ArcTanGent 2024

This is probably going to be my last ArcTanGent, at least for a little while. It’s an expensive indulgence just for me, it comes right in a prime holiday timeslot, and I just fundamentally don’t enjoy the concept as much as I used to.

I still had a great time this year and saw some amazing performances, but I think it’s time to quit whilst I’m ahead.

I didn’t take any photos this year. Wanted to focus on being present and experiencing the performance without trying to capture it. I’m quite guilty of photos validating my memories and not feeling like I’ve actually done something if I don’t have a photographic memento. It’s impossible to regret this because I’ll likely just forget about most of it!

people

perhaps my biggest issue with festivals, and going outside in general, is the people there. People are either annoying, or I barely notice them. Annoying people can be divided into two categories: inconsiderate, and amusing. I can practically hear Simon saying “your idea of a perfect festival would be for everyone to stand silent and still, listen to the music, then walk quietly in a line to the next band”, and Imaginary Simon is right - that does sound like the dream. I wouldn’t change the amusing ones; they’re funny and everything annoys me. But I can’t stand inconsiderate behaviour; that can get in the bin.

So, without further waffling, here are the annoying types of people at ArcTanGent 2024:

• people who bring bubbles
• people who play air-instruments
• people who bring their parrot?!
• people who won’t stop talking/yelling to each other when the band is playing. Just shut up and listen
• people who jump around and crash into you when everyone else is standing and listening. How do I always end up right next to these muppets
• people who bring a diablo. Tabitha did some circus skills clubs and I now regret that
• people who bring a kermit puppet then make it headbang at the barrier
• people who get Maisie Adam’s haircut
• people who mock other people’s crazy dancing. If you can’t dance like a bit of a div at ArcTanGent what’s even the point of it
• people who wear a gumshield in a moshpit
• people who wear large inflatable rings in the crowd. Not only is this inconsiderate and takes up loads of space, they also took it into the moshpit and bounced off someone like a dodgeball and landed like a turtle on its shell. Their back is going to feel wonderful in the morning!

observations

when I don’t have anyone to talk to, I point things out to my phone.

• vegetarian/vegan food selection is much better than last year
• already been offered weed
• nice neighbours - Tom and Sean. Tom looks like Casey Neistat (obviously I don’t tell him this. People don’t like to be told they look like people. Don’t do it)
• So glad I found the audio for Parts Unknown
• WiFi! O2 is so terrible. I would have been 100% uncontactable without this
• nice chat with a couple of brummies
• Chat with a French soloer who was ripping on British food, and his criticism was jelly?! Do the French hate jelly? Why?
• feed the village burger 👍👍👍
• forgot my toothpaste. I have a dentist appoitment on Monday
• slept terribly. back is agony, can’t breathe, freezing cold. Forgot how cold it gets
• however many pringles you have is not enough
• Big rain. Poncho saved my ass and I watched Red Fang without freezing to death. I love my new poncho
• I concealed a falafel in my poncho
• Crocs have, yet again, been very popular
• had some epiphanies about vices which I will be starting on as soon as I’m home
• Poncho shook almost-dry, then dried over night without dripping everywhere. I am crazy about this new poncho
• Got my best ever Tetris score (50k, 99 lines). I suck at Tetris
• Many people interested in the Analogue Pocket today
• I don’t like the world we have where a band’s photographer is just there on the stage filming or shooting the thing you’re trying to watch
• seeing people react to this tit with his parrot
• guy dropped off by his parents “remember to take your glasses off when you’re headbanging”
• Tosin said “circular moshpit”. Square
• my hayfever has gone crazy
• moth flying around the Meshuggah lighting check. If a moth was ever in the right place at the right time, it’s this moth
• I’d been thinking about how it’s kinda pointless to see live music. You go there, and maybe you can’t see, maybe the sound is terrible, maybe the person stood next to you won’t shut up, and you watch a band play, at best, something that sounds better than the record but it’s ephemeral. Amenra and Meshuggah (future me: And SCALER!) have such amazing visual components to their act that it forces you to go to it, to experience it live. Most other acts can’t say that, and I think that’s why I’ve been feeling that this is all a bit pointless. Better to stay home where there’s a limited number of annoying people. Does every band need to also play live? Surely I can’t be alone in this
• toilets are a mess. No toilet roll and absolutely disgusting. Bit disappointing; they’re usually good
• toilet queue friend said to see Såver. Såver dropped out. Toilet queue friend is going to be disappointed
• they should have called this one Arc10Gent or at least styled the logo that way
• if a show was worth being at, your digital-zoomed-in phone video is not going to do it justice. People skip your Instagram stories; just put it in your pocket and watch. No-one ever saw a phone video and went “oh wow I must go to this show next time”. No-one was impressed that you were there. It’s all for you so just live it and get your phone out of my face so I can actually see the thing we came to see
• the most serious-looking dude has a little pink plastic egg-shaped maraca that looks…ahem
• I spent all of Pijn obsessed over this pair in front of me I don’t think were together, one was wearing a blue cap with a purple peak and the other had a purple fringe and blue pony tail. It was all I could focus on
• loads of people have those little plastic maraca things. They’re using them to shake along with the music. Audience participation has lost its mind. You are not in the band
• Tim from Brontide now looks like Patrick from Sewing Bee. In case I ever want Charlotte to come to a show with me

