Words: Kate Allvey and Rob Dand  //  Photos: Penny Bennett and Paul Lyme

Press Club

Melbourne’s Press Club are one of a handful of Australian bands at Trees this weekend, and their breezy indie-punk has an undercurrent of warmth that makes them perfect main stage material. They’re arriving at Upcote Farm at the tail end of a mammoth European run in support of album four, ‘To All The Ones That I Love’, but this is a classic festival set, drawing from all corners of their back catalogue over just seven songs. The new record’s title track translates particularly well, and a glorious few minutes of cloud cover during jubilant set closer ‘Suburbia’ managing to inspire a lung-busting singalong from pockets of the crowd. Frontwoman Natalie Foster leaps with enviable vitality across the stage monitors and down toward the barrier, a captivating presence at the spearhead of a band who have no doubt just won over a host of new fans, thousands of miles from home. [Rob Dand]

Blackgold 

Taking Slipknot’s lead, Blackgold’s masked rap-metal shakes the main stage awake. ‘One Chance’ channels Limp Bizkit with a more serious streak, acknowledging their nu metal lineage with an assertive update. The demand a lot from their fans but they give a lot back through spot on lyrics and feral bass that could tunnel through the hillside. Dropping in hip hop megamixes, they get those determined to brave the sun bouncing furiously. [Kate Allvey]

Hail the Sun

Hail the Sun are good friends with tonight’s co-headliners Coheed and Cambria, and you can hear it in their sound too. At times, the Californian quintet’s technical post-hardcore sound is so post it’s almost pre-something else, pairing notes of Circa Survive and At the Drive-In with their pals’ penchant for the theatrical. Vocalist and occasional drummer Donovan Melero operates primarily in the higher register, and he has some great mic-throwing moves that would give tonight’s other co-headliners Taking Back Sunday a run for their money, but his performance feels primal rather than choreographed. Their energetic set leans most heavily on latest full length, 2023’s ‘Divine Inner Tension’, but there’s also a partial cover of Tears for Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ and an airing for new single ‘The Drooling Class’. Six albums into their career, it’s something of a surprise that Hail the Sun aren’t held in higher regard in the UK, but this memorable set in front of a curious (if not rapturous) Axiom crowd won’t have done their stock any harm at all. [Rob Dand]

Coilguns

Within the space of two songs, Coilguns frontman Louis Jucker has broken his microphone whilst on a foray into the crowd. His equipment is replaced, but the band also grapple with a temperamental guitar cable throughout the set. Jucker displays all the hallmarks of an eccentric and passionate character, sometimes appearing agitated by the delays, but he is always quick to smooth things over with the crew after each interruption. He repeatedly expresses his gratitude to the crowd simply for turning up, giving the mic over to the front row on more than one occasion to fill time, and unlike most other bands appearing in the Cave this weekend, demands very little from them in return.

The set itself feels gleefully loose; not quite erupting into full chaos, but entertainingly dynamic. Songs from last year’s excellent full-length ‘Odd Love’ dominate, and Jucker is keen to point out the meaning of the album’s title. He speaks about the importance of embracing our differences, and hammers the point home by warmly embracing as many people in the crowd as time will allow, before himself instigating the moshpit that accompanies their final song. All in a day’s work. [Rob Dand]

Frank Turner

Show number 3054 sees the spirit of 2000 Trees distilled into a worshipful Forest stage. Frank Turner’s been a staple of the Trees experience since its inception, but to hear his seminal ‘Live Ire and Song’ in its entirety, solo and acoustic, is something beyond special for Turner’s many fans. The power invested in every chord of ‘Better Man’ smoulders, and the goosebumps raising on our sunburnt shoulders during the title track feel more than real as we punch the air, each lyric a roared psalm. Re-presenting this album is a sublime, and one that means a huge amount to the FTHC faithful. We’ve been on a long journey with Turner and we’re proud to be here with him at his adopted home. [Kate Allvey]

