The Green Man Festival was only my second music festival and my first foray into the wilds of Wales. I was delighted with both. The sheer beauty of the Brecon Beacons national park combined with the fortuitously excellent weather to create an ideal atmosphere. The back drop of the Black Mountains could help any band look good.

On Friday, British Sea Power played a blinder in wonderfully raucous fashion. On the Far Out stage, Fourtet’s Kieran Hebden, provided beats and grooves, but it wasn’t until the second half of his set, when revisiting earlier more innovative tunes that the evening really kicked off. Having heard much about Animal Collective, I was disappointed by their jittery, repetitive drones. It can be hard to transfer this style and sound to a festival stage. Noah and the Whale consciously avoided their more famous feel good hits to plumb a more melancholy vibe, but still performed brilliantly. Bon Iver managed to make the main stage intimate and climaxed with a fantastic sing-a-long. Then, Jarvis Cocker headlined Saturday night with excellent repartee, and genuinely rocked out in spite of his lovable, camp, geography teacher dancing. On the final morning the Far Out tent took a more folk tinged approach with The Three Craws and The Pictish Trail featuring the same jovial minstrels of the consistently great Fence record label, but rearranged in different guises. For me, Sunday’s musical highlight was the soaring post rock of Dirty Three featuring perhaps the best drumming I have seen all year.

A real treat throughout was the new Chai Wallah tent. It has been touring some of the country’s more eclectic music festivals bringing tea, shisha and some of the best bands I have had the privilege to enjoy. I frequently left with that wonderful ‘I’ve just discovered my new favourite band’ feeling. The Roots Union were a particular highlight. Their performance was seamless and their songs stunning.

What made the weekend so fantastic though, was not just the quality of the music but the various other diversions on offer. These ranged from busking scientists, yoga and banjo workshops to nature walks and of course the cinema and comedy tents. The comedy tent was a little of a disappointment. At this time of year I suppose that most ambitious comedians are fighting for audiences at the Edinburgh Fringe and so a gig in a tent in Wales might not seem alluring. Perhaps as a result the quality was a little low but there were still some gems. Josie Long had two sets but not quite two sets worth of material and so spent her second show linking her truly brilliant prepared segments with dull apologetic ramblings. Mitch Benn was on particularly cocksure and excellent form offering a comic insight on festival life.

The weekend culminated in the ceremonial burning of the eponymous Green Man as part of a beautiful and well choreographed firework display. I didn’t want to go home. Suffice to say that I had a wonderful time. The festival managed to effortlessly tread the fine line between village fete and Hacienda rave. The general ambience that it somehow concocted meant that you could make friends easily. People always seemed willing for a chat. It was both child friendly and ideal for adults. Perhaps it was the presence of children that stopped the adults descending into juvenile anarchy. Whatever the case, the weekend was all the better for this.

I had always wondered why festival reviews I read when young enough to buy the NME always seemed to slide from a critical appraisal into a Kerouacian narrative. But as the morning chill descends on me, and I scratch this review at six in the morning onto the paper plate that came with my bacon butty, I think I now understand.