Green Man / Day 1: Arrival

The pub we stayed in last night is only twelve miles from the festival site, and access to 'Hotel Bell Tent' didn't open until 2pm, so after a hearty breakfast at The Harp Inn, we decided to visit Hay-on-Wye. 

Which turned out to be very pleasant, if somewhat busy. Lots of book shops (OF COURSE), tea rooms, market stalls, and shops that suggested this is quite an affluent area. 

The Minx was tempted into a niche 'Murder and Mystery' book shop, so I went over the lane to a large shop that was stuffed to the gills with huge bags of books. (On the way out we heard the owner say she'd bought four thousand books, yesterday!)

I left with two books: one about Brian Eno's work in the 70s, and one about Kate Bush, while the Minx arrived with three purchases of her own. 

After stopping in a tea room for a coffee and to dip into our books, we set off for the festival. 

The traffic wasn't bad at all, and we had no problem getting onto the site, where we loaded up the Minx's festival trolley, and made our way through to Hotel Bell Tent, which was pretty much as I'd hoped: nice tents, decent showers - quantity and quality - and loos.

We unpacked and then headed across into the festival ground via a bridge over the River Usk (see first Extra). 

Our first impressions were very positive. The site itself was beautiful and the main stage was set in a natural amphitheatre (see second Extra, which kind of captures the raised rim around the field). 

The food stalls all looked amazing - a really well curated selection - and the beers were reasonable priced!

So we had a good wander 'round, stopping to watch The Wran, who were very good, and then Gurriers, who had pretty much everything right, just not great songs, unfortunately. 

The main event for this evening, though, was Kneecap, whom the Minx was keen to see. I absolutely trust her judgment when she says that their music is good for the genres they straddle (mainly rap and hiphop), but I'm too old to enjoy music by a band which has one balaclava-clad member and has extolled both Hamas and Hezbollah from the stage before. 

That said, though, they are only young, clearly impassioned, and with a righteous fire in their bellies. Further to that, there will always be a place for the simple argument that war and killing people is wrong, which ought to be at least as loud as the more nuanced (and weary) arguments of those who've been around the block a few times.