Trashboat

Over on the main stage, Trashboat are keeping it heavy and current, switching between charismatic chorus and empassioned screams through ‘Be Someone’. Their new album is on their minds, and we’re delighted to hear Tobi Duncan’s “personal favourite” track, ‘Filthy Wretches’, in all its blazing ferocity. Paying tribute to the crowd sticking it out in the heat, ‘Shape’ clatters energetically, rewarding our patience. Trashboat strike such a great balance between grunge and heaviness, never succumbing to either, and making the main stage all their own. Self acceptance is their mantra and they preach it through gloriously original noise. [Kate Allvey]

La Dispute

Opening with spoken word poetry is a bold move, but La Dispute’s desolate post-hardcore charm resonates perfectly with the idyllic Forest Stage. Their descent into howls and delicacy on guitar sparks a gentle clap through the trees, ‘Environmental Catastrophe Film’ taut and absorbing. From among the many acts claiming a ‘hardcore’ root to their sound, La Dispute stand out as the most sensitive and intelligent, their songs flowing freely across planes of emotion, enigmatic and veiled behind murmured sentiment. [Kate Allvey]

Coheed and Cambria

With an intro as dreamy as the hillside view, Coheed and Cambria glide onstage. The keenest fans caught their mini-Forest stage set this morning, but the biggest stages are where we expect to see Coheed’s space operas presented in their fullest. ‘Goodbye Sunshine’, their recent single, is unveiled in all its power rock glory, sparkling as brightly as the iconic glittery Trees sign at the top of the hill, extended out for full vocal appreciation. It’s all about the classic rock guitar for Coheed tonight, and there’s something oddly inspiring about how their complex, prog-lite sound can unite everyone from girls in Eras Tour shirts and grandparents in bucket hats alike to rapt appreciation of Claudio Sanchez’s vision. The focus on ‘The Father of Make Believe’ cements their latest album as the last necessary brick in becoming the stadium rockers they were born to be. [Kate Allvey]

Million Dead

2025 has truly been the summer of reunions – but while Oasis and Black Sabbath made most of the headlines, tonight’s show heralds the unlikely return of Million Dead, catching the attention of post-hardcore fans in the Gloucestershire area at the very least. They didn’t so much break up as self-destruct, with the band going their separate ways back in September 2005. Now, twenty years later, and owing in no small part to frontman Frank Turner’s cult-like appeal in the strange bubble of this festival, they’re back for one more hurrah. Now a five-piece, featuring both Cameron Dean and Tom Fowler on guitar (who have never actually been in the band at the same time), they emerge to feverish applause, before launching into a slightly abridged version of ‘The Rise and Fall’.

With only two full length records to their name, Turner wryly acknowledges that the setlist is likely to feature most of the songs that people want to hear, and indeed the hour-long communion includes all the expected singles as well as some B-Sides, all now with fleshed-out instrumentation courtesy of the twin-guitar attack. It’s also great to hear the band confident enough in each other’s company to enjoy some self-deprecating humour. Turner makes a few tongue-in-cheek comments about how hard it is to replicate the vocal range he had in his youth after two decades, but aside from asking the crowd to step in to replace drummer Ben Dawson’s blood-curdling scream on ‘Pornography for Cowards’, everything is delivered faithfully. The chorus of ‘Living the Dream’ soars up into the roof of the tent and the closing salvo of ‘I Am the Party’ and ‘Smiling at Strangers on Trains’ predictably has fists in the air and all hell breaking loose down in the front.

After breaking up before they could ever grace 2000 Trees the first time around, they finally made this stage their rubicon. Welcome back, Million Dead. We missed you. I think you missed us, too. [Rob Dand]

