By Jase W
Day three starts with a much better start, avoiding a banging hangover for the second day in a row and feeling quite fresh instead. A bit of a sleep in and in down to the arena for my first band of the day in the form of some lads I’ve seen play in Manchester a few times and heard them speak of ATG being the target festival for them to play.
2026 is the year that they’ve finally clinched it, time for some great post-rock! It’s quite different seeing them on a stage of this size compared to my last few shows of them being huddled onto another pub stage so this is a great jump up. Seeing them march around the stage while playing makes me feel that they’ve always wanted to spread their wings a bit when playing live. All of the fun hallmarks of Public Service Broadcasting, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky are coming through in their playing. Some technical weirdness during the set but doesn’t seem to rattle them too much and they make things work and get on with the show. It’s great seeing these make the cut and then absolutely put their all into the set, a class act and they’ll be only going up from here.
Next up is You Win Again Gravity, switching my gears from dreamy post-rock to much more intense prog metal. Rolling with a sound that strongly echoes the first album from Periphery. The one emotion that stands out more than anything is just sheer joy. You Win Again Gravity bounce around blasting out riff after riff while their singer projects his voice and gesticulates wildly to match. A solid booming sound accompanies the visually active state of the band, the 5-piece bring levity as well as complex melodic elements to bear early on this year’s Friday. Seeing the large crowd that’s gathered in and outside the tent to enjoy You Win Again Gravity and I’m overjoyed to see them getting steadily bigger turnouts every time I see them again.
After a break back at camp, I’m back to the main stage to catch Mass Of The Fermenting Dregs and actually remember most of the set this time as I was hugely sleep deprived during their last appearance at ATG. The familiar sound of buzzing feedback and math riffs fills the tent and its immediate area as people dance around outside. No sooner than I get into the set, the heavens open and my plan to see a proper set this time is foiled by the halfway point as I have to dash back to camp get grab better waterproofs and end up returning just in time to catch the last couple of songs which is frustrating to say the least. I think I need to keep an eye out for a proper show at some point in the future.
Later on the main stage sees what looks to be the entire attendance of this festival all filing towards it to witness the comeback of Arcane Roots. So much so that trying to even get into the tent seems completely pointless but fortunately, the main stage is crazy loud so I’ve got no issues with sitting outside and drinking it up from a distance. The return of these has been highly anticipated and probably another example of a band that’s on the lineup that’s probably driven a lot of people to buy tickets for the sole purpose of seeing them. Each song is met with screams and noise pouring out from the crowd to welcome them back into the fold and hopefully give them enough of a clear message that they need to stick around now. Fully enjoying this set, full of loads of proggy goodness but with very catchy hooks that pleases the ear and the brain in equal measure. Welcome back lads, it’s been a while.
And finally for day 3, Primus wraps things up and are possibly the most ATG booking that this festival has ever had. All of the weird elements of prog, funk, stoner culture, and straight up weird humour is all condensed into a single band, Primus. These have been one of my major motivators for coming to ATG this year as I consider Les Claypool to be Bass god incarnate. The latest addition to their songs, “The Ol’ Grizz” goes down a storm and the crowd from the tent to outside all jump around to this phenomenally fun journey. “Winona’s Big Brown Beaver” came as a pretty big surprise early on in the set, following some of Primus’s more oddball songs (even amongst their catalogue). Admittedly it’s hard to keep proper track of what Les is saying between songs as he has a habit of speaking quite fast with his somewhat unusual accent. “Shake Hands With Beef” is another welcome big song in the set that I didn’t quite expect either but I’m getting a huge amount of joy out of this set as it errs between bigger songs and deeper cuts. It’s the right sort of set for a festival in all manners, a demonstration of their expansive catalogue condensed in a way that keeps newer and older fans entertained the whole way. Finally finishing with “Jerry Was A Racecar Driver”, suddenly I clock that 90 minutes has passed and I barely even registered it. I just hope I don’t have to wait another decade to see them again!