ArcTanGent 2026 Review: Farewell Fernhill Farm
Four days of glorious alternative music and a number of farewells as
ArcTanGent is hosted at Fernhill Farm for the last time.
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Photos by Charlotte Bates @turbulent_music
Across four days at Fernhill Farm, the UK’s most adventurous heavy festival again proved that its greatest strength is not simply its booking of big names but also the way those names sit beside the obscure, the experimental, the devastatingly heavy and the utterly unique without ever making the weekend feel disjointed.
ArcTanGent can throw you from heavy folk into math rock, to grindcore, to crushing post-metal. At least once during the festival, you'll find yourself hearing something you've never experienced before, no matter how diverse your music taste is.
After years of hosting one of the country's most singular festivals, Fernhill Farm bid farewell to ArcTanGent for the final time. The festival will continue, but this was the last chance to experience it here: four days among the fields, the tents, and the familiar network of stages that have become home to a fiercely loyal community of music fans before they make a new home in The Cotswolds.
A festival curated for the curious
ArcTanGent's scale remains one of its greatest assets. Even with more than 100 artists spread across the four days, the site never feels overwhelmingly vast, and the proximity of the stages makes it possible to see an extraordinary amount of music without spending half the day trekking around.
Heavy music remains ArcTanGent's core; however, shoegaze, post-punk, jazz, electronic, folk, and art-rock all find space here.
Situated towards the end of the main festival season, ArcTangent is the perfect breather for those who have attended the larger festivals throughout the year. The vibe is to bring a chair, your own beer, and actively immerse yourself in the music. Of course, the tents are packed, and there are some mosh pits going, but this festival feels much more laid-back, where LISTENING is the main point.
Thursday's rain briefly threatened to turn the opening into a washed-out muddy farewell, but the weather relented, and the festival soon settled into its familiar rhythm.
Farewell, Fernhill Farm
ArcTanGent is moving, not disappearing. The same people, the same spirit and the same commitment to booking the strange and brilliant are expected to continue into the festival's next chapter. If anything, the weekend feels like a reminder of why the festival has survived and grown beyond the current site size while so many events have struggled to maintain a clear identity. Whilst the music scene as a whole is struggling with many issues of repetition, pushing bands purely for listen numbers rather than pure talent and becoming focused solely on the money made, ArcTanGent shows there is still a huge audience for the raw, the unpolished and the unique, and that demand is growing.
Accessibility at 2000trees '26:
Fernhill Farm is a small site with everything close by; there are no long stretches to walk from the car park or the arena to the campsite, and the ground is pretty flat throughout. It's great for those who may struggle with distance; however, as it is just a farmer's field, the rain made it very muddy, which can be challenging for wheelchair users or others with mobility aids. That said, everyone on site is friendly enough to lend a hand to anyone who needs it! This aspect, however, will change with the new site, as this has yet to be reviewed.
The facilities were kept as clean as possible, and other people respected these, even when there were long lines for the regular toilets, which meant we never saw a queue for accesiable toilets.
The medical tent had pretty much anything you could need, and people were walking around the site (spot the badger!)
The viewing platforms were well located and of a good size, never seeming to be at full capacity.
WHO WE LOVED – A BREAKDOWN OF OUR HIGHLIGHTS
A.A. Williams
Closing the Bixler stage, A.A. Williams provided one of ArcTanGent 2026's most quietly devastating performances. Metal with a softer gothic ambience hangs in the air with each song; the music is dark yet haughtingly beautiful.
Williams has always understood the value of restraint; her songs move slowly and deliberately, allowing the smallest moments to carry enormous emotional weight. Fragile passages are given room to breathe before the music swells into something darker and more imposing, the tension between vulnerability and power becoming the set's defining feature..
Her voice remains the focal point throughout: haunting without slipping into theatricality, emotionally exposed and raw. Around it, the arrangements grow and collapse, creating a sense of drama.
Overhead, The Albatross
Overhead, the Albatross were a real standout at ArcTanGent 2026. Their set had that perfect post-rock mix of quiet yet atmospheric moments and huge, soaring crescendos, which tied together the many sounds of the festival into a standout sound. The set felt completely immersive, with the kind of sound that pulls you in and makes you forget everything else going on around you. The band have great chemistry on stage, making them an enjoyable act to watch even during slower songs.
Chelsea Wolfe
After a day packed with bands determined to hit as hard as possible, Wolfe's set provides a different kind of intensity, with moodiness and velvety smooth vocals. Wolfe's ability to hold the gaze of the audience adds to her intensity on stage, like a gothic princess that's cast a spell over them for their undying attention.
The crowd went wild over 'The Dark," "Cold," and "Death Is Not The End", tracks featured on the newly released album, Fans got to enjoy more of Wolfe 30 minutes later as her new album The Dark played in full at the silent disco.
Maruja
Maruja deliver one of the most urgent sets of the festival; the Manchester band have always thrived on tension, but in a live environment their music feels even more volatile. Songs twist through post-punk aggression, jazz improvisation and moments of near-chaotic release, with the band appearing to build and destroy their own momentum in real time.
There is a physicality to their performance that is impossible to ignore - the pit responds instinctively, but Maruja are never simply a mosh-friendly band. Just when the set seems ready to detonate, they pull somewhere else entirely.
That unpredictability is exactly what makes them feel so at home at ArcTanGent.
Napalm Death
Napalm Death arrive with no interest in subtlety; frontman Barney Greenway promises the audience a short burst of “horrible noise”, and proceeds to deliver exactly that. The Yohkai tent was packed and spilling out as their set spanned the band's enormous history, touching on material from their earliest records and racing through the kind of brutally efficient songs that made them legends in the first place.
Nearly four decades after Scum, Napalm Death remain one of the most convincing arguments for the power of a band simply doing what they do best and that people still like it hard, heavy and without apology.
Jo Quail
Jo Quail, joined by the Crossbones ensemble, provided one of the weekend's genuine highlights. Her music occupies a fascinating space between classical composition, post-rock and metal, and the expanded ensemble brings an enormous sense of scale to the performance.
It is a set built on patience, tension and atmosphere rather than volume, but it lands with as much force as anything else on the bill. In a weekend filled with extraordinary musicianship, Quail's performance stands out because it asks the audience to stop, listen and appreciate something different.
Agent Fresco
Agent Fresco delivered a powerful and hugely enjoyable set at ArcTanGent 2026. Their mix of post/art rock, soaring vocals, and emotional intensity worked brilliantly with their intense stage presence, with the quieter moments giving way to some genuinely huge climaxes. Arnór Dan Aranson’s vocals were a particular highlight, cutting through the dense instrumentation while still bringing heavy emotion. The band sounded tight, energetic and completely in control, making this one of the standout sets of the weekend.
MØL
MØL brought a seriously intense, dark, loud and thoroughly captivating performance. Their blend of black metal aggression and huge, atmospheric shoegaze passages sounded massive on the festival stage, with crushing guitars balanced by moments of genuine beauty. The set had a relentless energy that made it impossible not to get swept up, and the contrast between the heaviness and the melody worked brilliantly live.