Heriot

As the torturous tyranny of the sun subsides, it’s clear that despite today’s 33-degree heat, the real Hell on Earth scenario is now unfolding inside the Cave. Bathing the tent in a sinister red and orange glow, simulating the unholy ambience of last year’s debut full-length ‘Devoured by the Mouth of Hell’, Heriot cultivate an oppressive atmosphere of their own making – and they are in no mood for winding things down. Vocalist and guitarist Debbie Gough is in a particularly demanding mood. She shreds like a demon and continuously calls for more pit action like a woman possessed by another woman who is also possessed. Their twelve song set is practically relentless in its intensity, with only the brooding ‘Opaline’ offering much in the way of relative relief. As they pull down the curtain with a riot-inducing rendition of ‘At the Fortress Gate’, just three years after opening this same stage, the appreciation in the crowd is a reminder of how confident and sharp the band have become in such a short space of time. A triumphant and commanding headline slot. [Rob Dand]

Taking Back Sunday

Exhausted children are wheeled in wagons to the main arena as we stream in for the day’s dessert, chanting along as ‘A Decade Under The Influence’ punctuates our footsteps. Adam Lazzara flings his mic, posing elegantly, as ‘What’s It Feel Like To Be A Ghost?’ grips us, the post punk whirls of ’S’Old’ spiralling into the darkening sky like a promise. Their “love song, if you will”, ‘The One’ soars a rough edge to Lazzara’s voice before hopeful synths devastate in the slowed instrumental. ‘My Blue Heaven’ pulls together everything we hoped from their set as it moves magnetically through crashing riffs and raw emotion

Whether they’re offering up gigantic choruses to bind us together or keeping it tender and personal on ‘Amphetamine Smiles’, Taking Back Sunday offer us a mature and memorable finish to the day, full of heart and class, dealing out everything from lighters -up moments and fists punching the air to breakdowns for dance moves and pure emotional release. There can’t be any complaints about this one-off spectacular: “We hope all your dreams come true,” Lazzara wishes before ‘MakeDamnSure’ and he just might have fulfilled that before he even finished his sentence. [Kate Allvey]

Separating it out is a tall order though. This is a very episodic record, each song a vignette designed to soundtrack a scene or moment in a wider story, much like if you were listening to a musical theatre recording. But each nugget is distinct and, fundamentally, interesting and exciting. Sanchez’s revelation mid-way through writing that his life was just as valid as the characters he creates lends an honesty to the songs which perhaps earlier releases were lacking, and each episode compressed into song form feels like it’s trying to tell us some hidden truth. Opening with the tender melancholy of ‘Yesterday’s Lost’ and its gentle honesty makes the action blaster ‘Goodbye Sunshine’, and it’s overwhelming sense of moving on, shine even brighter. 

The songs where Sanchez has cast his own life into the story are the strongest on ‘The Father Of Make Believe’, adding a personal touch that earlier albums were lacking. ‘Meri of Mercy’, his tribute to his grandparents’ relationship, takes a piano core and, with a comparatively minimal guitar crutch, creates a touching and honest portrait of a romance. Sanchez’s wife appears too through ‘Corner My Confidence’, a confession of devotion that demands candlelight and a moment of reflection. However, the most important relationship that’s examined on this very reflective album is Sanchez’s links to himself. ‘Play The Poet’ sounds vitriolic at first listen, with it’s glitching samples and dramatic shift towards something approaching hip-hop, but he’s got a revelation he needs to share and a new awareness to ignite. It’s a song for those who are ready to be himself. Even the songs which are supposed to be more third-person link back to his own self-discovery, such as ‘Searching For Tomorrow’ with it’s urgent heroism and speedway guitars. It feels like an after school special’s moral, but it rings true; sometimes the most interesting characters you can create is yourself. It seems that now Sanchez is ready to get meta, he’s at his strongest musically. 

With any swerve in a band’s established sound, there’s bound to be haters. For those into the twiddly, intergalactic side of Coheed, ‘The Father Of Make Believe’ still has enough intricacy to intrigue. The final four songs (‘The Continuum’ parts I-IV) are a mini prog opera in their own right, a story told over chapters with more than enough rock energy, space effects and vibrancy to satisfy. It feels like a reassuring pat on the shoulder to put them at the end of the record, a reminder that the original saga will carry on.

If you’ve felt a little alienated by the lore surrounding what’s fundamentally a very smart rock band, then ‘The Father Of Make Believe’ will be the album that welcomes you back into the fold. Claudio Sanchez is just as human as the rest of us, and he’s finally ready to explore that through an album that reaches beyond the expected. 

