The festival features five stages, silent disco after the live performances have finished, a selection of bars and food vendors, and weekend camping and VIP options.[1]
2013
ArcTanGent 2022.
The 2013 edition of the festival was the first to be held. It has since returned annually, albeit now one week earlier each year.
I Like Trains
Tangled Hair
Gunning for Tamar
AK/DK
Codes in the Clouds
No Spill Blood
Adding Machines
Samoans
Shiver
The Broken Oak Duet
Bear Makes Ninja
Karhide
Waking Aida
Wicket
2015
Deafheaven headlining the Arc stage in 2015
Where the 2013–14 editions were held on the last weekend in August, the 2015 edition moved a week earlier in August where it has remained since.
The 2015 edition was the first time the PX3 stage hosted performances on all three days of the festival, with the Thursday PX3 program curated by BBC Introducing. This edition of the festival also included a Sargent House takeover, with several of their artists performing including Deafheaven, Emma Ruth Rundle, Marriages, Helms Alee and Mylets.
Cult of Luna were originally scheduled to perform on the Arc stage before Deafheaven, however they instead headlined the Yohkai stage after flight delays.
Toundra The Algorithm
Tangled Hair
Lone Wolf
Gum Takes Tooth
Flood of Red
Poly-Math
Vessels
Alright the Captain
Vasa
IEPI
Vodun
Crows an Wra
Lambhorn
Eschar
Steve Strong
2016
Pieter-Paul Devos of Raketkanon, performing at ArcTanGent 2016
The Bixler stage was relocated from the campsite to the main arena for the 2016 edition and every year since. All four stages are now situated in the main arena.
Cleft performed their final ever show at the 2016 edition of the festival. The set was recorded and the movie posthumously screened across seven UK shows in December 2018 as part of One More Tour: In Memory of Dan Wild-Beesley.
Scalping
Toska
The Guru Guru
Coldbones
Møl
VLMV
Sœur
The Big Massive Orchestra
2019
On 6 September 2018 Meshuggah was announced as the first headliner.[2]
The 2019 event featured an expanded site footprint and an additional campsite, albeit the layout remained largely unchanged. There was also the introduction of the Bar Stage, located in the centre of the site.
Friday night once again featured live sets as part of the silent disco, including The Algorithm and GosT. There were also silent disco sets from John Stanier and Effigy across the weekend.
The main stage was opened by The Beft; a Tribute to Dan Wild-Beesley of Cleft and featured guest musicians including Mike Vennart. Black Peaks set featured Jamie Lenman on vocals due to the absence of the band's singer Will Gardner. And So I Watch You From Afar performed their debut album in full for an unannounced special guest slot on the Arc stage.
Doblecapa
Voronoi
Letters From The Colony Puppy
LLNN
AMNT
Midas Fall
Sugar Horse
Kinlaw + Franco Franco
a-tota-so
Oxygen Thief
Howard James Kenny
Twin Siblings
Qarlaq
Torsten Jensen
2020–21 cancellations due to COVID-19
On 5 May 2020, ArcTanGent was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 21 May 2021, ArcTanGent was cancelled again due to the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the lack of a government insurance scheme to cover COVID-19-related cancellations of music festivals (especially due to increasing spread of Lineage B.1.617 in the UK amid its lifting of restrictions).[3]
2022
ArcTanGent returned after two years of cancellations, with the festival taking place over 16–20 August 2022. The headliners were Cult of Luna, TesseracT and Opeth. The site had a new layout, with the Elephant in the Bar Room stage significantly larger than 2019, which hosted the Wednesday night line-up, followed by a full line-up across all five stages across the weekend:[4]
Wednesday 17 August
Elephant in the Bar Room
The St Pierre Snake Invasion
Sugar Horse
Memory of Elephants
Mother Vulture
Luo
Modern Rituals
Mutant Thoughts
Olanza
The Road
My Octopus Mind
Lightning Sharks
Miet
Beige Palace
Axiom
Catbamboo
Wavey
Vogons
Stanlaey
Podcast: The Riot Act
2023
ArcTanGent 2023 was headlined by Converge, Heilung and Devin Townsend, and took place on 16-19 August 2023. Deafheaven's set was playing their 2013 album Sunbather in full. The Ocean also performed a surprise Silent Disco set. The full line-up was:
Wednesday 16 August
Bixler
Straight Girl
Scalping Conjurer
DVNE Pupil Slicer
Hippotraktor
Skin Failure
Bicurious
Five the Heirophant
Ogives Big Band
Ohhms
Abraham (band)|Abraham
Aiming for Enrike
The K.
Cobra the Impaler
Bear (band)|Bear
Land Wars
Naut
Tokky Horror Every Hell
Playgrounded
Fakeyourdeath
Thought Forms
Cultdreams
Lawi Anyway
Podcast: Damnation Vs.
Podcast: Mark and Me
2024
On November 6, 2023, ArcTanGent announced the first wave of bands for the 2024 festival, their 10th birthday bash.[5] The festival is scheduled to take place 14-17 August 2024, featuring a final farewell show from Three Trapped Tigers and a Wednesday headlining set voted for by fans from And So I Watch You From Afar. On November 16, ATG announced Meshuggah as the Friday night headliner, alongside Animals as Leaders.[6] On January 25, ATG announced "pretty much ALL the bands for ATG #10", adding another 50+ bands to the lineup including the Thursday headliner Explosions in the Sky and Saturday's headliner Mogwai.
Wednesday 14 August
Stage TBA
And So I Watch You From Afar Bossk
LLNN
Curse These Metal Hands
Psychonaut
Cobra the Impaler
Din of Celestial Birds
Hidden Mothers
Host Body
During 2013–2014, the festival was shortlisted for several awards including, Best New Festival, Best Grassroots Festival and Best Small Festival at the UK Festival Awards as well as Best Independent Music Festival at the AIM Awards.[7]
In 2013, the festival won the award for Best Toilets at the UK Festival Awards. In 2016, the festival was shortlisted for Best Headline Performance of the Year for American Football and Line Up of the Year at the UK Festival Awards. In 2018, the festival won the award for Best Small Festival at the UK Festival Awards.[8]
Annual warm-up
The festival has hosted an official annual warm-up party each year in Bristol, England in collaboration with promoters Effigy, ForFans ofBands and ArtScare. The event takes place in May each year and has featured mainstays and favourites of the festival including Gallops, The Physics House Band, Cleft, Talons, Toska, Alpha Male Tea Party, Memory of Elephants, Chiyoda Ku, Sœur and Jo Quail [9]
