Sun 13 Apr – Portishead, A Hawk and a Hacksaw

Well well, this was very good. I saw Portishead headline and curate ATP last year, so knew what to expect, but they filled the venue here very well, and it was all a bit more epic.

Support came from A Hawk and a Hacksaw, which I knew little about and was pleasantly surprised. I am guessing they're american but had something Baltic about them, playing violin, accordian, mandolin and trumpet - sounding like a much less irritating version of Gogol Bordello, and entirely instrumental. I wasn't quite sure if everyone…

Fri 7 Dec – ATP The Nightmare Before Christmas curated by Portishead

I am going to keep this short because, even though ATP is pretty much luxury compared to any other grotty tent event, I only just got in from my journey home and I'm a bit beat.

A quick run down of some of the music I saw:

Portishead - better than I thought they'd be. Haunting, epic, powerful, with some great new tunes. We're all looking forward to the new album.

Earth - much better than I thought they'd be, largely as I've not heard anything by them…

Fri 17 Aug – The Green Man Festival

This year's Green Man was great, although as it's only my first I guess I have no comparison. Musical Highlights:

Joanna Newsom, Friday night - The main stage was maybe not as intimate as it needed to be (have seen her in tiny venues, much better) but she was amazing and unique as ever. This is the fourth time I've seen her and she it still able to do new things with old favourites.

Seasick Steve - as someone cried out, "a legend", although his back story is now such a big…

Sat 21 Jul – Napalm Death, Impaled, Desecration

Was great, really nice to see them playing to a home crowd. They ran through a pretty broad range (or as broad a range as they have), with tracks spanning the entire Napalm Death oeuvre…