Sunday 23/08/09 Green Man Festival, Day Three @ Brecon Beacons, Wales

Sunday, and sacrifices must be made that life may be seeded. Pure folk strains at the Far Out from 9 Bach bringing macabre tales of a son and mother dialogue whereby the son confesses he wasn't out fishing, he'd killed his girlfriend - with a Welsh delivery among harp, harmonium and guitar, it's harmonics and pure tones that 9 Bach deliver in abundance. On Green Man stage, Love Stop Repeat - equally traditional and with ethereal tones fashioning spartan nu-folk for walking forest glades from uke, accordion and harmonium, a pitch low Dave Millar a delightful foil to the elegant Lindsay West. Music to acquaint!

Then, a golden opportunity to get up, close and personal with The Leisure Society in the Rough Trade tent - blink and you've missed it! Welcoming requests from the brethren, T.L.S. counter the question "do you have anything inspired by The Big Lebowski?" with a "No, but I swear I saw the Dude yesterday". "I saw 20!!!" proffers another. In the meantime we'll make do with the juicy bowl of cherries from the 7-piece. Ah Me!

The Fence Collective are allies of the Green Man Festival since conception, performing each year. Here, the combined talent of The Three Craws - James Yorkston, King Creosote and The Pictish Trail delivering close harmonies and witty shanties. Arguably, the invite for a performance is overdue, reveals Kenny Anderson privately, having not had a solo slot for two years. On 'B9131', The Craws toast "...here's to the boys of East Nuik of Fife..." with a K.C. croon,  pooling their resources and rotating lead vocals with 'The Racket They Made', singing of the other side of the moon on 'Blue Mantle', 'Going Down To The Water', and a-roving on 'Blue Bleezin' Blind Drunk' - just don't keep these boys at bay!

Pictish Trail takes some shifting to get up the gears, but 'Words Fail Me Now' finds Yorkie chopping up the guitar on a golden nugget. Helped out by Fence-sters K.C. and Rozi Plain, Pictish's voice is sweet as and he fashions zen beat-poetry verse - "...ding dong, live a long life..., programming the loops and beats with Krauty get-up at times, it's the 4-part harmonies that shine. Player Piano are a welcome Fence addition, taking Green Man Stage with McCartney-ish pop (in a good way) - it's 'Mad Dog' that blazes and 'Backwards Invention Redux' that has the hooks, singing - "...I don't mind, I've got time...", while 'Mercy' is unrepentantly Coldplay-ish.

With a folk-blues cache, Scott Matthews takes the Main Stage with aplomb. With confessionals and love songs, it's the drawled tones that capture the mass feeling, Matthews like a Rufus W/Tom Yorke. Matthew's dreamy, mellow moments are countered with tensile and dramatic turns with new songs from 'Elsewhere', singing "...sadness is a bruise..." and 'Twelve Harps', alongside 'Eyes Wider Than Before' and 'Elusive', stating "I think it's time to smoke this joint!" as he runs with a slide-blues trailblazer. Meanwhile, more vintage as Camera Obscura capture that late blooming feeling on with ''My Maudlin Career' floating on tides of tranquillity, Campbell's vocals dreamy and evocative, 'You Told A Lie' is Abba-esque, but it's 'French Navy' that gives the party a jolt and a wiggle.

He was found working on a building site a decade ago oblivious to the fact that his debut album 'Cold Fact' was a rebel call in South Africa. So welcome the legendary Rodriguez with sunny Cali-psyche-folk-pop akin to the inestimable Shuggie Otis, 'Cold Fact' caught the late-60's mood and had Rodrigeuz down as a new-Dylan. Time has made him a humble soul, happy to sing his tales on 'Inner City Blues', the shuffling 'I Wonder', the bluesy 'Only Good For Converstion', and the introducing the highpoint - "This is not a prescriptive song" for 'Sugar Man'.

Which brings about psychedelic conclusions. "Are we multidimensional?" asks Guy Cobain of Amorphous Androgynous, nee Future Sounds Of London, "We're approaching a holographic Universe where many tricks will be played on you". Like an Incredible String Band spiked with the original Ken Kesey Acid Test template, A.A. are set about bringing the full sensory psychedelic-experience, without the blotters. A flautist carries above exotic prog-rock/psych-orch-folk and The Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble curated experience, Cobain singing "...sells electric ego, life's a flow, flow, flooaawwwww..." from 'The Isness' like a latter-day Ginsberg/Lennon, an experience A.A. deliver with rock-jams and long-haired wizardry.

Hawkwind conclude live performance just shy of their 40th Anniversary. With just one original member, Dave Brock, Hawkwind still have pulling power. Whether they're being tongue-in-cheek when they say "We are the warriors of space and time", it's quite a mission afterall, a tad Flash Gordon, not so 9-5! - but really, it's kitsch-rock that has calcified over time. It's also well delivered. There's punk/garage/goth churned with metal and the cosmic-boogie of 'Silver Machine', and let's not deny Hawkwind the credit with having inspired so many bands, but 'Silver Machine' is the one that races away. If it ain't broke...

"In the woods, there grew a tree, and a fine, fine tree was he...and on that seed, there was a boy...", and sacrifices must be made, ye heathens. The Green Man must die that he may be reborn. So raze up the Green Man that has borne witness to this weekend's tide of festivities. The Green Man is dead! Long live the Green Man!