KATE ALLVEY

The big draw for some, excluding those who couldn’t make it to Download and still wanted to see their idols, was Coheed’s 2007 album ‘No World For Tomorrow’ played in its entirety as one vast cinematic masterpiece. No breaks, no crowd interaction, just the sprawling space-scape speaking for itself. Their set also answered the question once and for all as to whether you can appreciate Claudio Sanchez et al’s brand of big, brainy sound without understanding the lore of ‘Amory Wars’, the confusing and sometimes meta self-penned story that all the band’s albums are based on. The answer is: yes, absolutely you can. Some fans bought the comic books from the merch stand and were nervously flicking through them before the show, but at no point did Coheed’s set feel like it was tied to their space opera shenanigans. It was a glorious celebration of what a relatively simple band setup can achieve. 

But first, Soul Glo. They play noise hardcore fusion, baffling in its intensity. It’s Rage Against The Machine in its most literal sense, dropping between preaching politics and shrieking like a banshee in between street beats to soundtrack the downfall of society. Vocalist Pierce Jordan is a gentleman when he politely thanks the crowd, but put a mic into his hand and he’s transformed into a raging sandstorm powered by funk bass. Claudio Sanchez’s statement that racists are never welcome at his shows is channelled through Soul Glo as a challenge. Anyone in the crowd with hate in their hearts will have it blasted from them by the sheer sonic melanated power of these guys. 

‘The Reaping’ is a surprisingly solemn start from Coheed and Cambria. A hushed reverent silence falls upon the crowd before Sanchez’s voice pierces the thunderous sound effects and the crowd sing his words back to him. Then, a punch. ‘No World For Tomorrow’ proves that they really are a rock band, the electric children of Led Zeppelin, every lyric transformed into a head nodding anthem. Sanchez is jumping, prancing, his head snapping, carried away by the flow of the music he’s channelling. He’s like a conduit throughout this performance, less a creator and more allowing his vision of robots fighting soul-stealing dictators to diffuse through him. The tender electronic notes of ‘The Hound (Of Blood and Rank)’ push waves of claps, then the wail and the bass and playful pull of tension and tendons send their set into the territory of stadium rock. For some bands, their lack of acknowledgement that the audience is even there could be seen as callous, but you can almost feel the tendrils of the connection between the band and audience forming and reforming in front of your eyes. 

You do feel the episodic nature of the story they’re trying to tell in the dramatic shifts between each song. ‘Feathers’ bites and struts through a smoke machine springtime forest. It’s an affirmation of better times between the “whoas.” Exotic music rises up and piano fades before a Metallica moment in ‘Mother Superior’, creating a cold mist of memory which lurks over the lushness of the layers of bass before dissipating into waves of velvet fuzz. Sanchez proves on this song that he has a far deeper voice with much less of a whine which can bear a huge load of emotion before a guitar sledgehammer smacks it back into line. Live, ‘The Road And The Damned’ is lonely and midnight serious. Flowing like lava sludge, it’s heavy and pushing but with a delicacy and loveliness in the lace like guitar. Just when you think you’ve got a grip on the Coheed sound, they drop in a track like ‘On The Brink’ with it’s classical cello samples to remind you that yes, this is a concept album rock opera. There’s a touch of aching Clapton in Sanchez’s fingers; burning slowly and circling wryly, proving that there’s some serious pipes under that hair.

Barely a second passes after the band walk offstage before a shout rises from the crowd: ’Coheed!’ Spotlights shift like Close Encounters. There’s a ritualistic quality to the quieter, more epic songs like ‘The Embers of Fire’; they’re huge, victorious, spreading dust over all other bands. ‘Beautiful Losers’ acquires a harsher, more underground Tom Morello intro to counter the dreamy chorus and it’s during the seven song encore that a truth began to emerge…  

This is show where the music itself entirely took centre stage rather than the performers. The opulence and intricacy of the performance was not from the stage antics, or the banter. It was entirely from the aural creations sent out into the micro-universe of Kentish Town Forum and formed bonds with the rapt crowd seemingly personified and unaided. There’s something about that fact which is so damn impressive on it’s own before you even consider the technical level of what these guys are producing. 

