I missed this when posting in the Last nights gig thread
Second ArcTangent and had another brilliant time, with what must be one of the bet festival crowds there is. I found so much good music last weekend, I don’t think I spend more anywhere at a merch tent than I do at ArcTangent!
We have friends who always try and convince us to go to Greenman on the same weekend, I don’t think I could though, I’ve seen a lot of the bands at Greenman so many times, it’s refreshing to come somewhere to watch new and different music. I think we are in again for next year.
It felt like they were experimenting a bit this year, knowing they can’t just keep putting on mostly post and math rock every year. So it felt like some of it was leaning more towards the 2000 Trees crowd (I thought Glassjaw were fucking abysmal); some towards the heavier end and then just a general crowd-pleaser in Shellac and seeing what stuck. All of these styles have been present before mind, and it ended up a really good mix in my opinion.
Anathema were an odd choice though, was hoping they’d realise they should go with some older stuff, but it seems like the Anathema I liked is well and truly gone now.
Highlights were probably the Myrkur/Alcest double-whammy; yer man from Mono; God Mother turning a moshpit into a mass limbo dance; Pelican; a joyous ASIWYFA set that was essentially a homecoming; Gallops live silent disco set(!); a dozen others…
Hopefully it’s doing well. I know it’s quite no-frills but was there a lack of toilets? I just had it in my mind from the Shit Festivals thread that that’s the first sign of trouble. Also Shellac headlining reminded me of ATP going ‘They’ll Do!’ late in their life.
Missed it this year, only the second time I’ve not been, so typical that it was a sunny one! Lineup definitely seemed to blur more into a 2000 Trees type one than before. I guess probably because there’s only so many math/post rock bands that could be headliners, and they’ve gone through most of them by now (still imagine they’ll get Mogwai at some point). So either they have to expand genres slightly out of the niche it was set up with, or just end up repeating lineups. And I guess that goes further down the bill too. In the first few years I knew pretty much every band playing, so many this year I’ve never heard of.
Really hope it is doing well, did notice they were advertising money off tickets in the run up this time, but its always been an incredibly fun time whenever I’ve been.
Really enjoyed it this year having been in 2013 and 2014. Its worth a shout-out to the organisation of the festival, in particular the way the stage times are split to allow you to catch as much music as possible.
Thursday: Really enjoyed ASIWYFA, I’d forgotten how good they can be live.
Friday: Based on the guide, I didn’t know what to expect from Mr Mercaille, but didn’t expect THAT! Check him out, although I’d imagine YouTube doesn’t do justice. Vennart’s new material sounded great, although Part Cardiac alone would have made it worthwhile. Zeal and Ardor worked much better live than I’d imagined, but Anathema really let me down. I’ve seen them plenty of times before, but the sound was atrocious (with the bass backing-track far too loud), the vocals were out of tune and they clearly couldn’t hear themselves sing. The setlist was strange too, and the band seemed jaded. For anyone who didn’t know them beforehand, don’t be put off by this show.
Saturday ended up being the best day for me musically. Trigger Thumb are definitely going places - what a way to start the day. Jagged, angular metal riffs, strange time signatures, well composed songs, slap bass. To top it all off perhaps the best stage presence of the weekend. Mouse on the Keys really impressed me too. The virtuoso drumming and textural atmospheres set them apart for me. Toska were fantastic too, although I think most of what they played is from their forthcoming debut, so I’d have preferred a track or two from Ode to the Author.
Overall, 40 top class bands watched for not much more than £2 each. Cheap at double the price…
There seemed to be three takes on this from people I talked to.
They were great!
They were musically great but no real connection to the crowd/didn’t know where they were - evidenced by asking if people would be coming to their London gig on the Saturday.
The sound mix wasn’t right/other technical grumble.
I thought they were great on Saturday, but i wasn’t quite sober. The sound at the start was very muddy, but it get better. Don’t remember them addressing the crowd so much, but that doesn’t really bother me when I’m having a groove.
Yeah I’d agree. I think the complaints about crowd interaction only really came from the contrast to ASIWYFA, who couldn’t love Arctangent more. But you can’t expect the same from a massive band who aren’t from the UK and aren’t really part of any post or math-rock community.
ATG definitely seems to be getting more metally as the years go on. This years lineup was the first that didn’t really appeal to me, and Meshuggah don’t do anything for me. Would be a shame, as its a great little festival.
Edit. Realised I already sort of said this about 3 posts up. Oops.