmental, political, sustainable betterment is all around, from the bands signed up - controversial Kneecap were on the bill Thursday - to the toilets (compostible - hold your nose) - the fun-but-educational Einstein's Garden, it's a place where learning is fun and creative. It is also a space for Welsh language and culture to be explored and its Green Man Rising scheme offers new artists - local and beyond - a chance to be seen and heard. Mix all of the above together and you've got a recipe for a dream weekend in the countryside. Tickets for the 2026 Green Man Festival go on sale in just over a month - September 27 - so if you missed out on this year, plan to go in 2026. The speed at which the festival now sells out is indicative of its success, but also the fact it's a great place to spend a weekend.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Green Man festival review – Kneecap and CMAT lead the charge in a utopian Welsh idyll
On the opening night of Green Man, the BSL interpreters are having to dig deep. 'What's 'Fenian cunt' in sign language?' Kneecap's Mo Chara asks them. 'What's 'off my head on ket''? As European festivals ban them, the finest one in Wales – arguably the UK – has kept the Irish trio on the bill, and their combination of druggy lairyness, larky republicanism and very serious pro-Palestinian solidarity, combined with mic technique a jungle MC might envy, makes for an explosive start. Some of the hip-hop numbers are corny – a sort of Fresh Prince of Belfast – but over trap and rave they're peerlessly thrilling. Their set gives Green Man an undeniable shot of vitality, as does a set by CMAT as the Irish star enters pop's stratosphere, off the back of TikTok virality and a euphoric Glasto set. Namechecking Welsh legends Catatonia, Shirley Bassey, H from Steps and Tom Jones, it feels as if she needs a Jones-style TV variety show to house her entertainment prowess: the songs have country homeliness but Stevie Nicks-style arena mysticism; her banter is silly but topped with political spikes as she passionately celebrates Wales's preservation of their national language. It all earns her possibly the biggest main stage crowd this festival has ever seen. Folk-rock and indie-rock have long been Green Man's bread and butter, and the triumphant breadth of those styles is on full show. Caroline's emotional blend of art rock and midwest emo, their song True Euphoria delivering just that; Jasmine.4.t's alt-rock songs of dissociating in supermarkets and 'the healing power of transsexual love', which already feel like classics; MJ Lenderman's euphoric southern US rock, the result of what might happen if Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd kissed and made up; and a spellbinding tribute to Bob Dylan from folk collective Broadside Hacks. Renditions of Maggie's Farm and Like a Rolling Stone are a bit broad – it turns out you can sing Dylan out of tune – but his early folk material is stirringly performed by Dan MacDonald (AKA Spitzer Space Telescope) and Clara Mann, and how trenchant the savagely ironic militarism of With God on Our Side still feels. Beyond those core styles, the festival feels more socially and musically diverse than ever. There's a global remit with acts from DRC's Fulu Miziki to German-Turkish-led Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek and India's Asha Puthli, distilled aura emanating from the latter as she grooves over light disco and shares memories of drag queens and Andy Warhol. The Friday lunchtime set from South African vocal quintet the Joy feels like God pointing at us from a cloudless sky: unfeasibly beautiful harmonising, including dubstep-worthy bass penetration from their lowest voice. As the styles expand further outward, Underworld are the most banging act to ever headline here, Karl Hyde's dance moves rivalling those of an oiled and shirtless podium dancer in 90s Ibiza, and Bicep side project Dove rolls around techno, speed garage and UK bass in a juggernaut of digital noise. US rapper Mike unspools soliloquies over subaquatic beats but there's plenty of crowd participation – and even a dance contest – to keep it populist. And New York no-wavers YHWH Nailgun are simply one of the best live bands in the world right now, their constantly mutating funk setting off three concurrent styles of dancing in the crowd: pogoing, salsa and dub skanking. There are shortcomings: so many songs in Wet Leg's headline set are powered by the same four-to-the-floor stomp and while they have a genuine rock star in front person Rhian Teasdale, they don't have the melodic invention to stop it feeling samey – a problem also faced by rising band Divorce, whose songs wander aimlessly. Smashing up a malfunctioning amp at the end, Wunderhorse evidently feel their set is a disaster – 'if there's a God, well fuck him' is the reaction of front person Jacob Slater halfway through – but it actually sounds terrific out front, and the on-stage difficulties bring out something febrile and desperate in Slater's singing. There is only one actual clunker: John Grant underselling a 24-carat golden hour by singing almost a full semitone flat for song after song. Nevertheless, Green Man's batting average is still at a world-beating level, and its valley setting feels like a temporary utopia. Trans rights are frequently championed, and affirmations of Palestine's right to freedom are voiced by everyone from Nilüfer Yanya to Been Stellar and closing headliners TV on the Radio, who acknowledge 'monstrous' behaviour in the world but who meet it with a steadfast belief in something better, that 'love is the province of the brave' as one song has it. That belief, combined with the festival's blessedly anti-corporate feel, combines euphorically at the star-making set of the weekend from Joshua Idehen: a poet, musician, comedian, therapist and a kind of motivational speaker exhorting us to better ourselves. He instructs us to find 'a joy with nothing to sell you', something in abundance at Green Man.