Coheed put on the kind of show that will be talked about for a long time to come, purely based on allowing their music to be heard live rather than any special effort in presentation, and now the bar is set very, very high for all other bands in the prog metal sphere. 

KATE ALLVEY

Day one attendees were greeted at the gates by clear blue skies and gleaming sunshine – the perfect day to get things underway. Tents were set up in record time, tinnies were packed into bags, suncream was heavily applied, and it was official. ArcTanGent 2019 had officially begun.

Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard

If you wanted to start your festival experience by covering yourself in sludge, then Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard would’ve been the right band to kick things off with. Their crunchy and thick tones slowly oozed throughout the tent, fixing everyone in place for the duration of their groove-laden set. The performance was animated, yet felt ever-so-slightly awkward, sitting somewhere in between entrancing and disappointing – but those in the tent found themselves completely sucked in by the sound waves. Their music was weighty enough to bring down Goliath with riff after riff launching boulders at all his weak spots, but the vocals were like pebbles that bounced off his frame, hovering in the background of the mix and serving as an accompaniment rather than standing proudly at the forefront. Some of the biggest grooves of the whole festival, let down by muddy and unbalanced sound.

Bossk

If you were watching Bossk and you weren’t thinking “holy shit, this is slow”, then you might have been in the wrong place. Their trudging gargantuan walls of sound washed through the Arc stage like a tidal wave, every single drop of water connecting with the audience with seismic power. They picked a wide array of songs for their set to keep fans of all eras of the band happy, often referencing their earlier days, which made their long term followers erupt with approval. Bossk are incredible atmosphere creators, able to generate rich outpourings of emotive energy with ease as they charged across the stage. As strong and magnificent as the delivery was, the set felt like it never really took off, like they were building towards a grand reveal but never dropped the curtain. Overall, though, it was a stunning display of power from one of the genre’s most under-appreciated bands – it just didn’t soar quite as high as it should have.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

If the front man of the band you’re watching announces to the crowd that you’re at Monsters Of Rock Festival, they’re Twisted Sister, and Judas Priest are on next, you’d be pretty excited. However, if you’re actually at ArcTanGent and the band you’re watching isn’t Twisted Sister, the ensuing moments are probably going to be a little strange. That is somewhat of an understatement for Pigs x7, who melted hordes of minds with their Thursday afternoon Yohkai set. Sounding like the result of Electric Wizard, Down and Black Sabbath all meeting up to eat naughty brownies, their performance looked like the drugs hadn’t quite worn off yet. Front man Matt Baty didn’t stop moving the entire set, endlessly trudging from one side of the stage to the other as he reached out and charismatically yelled at his crowd. With songs slower than your Nan’s first computer and guitar tone thicker than her gravy, their set was a stoners dream, with every crushing riff plunging them deeper into the void. Half the crowd were mesmerised, the other half bewildered and confused about Twisted Sister’s new sound. Unique is an understatement.

Conjurer

Conjurer have an incredible amount of hype surrounding them at the minute, and for good reason. Not only is their most recent record ‘Mire’ an absolute powerhouse that made its way onto countless album of the year lists in 2018, but their live show is already regarded as one of the most frantic and punishing in today’s metal scene. It was odd to see such a popular band on such an early slot on the smallest stage, but the way the tent overspilled into the festival grounds was testament to their talent and popularity. They began their set with ‘Choke’, immediately taking a firm grasp on the massive crowd and pressuring them to pay attention. The show that they put on was relentless, windmilling and headbanging their way through all their biggest and best and whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Both guitarists Dan Nightingale and Brady Deeprose were flawless, executing every furious riff with precision as they thundered their pained vocals to their onlookers. A triumphant set that cemented their status as a band to watch in the coming years.

