By Jase Walker
With a reasonably warm morning but not enough to choke me in my tent to wake up to and a bit of a thick head from going a little bit too hard on the juice last night, I’m greeting ATG starting in earnest with FES.
I’ve managed to drag a small ensemble of friends along to catch these, and right from the start they sound fantastic. Drums and bass both nice and punchy, the guitar is really snappy and the vocals are loud and clear. They’ve got a fair crowd in the Bixler tent and their performance has got almost everyone bobbing their heads or tapping their feet. As you’d probably expect from a math rock band, they’re incredibly right as well, all the stop starts are bang on. I’m glad my favourite songs in the set as well, ‘Sun Visor’, is such a lovely dreamy song that really shows off FES‘s skillset.
You can clearly see FES are loving this set and having so many people in the tent watching them, it translates extremely well to the audience. Going off the response to them asking if people knew them or not, seems pretty certain that more or less everyone here is a fan! FES are just really bloody lovely to listen to and even better seeing them do their thing live.
Great set to kick Thursday off with, now just to deal with this splitting headache.
I’ve decided to deal with it by proceeding immediately to the Arc/main stage to catch a bit of Pijn. Without much introduction they immediately go from 0 to 100 and I’m surrounded by a cacophony of droney guitars and accompanying strings. It stands out to me that the drums a bit too loud, the snare and bass drum are incredibly overpowering which is a bit distracting. On the whole it’s pretty engrossing just letting Pijn just wash over you and envelope you in their wall of sound.
Leaning wholesale into the dynamic of quiet parts and extremely loud swells, Pijn are doing well to fill the large main stage at ATG. There’s a subtle melody interwoven with their melancholy drones, a wall of sound that drenches the audience in their performance. Through the ebb and flow of their set, it all builds up to a fantastic grand crescendo, really doing the Arc stage justice, I think this is probably the largest stage I’ve seen them on as well. Despite the issues I had with their sound, on the whole a fantastic set.
After a brief break and a chat with Glenn from Delta Sleep (see below), I’ve returned to the Arc stage to catch A.A. Williams.
Her signature crushing melancholy swells and surrounds me, a subtle euphoria creeps in. I really cannot overstate how fantastic this set sounds, and not only that, the crowd is almost completely silent; a fantastic show of a respectful crowd. AA Williams’s voice, wonderfully soft and haunting, echoes throughout the massive tent, truly captivating. It’s exactly the type of set where you can just close your eyes, and listen intently then just get swept up in the beauty of it all. It’s all very much a departure from the usual frantic and often aggressive music I listen to, but I can’t help but feel moved by it. Ever since seeing her multiple times (unintentionally I may add) in 2019, getting a chance to get caught up in another one of her live sets is something I don’t take for granted.
I’ve also poked my head in for a bit of Coldbones while I chow down on some of the famous Bunnychows.
It’s actually great how they’ve managed to pack out the central “Elephant In The Bar” stage while competing with two other acts. Their soaring post-rock/metal is astoundingly clear and strong, there’s no issues homing in on what any of the band are playing at a given time. Whether it’s a crescendo building ever higher or more subtle parts that lead into a break, Coldbones are putting on a staggering show that’s packed with energy. This performance is worthy of a much larger stage, the delivery of the performance, the unrelenting force of its sound, and the outstanding material they’ve created, fantastic set.
Now with a swift return to the Arc stage for Delta Sleep. This is the first time seeing these live as I’d missed previous shows in Manchester for one reason or another, but having the first time be ATG, I don’t think it could have been a finer place. As you’d expect, the material leans a bit more heavily towards the latest album, Spring Island – No complaints there though, it’s a fine album. We’re getting a pretty solid smattering of older stuff too mind, so nice to see some of the different facets being cared for too.
I’ve had to have a bit of a rest so admittedly I’m watching them while sat down at the back but it sounds pretty bloody fantastic from where I am. Even the bass guitar is clear but also strong so it drives the songs along as well as being able to pick out the intricacies. Fully enjoying being wiped out with Delta Sleep as my soundtrack, I think it’s just what I needed right now.
Anyway time to completely upend that vibe by running to the other side of the festival arena for Intronaut. Big, heavy, noisy, prog metal, my favourite. I’ve decided on a spot a bit outside the tent because the crowd they’ve got is pretty massive for this tent so it’s almost completely packed out. Another ideal opportunity to put my bag under my head and have a bit of a lie down. Intronaut are absolutely smashing out the park here, clearly enthused to see such a huge turnout as well.
Multiple passages of intense melodies, supported by a relentless double bass pedal hammering away before giving way to crushing riffs. A hallmark of their sound is also the amount of harmonising they do, be it on riffs, noodly bits or the vocals.
After a pretty extended break due to weather related issues since it started pissing down, I’ve returned to the Yohkai stage to catch Maybeshewill! We’ve opted to stay a bit further out of the tent as the weather’s forced a gigantic crowd into the tent so it’s rammed all the way to the borders! Right from the start it’s immediately clear that the sound is wonderful which makes a band like this which creates beautiful music sound amazing even outside of the tent.
The synths come over the top and are loud and clear which is sadly a rarity for a lot of bands with keys and synths, but in this case absolutely not. This is made even more abundantly clear on the more piano led numbers that they’re playing, along with the strings for layering, every component part is heard and felt clearly. The experience of seeing Maybeshewill is incredibly unique and is already one of my top sets for this weekend. This is the sort of music that I cannot give any other label to other than ‘beautiful’, each song builds into a grand crescendo that rises to a euphoric peak. It’s raining, I’m outside the tent, I’ve had a bit too much wine but I am absolutely enthralled by this performance, legitimately outstanding.
For the finale tonight, I’ve opted to forgo Cult of Luna in favour of a band I absolutely adore, We Never Learned To Live. These guys are a mix of post-hardcore with a sprinkling of mathcore and immediately from the start, we’ve got all the good stuff! Not only that but I’ve legitimately just found out that this is their last ever show so I guess this just adds onto why I’m glad I’m here! Like the other acts I’ve seen this weekend, WNLTL sound fantastic, the vocals are just the right volume to punch through their thick backing music.
This whole set has been enthralling, possibly tempered by the knowledge that it’s their last ever show and you can see this with the amount of effort they’re putting into it. Considering they’re up against the titans of Cult of Luna and a fair amount of people that may not really know them, they’ve got a real solid crowd here for them. It’s a real shame to feel that we’re losing a band like these because of ‘life’ but I would love them to know the impact they’ve had on me in the short time I’ve been a fan.
I don’t think they could have wished for a better outro to their career as a band, they’ve got a solid crowd here to see them out and I’m genuinely sad to see them finish up but I’d be lying if I said this isn’t a show that I’ll treasure. Thank you so much We Never Learned To Live, you were truly phenomenal.
- ArcTanGent returns to Fernhill Farm over the weekend of 16 – 20 August 2023. You can get your tickets HERE.
- All content © Über Rock. Not to be reproduced in part or in whole without the express written permission of Über Rock.