Powys County Times
3 days ago
- Powys County Times
Thousands revel in the sun at Powys staged Green Man 2025
Green Man Festival 2025 is in full swing in the Powys countryside, with the sun-drenched Saturday packing in standout performances, surprise sets, and art-led experiences. There were returning favourites and future stars, and a monumental Mountain Stage performance from CMAT, who described her long awaited Welsh debut as 'one of the best shows of her life'. Draped in the Welsh flag, CMAT and The Very Sexy CMAT Band filled the Mountain Stage with one of the biggest crowds in Green Man history, with festival-goers two-stepping to songs old and new; from her 2022 breakout single I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! to viral hits The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station and Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, staking her claim as one of the most memorable Green Man performances to date. The late-night euphoria of electronic music legends Underworld – who formed in South Wales nearly 40 years ago – closed the day with a pulse-pounding set packed with techno beats, hypnotic visuals, and festival-defining moments. A triumphant rendition of their hit 'Born Slippy' sent the crowd into a frenzy, proving to be one of the biggest highlights of the night. Other remarkable performances lighting up the Mountain Stage on Saturday included Seattle-born singer-songwriting force Perfume Genius, who treated entranced audiences to a captivating set spanning his critically acclaimed catalogue, including tracks from his breakout 2025 record Glory, alongside North Carolina's MJ Lenderman and his band The Wind, whose special, 90-minute extended set of gritty, indie-rock energy and compelling storytelling electrified the crowd. Wales' own star Gwenno took the Green Man crowd by storm on Saturday afternoon, as she mesmerised fans with ethereal vocals and electronic soundscapes from her acclaimed 2025 album Tresor The Mountain Stage also played host to Afrofuturist ensemble Fulu Miziki and Boss Morris, with their modernistic reimagining of morris dancing. MJ Lenderman wasn't the only artist making a triumphant return to the Black Mountains, as 2024 Mercury Prize winners English Teacher and Welsh surf-pop favourites Melin Melyn also returned to Green Man. Having played at the festival in 2022 on the Rising stage, English Teacher soared on the Far Out stage, with crowds singing every word of their breakout anthem 'Nearly Daffodils'. Earlier, Melin Melyn lit up the same stage with their psychedelic flair, sparking a technicolour dance party that stood out as one of the weekend's most joyful moments. Over at the Walled Garden stage, another emerging Bristol star, Lucy Gooch, left crowds breathless as she held them in a dreamlike haze with ambient soundscapes. The ancient stone walls and oaks of the Walled Garden stage proved to be a beautiful setting for her standout performance, and those that followed. The Babbling Tongues area bustled with curious minds on Saturday afternoon, as jasmine.4.t, the newest Saddest Factory signee, joined hyperpop artist and drag royalty Happyness, a.k.a Ash Kenazi, for a raw and fascinating conversation on queer identity, vulnerability, and defying genre expectations in the music industry. Later in the same area on Saturday, celebrated comedian Stewart Lee gave a deliriously funny set of riffs on cultural decline, and the absurdities of modern life, leaving the audience in stitches. For festival goers seeking a fix of heavier sounds, Saturday night provided unruly belters from emerging experimental artist Black Fondu, who brought his signature blend of abstract grime, punk, and electronica to a Rising stage crowd ready to bounce around, and Manchester newcomers Westside Cowboy, who delivered a DIY indie-rock fueled set in the spirit of 2000s garage bands. With the festival weekend now in full swing, there's plenty more in store on the final day of Green Man 2025, with performances from dancefloor funk pioneers Cymande, trip-hop alt-indie alchemist Nilüfer Yanya, mighty Birmingham duo Big Special, New York City genre-benders Been Stellar, ethereal techno auteur Kelly Lee Owens, and many more.