Møl

Denmark’s Møl are another band that made an impressive mark in 2018, releasing their record ‘Jord’ to critical praise across the board. Their enormous shoegaze soundscapes are draped over an underlying and unignorable darkness that, when applied to ArcTanGent festival, created an atmosphere so dense that it could’ve completely levelled the tent they were performing in. The rich black metal tones, combined with the furious aggression and vast instrumentation, are impossible to ignore, and everybody inside the Bixler tent was completely transfixed. Their frontman Kim Song commanded the stage, confidently waltzing across it in an almost theatre-like way as he drew the audience deeper and deeper into the drama unfolding around them. If Brian Eno made black metal it’d sound like this. A demonstration that was both devastating and beautiful, like a thunderstorm fighting the sunlight.

Zeal And Ardor

Chances are pretty high that you’ll never get to experience any form of voodoo rituals in your life, but watching Zeal And Ardor perform live is the closest you can get. The ritual taking place? An exorcism. Gospel vibes and old slave chants meet black metal in a ceremonial colliding of worlds, driven outward with passionate soulful vocal delivery and erratic stage presence. Every member of the band seemingly expelled their demons via their physical performance, using their movements to reflect both the calm and the chaos in the music. Their set sadly sounded a little samey in places, a lot of tones getting lost in the tent and blurring some songs into a string of similar sounding opuses. The delivery, though, was undoubtedly spectacular, shining a bright light on the incredible vocal ability of front man and founding member Manuel Gagneux and his ability to switch from angelic to demonic at a moments notice. ‘Gravediggers Chant’ was a prime example of this, quickly proving to be a crowd favourite and a highlight of their set. They were unfortunately stricken by the first technical issues of the day, experiencing some laptop issues that put a delay in the closing moments of their set, but it didn’t take anything away from the sheer uniqueness of what preceded it. One of the most unique and hypnotising bands of the day.

Polyphia

ArcTanGent acts as a home for a large number of instrumental bands to show off their musical prowess, and one of the biggest names in that category this year was Polyphia. An internet sensation and the envy of guitarists everywhere, their slick and sassy grooves will get even the greasiest of metal heads to grind their hips and pucker their lips. Their performance was nothing short of stunning, with infectious beats, sexy licks, and musicianship so locked in and impressive that it was almost unbelievable. Both guitarists Timothy Henson and Scott LePage made their mind-bending work look completely effortless, constantly scanning the audience and grinning at the sea of bopping heads in front of them as their fingers went into muscle memory mode and baffled every guitarist in attendance. Drummer Clay Aeschliman was a groove powerhouse too, thundering every hit home like he was the Khal Drogo of percussion. Bassist Clay Gober was the star of the show though, using every drop of adrenaline in his body to get the crowd into party mode. He was one of the best front men of the weekend, and Polyphia don’t have an actual front man. It didn’t matter if you were a huge fan or a total newbie – their performance and stage presence could’ve conquered any audience. The sexiest set of the weekend by a country mile.

Pijn

The PX3 stage hosted so many unique bands over the course of the weekend, but few were quite as mesmerising as Pijn. They’re half prog rock, half instrumental; consisting of a guitarist, a bassist, a drummer, and a trio of strings. The end result was rich, haunting, and expansive, with a powerful sense of instability and unnerve seeping through every orifice. Their stage presence wasn’t mind-blowing – the bassist was the only member that really thrashed about and expelled any adrenaline – but the lavish textures of the music did all the talking and over-shadowed the performance entirely. Every song was dark and brooding, continuously evolving and culminating in a rush that was like audio pins and needles, occasionally sludgy enough to crease your face in all the right places and spine-tingly beautiful in others. Not the most entertaining band to watch, but completely fascinating to listen to.

