Arc Tan Gent Festival

Arc Tan Gent lives up to it’s reputation of catering to musical nicheness for an adoring and loyal group of math-rock obsessive’s, in a gorgeous and well planned Bristolian forest setting.

In it's fourth year now, ATG is a perfect example of the organiser’s love of this little known genre and their dedication to providing the best experience.

For those as unaware of this genre as I was: Math-Rock and all it'd digressions is where musicians will play with broken time signatures and rhythmic disruptions. Which, to a musically untrained ear, makes it all sound a bit loose and jazzy.
Most bands at ATG were comprised of noodlely solos and chuggy rhythms. Jaggered with beats which are subtracted and added.
The result is cacophonic and fun as hell to watch.

4 stages feature the very best (and weirdest) of Math-Rock and Alt-rock but covers folk and experimental too.
This year featured a fairer sprinkling of hardcore as its latest tweak, which was enormously well received by the crowds.

I must give serious kudos to the organisers, as everything is just so thoughtful:
Stage times are staggered to minimise bands of similar ilk’s clashing.
The bars are incredibly well staffed and stocked with local brew at local prices.
There’s a rum bar right in the middle of main stage with a coffee bus right behind.
Food vendors, too, are on the more reasonably priced side of festival food with a great selection; the firm favourite being the van selling breakfast and burgers of livestock reared on the host farm.
There's s great silent-disco on the Friday and Saturday, which had fantastic live DJ’s running until 4am.
The Lanyard line-ups have a recommended listening section for each of the bands featured.
And so much care has gone into the little decorative niceties too with hammocks, seating and bon-fire. such is the level of detail often missing from alt-festivals of all sizes.

To top it all off, music and sound was sublime and standout acts were numerous.
Roll Tomassi, had the neatest transition between scream and clean vocals. Three-Trapped-Tigers married electronica and rock with said jazzy looseness, up fronting their incredible drums. Mono were haunting and chilled and epic.
La Dispute always bring such a different energy and dynamism to their live performance which you wouldn't imagine with their spoken-word post hard-core vibe, but it really works and is seriously enjoyable.
Then Heck and Black peaks are just pure reckless fun as ever.

All this and it's only setting you back £85 for a three day ticket.

Genuinely my only gripe would be the toilets mysteriously disappearing on the last day and the weather sucked, but I won’t hold that against them as the rest is pretty perfect. Bring on the jaggy next year.