Fantastic Doves

   Don't forget the forum was full of people after last years green man saying how rubbish Wilco and animal collective were but it didn't stop last year being an exceptionally special festival--best i've ever been to---but if your a person who just goes for headliners then your better going to gigs.

     For me the announcements so far are stunning--- the wonderful steve mason/Fuck buttons/--i'll stop there because i will just end up listing the whole announcement--i can't believe anyone could fail to be excited by todays news--perhaps i'm just lucky that i know and like all the bands.

  Also my ego is not that big to call a band rubbish because i don't like them--i find Joanna Newsom really irritating but i'm not saying shes rubbish just that her sound doesn't appeal to me.

  I think a few people will be surprised at what an upbeat entertaining live band Doves are but if not plenty more to see.

 Oh - and Doves are about a million times better than Joanna Newsome ;)

After the initial disappointment at the announcement probably time to move on. I actually like Wilco (and I think most people did enjoy their set last year) but chose to see James Yuill on the pub stage and he was utterly brilliant - the lesson being that headliners don't matter that much, there's bound to be something else really interesting on elsewhere - failing that an early night! Mind you I would get worried if they'd lined up Stereophonics and Snow Patrol in case Joanna and F Lips pulled out!

Should be plenty of more stuff yet to be announced too so staying excited!

i know, i know

i'm just being a git really

but the issue for me isn't so much the lack of something else to see - there's obvioulsy a ton of other things going on at the same time as the headliners

it's more about the way if affects the general tone of the weekend

things change - it's an unassailable truth

so harking back to the 'old days' is ultimately pointless

but there was a time when we went to greenman because there was no other festival like it

and the feel of the thing was built on our common delight in the bill

who ever thought there'd be a whole festival for people like us!?

even when there were bands we didn't like - and boy i didn't like the incredible string band in 2005 - still they made sense in the context

and ultimately attracted a like-minded crowd

a band like doves can be seen at pretty much any festival in the uk - so in booking them, green man continues to homogenise itself (something its steadily been doing for the last couple of years)

and becomes less interesting in the process

and, ironically, in that very homogenisation, engenders, in fact, LESS of a common feeling among the crowd

look at the evidence here on the forum - it divides people

and what i've always liked about green man is that it felt like the biggest front room i've ever been in

we might have all argued about which writer we liked best - but broadly we were all reading the same anthology

hey ho - like i say, things change

and i hereby vow to stop being snarky about doves on this forum!

but hey - doves!??

you know...?

cheers

ray x

 Good point well made Ray. 

 so good i posted it twice!

I have never considered that I could be one of the younger generation of Green Man goers that you talk about but I suppose I am. Last year's Green Man was my first and, despite the original ticket snatcher being Animal Collective and Bon Iver, the aspect of the festival that will keep me coming back is the punters. I don't know exactly how the festival crowd has changed but last years festival made such a change from my previous festival experiences at Leeds Festival.

The crowds there are full of people who are just there to live a weekend of anarchy, see a couple of headliners and care little for the music. This has been amplified on the forum by the amount of distaste for Arcade Fire (silly people). At Green Man however everything was so relaxed, I didn't hear a single raised voice throughout the whole festival and everyone I spoke to was as chuffed as I was: I remember sitting up till about 2am at one of the cafe's outside the arena with a guy who had been to every Green Man since the beginning and has some amazing tale to tell. Has there been a significant difference in attitude within the Green Man community at the festival that you are aware of?

judas!

can you just point out what is exactly wrong with standing arm in arm with your drunken friends,singing along to a band you like.or is a muted response to joy the way forward nowadays?

Hmmmm...

Have witnessed them live.

Don't wish to do so again.

Definately would not label ANYONE as "awful northern oiks".

Boringly uninflammatory though it is, maybe it's just that some people don't think that this festival is the right place for this particuar band.

Peacex. 

 why the debate folks.don't watch the doves if you don't like them.don't come to green man if you don't fancy it.bear in heaven-opinions?

 now your just being silly,there are two other stages,a film tent,a comedy tent,numerous bars,hey when the doves are on you could even try conversing with a stranger(a non doves loving one that is.)peacex

much as i disagree with you, meen gran, still you have the best profile name on here ever!

so kudos for that

 Who are 'The Doves'? Are they interesting? 

"Bored of the bland festival brands? Looking for a visionary new alternative?" (Green Man website)

We're given Doves.

Need I say more?

 I'm inclined to agree with the whole 'Doves=Bland Crap and dire atmosphere' thing.

This is going to be my first year at Green Man, as I couldn't make it the past few years for various reasons.  One of the major attractions with Green Man was that i thought it would be a world apart from the trogladytes and general monotony that surrounds festivals like 'T' in the Park; i.e. a bunch of shellsuit wearing pricks looking for a weekend of lawless and pill popping with no interest in the music.  And to be honest, I didn't ever expect to see the bloody smegging Doves on the line-up.  People can say what they like, but the reality is that as far as the general public and mainstream consumers are concerned, it is a fact that in that in the mainstream arena The Doves come under the same banner as Kasabian, Embarce, etc.  It's exactly what I DIDN'T expect, nor want, from Green Man.  My hope was for soemthing personal with a good sense of community.

I cannot understate my disappointment.