Carpenter Brut

Everyone loves 80s music, right? Gigantic power ballads driven by larger than life synths, fist-pumping riffs, and addictive vocal melodies that ingrain themselves directly into your brain. Well, for everyone in attendance at ArcTanGent, Carpenter Brut provided an 80s thrash metal disco for a field full of sweaty greebos. As soon as you stepped into the Arc tent it was like stepping into a time machine, with funky synths overwhelming your senses and an old school video display really transporting you back a few decades. If you closed your eyes you could vividly picture a neon landscape, filled with leather-clad rockers in aviators all air guitaring along to the music. Everywhere you looked in the tent were big smiles and bopping heads, every single person falling victim to the party atmosphere. If things weren’t already fun enough, the set closing addition of a cover of classic Flashdance hit ‘Maniac’ took things to another level entirely, producing deafening sing alongs and masses of dad dancing in a tidal wave of joy. Pure, unadulterated entertainment.

Daughters

In a number of social media posts running up to the festival, ArcTanGent organisers stated that the latest Daughters record ‘You Won’t Get What You Want’ was one of their favourites of 2018. From the number of people in attendance to their headlining performance on the Yohkai stage, it would appear that the festival organisers weren’t alone in that. The tent was well and truly full to the brim, and when the band took the stage to a wall of noise it was echoed right back to them in cheer and applause. The punk aesthetic hit a high for the day, with the combination of a restless performance and loud, punchy tones laying waste to the crowd. It was only really the front half of the crowd though, it seemed – the further back in the tent you were, the less intelligible the noise was, the infectious vibes getting lost along with the clarity. The performance itself was incredible, with none of the band ever really stopping for the entirety of the set. The punch just didn’t carry enough weight to reach the entire tent. An energetic and visceral performance let down by muddy sound.

Coheed and Cambria

The Thursday night of the festival ended with Coheed and Cambria’s first ever headline set – a feat that the prog-rock giants deserved to achieve many moons ago. This was a tremendous occasion for a phenomenal band, armed with one of the strongest discographies modern prog has to offer and musicianship in troves. Sadly the turn out for their set on the Arc stage was a little on the small side, the bulk of the crowd filling the middle section of the tent and leaving the outskirts relatively unoccupied. This didn’t phase the band in the slightest though, using their position at the festival to take attendees on a journey through their history.

Accompanied by colourful and occasionally trippy visuals, the performance that Claudio Sanchez and crew put on oozed with class – an animated and expertly performed collection of prog-rock masterpieces. The more recent stops on the journey failed to ignite the crowd, with only the die-hard Coheed fans bursting into song. The big hits and golden oldies, though, didn’t just ignite the audience – they completely engulfed it in a blaze of glory. Enormous renditions of classics like ‘No World For Tomorrow’, ‘Gravemakers and Gunslingers’, and the infectious ‘The Suffering’ all pulsed through the crowd, everyone jumping in perfect synchronisation and shaking the ground with their collective appreciation.

The end of their set provided the moment of the day, with the highly anticipated performance of ‘Welcome Home’ producing not only the loudest singalong of the day but also the most movement. As soon as the opening notes swept through the tent there was an excitement explosion that was felt throughout the entire festival grounds, seemingly drawing people to the main stage to witness the grand finale of their set. They may have had a slow start to their day-closing show, but they ended it in style and showed those in attendance exactly why they were deserving of a headline slot. An intense, sophisticated and awe-inspiring end to a solid first day of ArcTanGent.

DAVE STEWART

Stream the track below:

Coheed and Cambria kick off a UK tour this October. Dates are as follows:

OCT
9 CARDIFF Y-Plas
10 GLASGOW ABC
12 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy
13 MANCHESTER Academy
14 BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy
16 LONDON Roundhouse

I haven’t been this impressed with a new single since ‘Welcome Home’, and in fact, this riff-led, epic, prog rock procession wouldn’t feel out of place on the band’s superb third album ‘Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV’. The groove of the central riff, to the way the vocal melodies drive the song onwards, mirrors the style of their older material, but with a layer of sophistication shaped by the band’s experimentation on more recent material.

Coheed and Cambria have been perfecting their craft for twenty years now and ‘The Dark Sentencer’ is the perfect way to celebrate the sound that’s gifted them their lengthy career, while still generating excitement for what they’ve got left to show.

Check out ‘The Dark Sentencer’ now: