First acts announced for this year's sold out Green Man Festival in Powys

Headlining this year’s edition are legendary Cardiff-formed electronic duo Underworld, rowdy Belfast rap trio Kneecap, acclaimed indie sensations Wet Leg, Brooklyn alt-rock mainstays TV On The Radio and Beth Gibbons, lead singer of Portishead. 

The news follows a record sell out for Green Man, as all tickets for its 2025 edition sold in just 60 minutes. 

Without announcing its line-up and 11 months prior to the festival, Green Man is the first festival in the UK to completely sell out for 2025.

Continuing its commitment to platforming some of the best names in Welsh music, this year will see the likes of Los Campesinos!, Gwenno, Adwaith, Tristwch Y Fenywod, Pys Melin and Georgia Ruth Williams grace the Green Man stages, alongside Kelly Lee Owens and High Contrast, as well as the return of long-term festival favourites Melin Melyn.

Legendary electronic institution Underworld, which was founded in Cardiff in 1987, will be keeping the energy high into the night with their thumping techno. 

With a career spanning multiple decades, the duo consisting of Welsh native Rick Smith and Karl Hyde will be treating festival-goers with classic hits such as ‘Born Slippy (Nuxx)’ as well as fresh cuts from 2024 album Strawberry Hotel for what is sure to be an entrancing sonic feast.

Alongside the ten music stages, guests are invited to explore the wonders of the world around us in Einstein's Garden, relax and rejuvenate in Nature Nurture and grab a pint in Green Man’s very own Welsh beer and cider festival at the Courtyard. 

With a dedicated children’s area, comedy and literature talks as well as performing arts, the 2025 edition will bring all of these back to the Bannau Brycheiniog.

Festival goers who have purchased a Settler’s Pass, a special ticket which includes discounts on local heritage sites, galleries, castles and more, will arrive on Monday, August 11 for a week in the Welsh countryside as part of their Green Man 2025 experience.

Making their Green Man debut - and following the packed screening of their BAFTA Award–winning film at Green Man 2024 - Kneecap are set to play their biggest UK festival headline to date. 

The trio, made up of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí, are known for their politically charged lyrics and will kick off the festivities on Thursday night at the Far Out Stage with a riotous set rapped in both English and Irish.

From opening the Far Out Stage in 2021 in one of their first ever festival slots, to topping the bill this year, Isle of Wight sensations Wet Leg will be bringing their wonky indie pop to the Mountain Stage for a joyous set. 

Wet Leg are one of the UK’s biggest success stories of recent years, winning three GRAMMYs, two BRIT Awards and topping the charts with their eponymous debut album in 2022.

Rounding out this year’s headliners are Brooklyn alt-rockers TV On The Radio who are sure to put on a masterful display. Audiences can expect to hear the endlessly creative musings, cutthroat riffs and splicing energy of hits like ‘Wolf Like Me’ and ‘Happy Idiot’ which immediately distinguished the band from their contemporaries in the early 2000s New York scene.

Also co-headlining on Sunday night will be Portishead frontwoman and powerhouse Beth Gibbons. She will be bringing her innovative and evocative alternative trip-hop to the Bannau Brycheiniog in a spellbinding closing set, with classic material like 'Glory Box' and 'Roads' as well as delights from her 2024 Mercury Prize nominated solo album Lives Outgrown.

Capping off a breakout year with the release of their second album Midas, Wunderhorse will be displaying some thunderous riffs and prowling swagger at this year’s edition, alongside South London electro-punk band Fat Dog, and Leeds post-punk quartet Yard Act in a real showcase of some of the finest talents in British guitar music right now. Elsewhere, CMAT will be dazzling crowds with her country-tinged pop and boundary pushing singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yanya is sure to be a highlight of the weekend.

Continuing to conjure Green Man’s atmospheric magic will be Perfume Genius who will be bringing his unflinching and poetic alt-pop to the Black Mountains, and folk favourite Cassandra Jenkins with tracks from her acclaimed 2024 album My Light, My Destroyer. After a standout set with Wednesday last year, MJ Lenderman will be welcomed back to the Bannau Brycheiniog with open arms alongside his band The Wind.

Green Man has a history of spotlighting the most exciting emerging talent, and this year English Teacher are set to make a triumphant return to the festival following their 2024 Mercury Prize win, after gracing the Rising and Far Out stages early in their career. Breaking acts to keep an eye on this year include boygenius-approved jasmine.4.t; Brooklyn experimental pop duo Sex Week; cult singer-songwriter mark Williams lewis; energetic dance duo IceMorph; 20-year-old abstract rapper-producer Black Fondu; genre-defying London quartet oreglo and much more. Stay tuned for plenty of more exciting names to be announced over the coming months.