bands

wednesday

• Host Body 👍
• Hidden Mothers 👍 new stuff sounds interesting
• Din of the Celestial Birds 👍
• Psychonaut ❤️
• Curse These Metal Hands 👍 they were better last year but still great
• LLNN 👍
• Bossk 👍

thursday

• itoldyouiwouldeatyou 👎 not for me
• SENECA 👍
• Pleaides ❤️
• Hundred Year Old Man 🤷‍♂️ bit samey
• Sun Spot 🤷‍♂️ ok but I think I’d prefer it recorded
• Bo Ningen 👍 fun and a nice sit down
• URNE 👍
• Julie Christmas ❤️❤️
• Baroness ❤️
• Red Fang ❤️❤️
• Amenra 😮❤️

friday

• HAAL 👍
• Modern Technology 🤷‍♂️
• Asymmetric Universe 🤷‍♂️
• Cahill/Costello 🤷‍♂️
• El Moono ❤️
• BLACKSHAPE 🤷‍♂️ sound was pretty terrible at the sides. Gutted about this one
• The Omnific 🤷‍♂️ it’s alright but who ever needed more bass. Australians always seem to be having fun. Not envious
• Iress 👎 I swear there’s an audio engineer here who’s trying to melt my bones with bass
• Year of no Light 👎 who did I think this was?! Not having a good day so far
• Every Hell 👍
• Outrun the Sunlight 🤷‍♂️
• Glassing ❤️
• Frail Body 👍
• Sigh 👎 shame. Waste of a cool name
• Delta Sleep 👎 I still don’t get it
• Animals as Leaders ❤️ always fun live. Lots of bands making good use of the screens. Theirs was like a wild old Winamp visualiser. Would’ve been cool if it was more affected by the click-track but still looked cool. Wish bands like this didn’t have a backing track though
• Meshuggah 😮❤️🤯 the gold standard for metal performances. I’m not even that big a fan of theirs (or, rather, I wasn’t) but I get it now. This was amazing

saturday

• anta 🤷‍♂️
• fort 👍 I bet the recording is amazing
• briqueville ❤️
• haus horo 👎 just a bit dull. So many doing this kind of thing now. Either stand out or sit down
• sunnata 🤷‍♂️ don’t tell me your song was inspired by Dune then do zero throat singing
• love sex machine 👍 want to hear this recorded - vocals are so quiet live. Stupid name though
• vower 😮❤️ perfect
• bossk ❤️
• ken mode ❤️
• scaler ❤️🤯
• pijn ❤️
• brontide 👍 someone’s not played these songs in a while! Mistakes on a looper pedal sound so much worse. Bit disappointing really. Guitar is obviously pretty stale and needs a lot more practice and confidence building. I hate it when people refer to bands as “tight” but that’s what Brontide used to be - these songs were dialled all the way in and now they’re not. Hope they get that back - apparently a week of rehearsals isn’t enough. Will and Nathan are still touring and they were amazing but the guitar was just not up to their standard. Still nice to hear those songs again though
• gallops 👍 I could listen to the record but I don’t need an hour of it live. Maybe at a club or something?