Green Man Festival is already looking ahead to its 25th anniversary in 2027, after a 2026 edition that showed the Welsh event scaling up to another level. With a year to go until the milestone, the 24th edition showcased its quiet, steady identity as a champion of sustainability and new music, no longer an outlier in the summer festival calendar.
Wolf Alice closes the 2026 edition
A closing set from twice Brit Award-winning Wolf Alice wrapped up another August weekend amid the Black Mountains on the Glanusk Estate. The Mercury Prize and Brit Award-winners delivered a glittery, wind-machine laden set, taking the large crowd through tracks from early songs like Bros and Moaning Lisa Smile to Bloom Baby Bloom and Sofa Song from their 2025 album, The Clearing.
Singer Ellie Rowsell's vocals, including an en masse howling at the moon, closed the final night with mass appeal at a festival that can be niche in pockets. But it is the commitment to up-and-coming acts, a line-up peppered with the un-mainstream, that defines Green Man. Big indie and alternative names were joined by those unfamiliar to many.
A festival ethos of independence
Getdown Services, who called it the "best festival ever" on Friday night, moved from smaller stages over the years to 2026's The Other Stage, Green Man's second biggest after the main Mountain Stage. Their journey illustrates the event's support of artists at each step of their career.
As is typical of a festival, some acts clashed: Bristol's Tricky mesmerised the Walled Garden while Wolf Alice played the Mountain Stage, and Sparks performed elsewhere as The Beta Band took the main arena. Choosing The Beta Band was described as a no-brainer, with their eclectic Scottish indie and funky electronic moments as uplifting live as when first caught almost 30 years ago.
Running around the site, eating, drinking, seeing comedy, music, circus acts, and dancing at a David Bowie disco was exhaustingly fun. Green Man has no corporate sponsorship, allowing it to curate the line-up entirely and serve local Welsh beers, ciders, and spirits, including its own festival brew, Green Man Growler. It is also the only large UK festival where a woman has majority ownership, and one of only three large independent festivals remaining in the UK.
Looking to 2027
Plans for the 2027 25th anniversary are likely already in the works, but 2026 will be tough to top for its mix of popular, legendary, and left-field acts, plus the inventive quick thinking that saw the traditional Green Man burn, signifying the end of the festival, turned into an acoustic performance and aerial gymnastics due to persistent Welsh wildfires.
Green Man 2027 tickets go on sale on September 26, with more details available at greenman.net.
