Friday
So early on in the day it was incredible to see the stages filling up with people, a genuine reason why ArcTanGent was so incredible. People were not just there to sit outside their tents all weekend and hit up a few of their favourite bands. The crowds were there to enjoy as much music as they could, supporting, valuing and flooding from tent to tent to hear as many bands as they could. Flies Are Spies From Hell created an astonishing atmosphere around Bixler Stage and as it lay on the edge of the main campsite it was an incredible environment to wake up to.
The band had this amazing connection with each other than kind of put a little smile on our faces, as they winding into each other as the played ‘Mountain Language’. Between the band sounds are flooded against each other, twisted and mirrored in incredible patterns to form these almost gunfire-esque signatures that meant Flies Are Spies From Hell beautifully surpassed any morning expectations of ArcTanGent with their amazing set and kick started the second day of festival perfection.
Opening up the PX3 stage saw Howard James Kenny beautifully command 100% of the tents attention in intricate and well thought out loops. Whilst in awe of Howard we were swept up in how incredible and delicate a writing process it must be and his passion came though in that. As each loop built up in alluring layers it was difficult to do anything else than be carried away with what he was creating.
Then we caught Ef as they drew the crowds back to the main stage for a unit of black that wrapped Arc in stunning soundscapes. Ef have such an unusual tone that you are swept away in a haze of elevated echoes. A sensational performance from a band that we do not see in the UK often enough. There was a ruthless fervour coming from the Arc stage and this ardence oozed out into the audience.
Squeezing under the Arc stage we found ourselves enveloped in This Will Destroy You, lifting us into a pensive state. TWDY layer up in intelligent patterns that escape into fervent drums, each as remarkable as the next. You can feel the contemplative atmosphere within the crowd as the band work through incredible swells and heighten into striking tones that could only be related with This Will Destroy You. ‘Quiet’ is the perfect personification of the effect This Will Destroy you and the rest of the bands on the ArcTanGent line up had the audience. It was almost as if we were just observing them practicing in awe instead of the main stage of the festival.
Whoever the incredible guy is who decided to play Lil Wayne’s ‘She Will’ before Maybeshewill, we tip our hats to you. Not only did we get to have a little dance before they came on but it also got the crowd singing ‘She Will’ a little bit. ‘In Amber’ opened up in a sea of sound with intricate keys that had been worming around our brains all day, desperate to hear the track live again.
Yet again Maybeshewill nail it, each track rising in anthemic proportions that saw seas of crowd surfers and arms raised in impeccable timing to astounding riffs. ‘Not For Want Of Trying’ saw us all yet again try to remember all the words to ‘The Network’ quote whilst getting lost as the band construct this implausibly perfect track up. As they closed on ‘He Films The Clouds Pt.2’ the Bixler stage erupted into a frenzy that we can safely assume that neither the band nor the crowd will ever forget. The tent alight with jumping bodies desperately forwarding themselves as we sang ‘Now we’re apart, though not through choice. Do we stay mute? Or raise our voice?’ Yet again we are left, bowled over, Maybeshewill are currently one of the best and most talented bands to come from the UK and after headlining the Bixler stage they certainly proved why.
