Memories and notes
ArcTanGent gave Cardiacs just over an hour on the Yohkai Stage, so there was no room for one of the enormous L.S.D. shows they had played earlier in the year. They came straight out with Ditzy Scene, squeezed eleven songs into 65 minutes and finished with Everso Closely Guarded Line, Dirty Boy and Big Ship. Not a bad way to end a festival set.
Big Ship seems to have done what Big Ship does. Pondies came away calling it spiritual, and people who had barely heard Cardiacs before the festival were suddenly describing the band as spectacular, completely mad and one of the discoveries of their weekend.
Kavus wrote afterwards that ArcTanGent felt like a sweet and fitting close to the chapter that had brought him back to Cardiacs. It read like the end of this particular adventure rather than a definite goodbye — he was careful not to say what might happen next.
It was also the last ArcTanGent at Fernhill Farm, the festival's home in Compton Martin since the beginning.
Line-up: Jim Smith (bass), Mike Vennart (guitar/vocals), Kavus Torabi (guitar/vocals), Bob Leith (drums), Rhodri Marsden (keyboards), Craig Fortnam (percussion), Chloe Herington (saxophone), Sharron Saddington (vocals).
Concert details
- Venue
- ArcTanGent Festival
- City
- Compton Martin
- Country
- UK
- Date
- Wednesday, 19 August 2026
- Status
- Played
Setlist
- Ditzy Scene
- The Duck and Roger the Horse
- Woodeneye
- Two Bites of Cherry
- Volob
- Fiery Gun Hand
- Men in Bed
- Ideal
- Everso Closely Guarded Line
- Dirty Boy
- Big Ship
Concert location
Credits & acknowledgements
Sources, preservation and archive provenance.
Setlist and show times taken from setlist.fm. The festival timetable was checked against FestMates, and the final Fernhill Farm detail comes from the Echoes and Dust festival preview.
The audience memories come from the post-show conversations in r/Cardiacs and r/ArcTanGent. Kavus Torabi's reflections were preserved in this r/Cardiacs post.