ArcTanGent 2023

It's another bullet point list. No point me typing this up again. I went in a camper this year, like a bougie jerk, and I am now spoiled. I will not camp as long as I have the choice - the whole weekend was so much better this year. In general, my mood has been better, too, which is nice. There were so many friendly people around this year, and I chatted with lots of nice strangers; in stark contrast with last year where I read a whole book.

This year, as I mentioned, I took my R5 and 70-200mm f2.8 because I've been enjoying using it, and wanting to improve. In honesty, I am pretty astonished with the results I got. I'm also pretty surprised that I was allowed to use this setup, and that it didn't get absolutely smashed during The Callous Daoboys' set. Life's full of surprises.

I liked the format of heavily editing down my photos for a blog post, but linking off to another post with more images, so I'm going to do that here too. If you want, you can see all of them, or you can just look at these, or you can close the tab and choose a life where you don't do what I suggest. Can't say I blame you. I spent too long today editing 3,600 photos down to 114, and then again down to 20 for this post and the 'gram (need them likes).

For those paying attention closely, Belgium is kicking off lately. I've been skirting around Belgian music since I was introduced to Raketkanon around 2016 maybe? And I've been increasingly interested in the quality of music coming out of there. There was so much great Belgian music this year.

I'm really sorry but this list reads like it was written by a teenage version of Alan Partridge who just discovered the emoji keyboard on his phone but I will not apologise because that concept makes me smile.

wed

• nice drive. van very comfy. it’s super relaxing not being able to go over 50mph
• super hot and sunny
• someone in camper parking using a hookup to charge their Tesla
• why do I always give myself a stress headache
• forgot my RG351
• five the hierophant 👍 cool, plays with a bow, brass
• BRADY!
• bicurious - fun, dancy. I normally don't like either of those things
• 80mm Plugs is in the moshpit 😮
• skin failure 👎 not into it. In a world that already has Mastodon, there's no reason for me to listen to this
• hippotraktor 👍🇧🇪
• pupil slicer ❤️
• dvne 😮❤️ never heard these guys before, but a friendly stranger at the barrier was very excited and he was right to be. I liked this a lot
• conjurer ❤️
• skittles
• prawn cocktail pringles
• pizza
• scalping 👍 cool visuals

thu

• good sleep. Nice temperature
• watched Inside No.9 homeless guy episode. Mistake
• noizze podcast - who’d have thought that a music podcast would just be a load of people listing bands, festivals and shows. I do like Service Station or Cheese though. I got them all right 😏
• chalk hands ❤️
• sammy and justine
• burial clouds 👍
• chinese football 👎 I'm over this clean tappy mathrock
• attan 👍 I love what they do but it was too early for this
• malteasers guy eating a big bag of malteasers at the barrier
• wallowing 😮❤️ this was cool and I appreciate the effort that goes into the performance. I know a lot of people think this sort of thing is gimmicky and played out but I like some effort in a live performance
• nice German neighbours. I always seem to get nice German neighbours
• cave in ❤️ I think I still prefer Mutoid Man but this was a good set
• esb ❤️
• russian circles 😮❤️🥵 unbelievable. Again. I dread to think how much effort goes into this performance. And don't tell me they play to a click track; I won't listen
• falafel
• yourcodenameis:milo 🤷‍♂️ I didn't like this in early 2000s, and I don't like it now
• ramkot 👍
• straight girl 👍
• sugar horse ❤️ these guys get better and better, and I don't regret for a moment skipping Converge to see them

fri

• Reformatting the clashfinder to something more usable because I am the worst. XLSX on your phone at a festival 🤮
• It’s going to rain today but it seems less likely than it did yesterday
• Grabbed some photos off my camera. The only time Wi-Fi direct connection has worked reliably and it’s in a field. Of course. Probably the lack of other networks for my phone to get distracted by
• hidden mothers 👍
• curse these metal hands ❤️ when you explain what this is to people, it's impossible to make it sound good; but it is good very good yes
• joliette ❤️
• ‘68 🎉❤️ absolutely unreal. Why does this work so well?
• The St Pierre Snake Invasion ❤️ I have a bone to pick with this. They pronounce their own name wrong and it annoys me. It should be "san pierre" not "saynt pierre" (i.e. the French pronunciation of Saint; not the English). Can someone please explain to me why they do this so that I can stop being annoyed by it
• Dawn Ray’d 👍
• PETBRICK ❤️
• the ocean 😮❤️ I haven't seen these guys since 2010 and I think they've had a bit of a lineup change but they were awesome. Their sound has changed a bit but I've liked everything they've done with it. The singer asked if I was having a good time and I was so confused by the question I thought he was going to get mad at me for hesitating. Fortunately I was nodding to the beat anyway.
• PIIIIZZZAAAAA
• death goals ❤️ but oh my god so loud. The queer version of things is almost always the better version, and I will argue with you over email on this

sat

• camera battery drains faster when you forget to switch wifi off 🙄
• better uptake on Instagram stories today. I knew posting whilst I was here would work better
• naut 👎 "drum machine metal" was either going to be amazing or awful
• copse 👎👎 wow my expectations were high for this and I was very disappointed. I don't think I could say anything positive about this, except that it did eventually end
• psychonaut ❤️ belgium, man
• People have gone feral and I really admire it. Eating pizza at 11am. Drinking constantly. So much weed. It’s funny to imagine people going back to their jobs on Monday
• briqueville 👍 another day I’d have loved this but tired
• couple wearing a tandem poncho [I still can't decide if I hate this]
• bear ❤️ (belgium!)
• idea: usb power cable with timer
• charlie thompson! what
• VOLA 😮😍❤️🥵 if I could've had one wish for this festival, it would've been for VOLA to play These Black Claws but I was sure they wouldn't because you can't do it without SHAHMEN and they're not going to bring him over just for one song. I now have a perfect argument for people who hate backing tracks because it means I got to see These Black Claws live and I never thought that'd happen but I have wanted it to ever since I first heard that song. When the riff dropped at the end I thought I was going to snap my neck or knock myself out on the barrier
• domkraft 👍
• callous daoboys ❤️ was a bit disappointed with their set - not a lot of old stuff which is what I really wanted to hear live. They did play Fake Dinosaur Bones though, which is my favourite. Also; mark in your calendars the first time I've ever felt genuine fear at a show. I got so many people's sweat on me
• "show us how free your healthcare is", and "think of the highest number you can count to - mine's 5" are the best mosh calls I've ever heard
  
• the fall of troy 😍😮❤️ potentially one of my favourite live sets of music I've ever seen. And yes I do mean even better than Daughters.
• loathe ❤️
• I forgot to eat. Cobham sandwich!
• fine drive home but tailgating a campervan on narrow country roads with nowhere to pull in. What do we think is going to happen here? Even if there was somewhere to pull in I wouldn’t. Felt pretty smug that the two kids in the car had a good gawk then quickly looked away when they saw my face. Still got it

In case you like them so much that you want to see them all now.