Taking place in Hackney, London on the 24th & 25th May 2025, ‘Portals’ is a one-of-a-kind festival where no music is too experimental, too eclectic, or too idiosyncratic.

A weekend full of genres including post-rock, prog-rock, math-rock, psych, shoegaze, metal and everything in between… it really is a festival full of diversity and bravery. Check out the official aftermovie from last years event to get a true feel of the festival.

The event will be hosted by EartH in Hackney, the venue holds three stages full of colour and atmosphere. As described in a blog post by echoesanddust.com: “The 1,200 capacity Hall at the bottom; the seated 680 capacity theatre, in all its shabby-chic art deco glory; and the 300 capacity Bar in-between.

“So immerse yourself in the Hall’s powerful sound system, hang out on the roof terrace, recline on the tiered wooden decks of the Theatre, and grab a beer and t-shirt from the Bar.”

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The line-up for this year follows on from every previous edition, promising a weekend full of exciting, eclectic and experimental music. 

American indie rock band, Foxing, will headline the Saturday with a 2025 London exclusive performance. They will be joined on the opening day by Kalanda, Brontide, Long Distance Calling and many more.

Post-rock band Foxing released their magnum opus in 2015, ‘Dealer‘. The album went on to be ranked at number 2 on AbsolutePunks top albums of 2015. They’ll be sure to bring their mixture of emo, indie-rock, and post-rock to London this summer.

Sunday will be co-headlined by the aforementioned Northern Irish group, And So I Watch You From Afar, as well as Brooklyn born musician Julie Christmas, who will be giving a UK exclusive performance to the festival-goers.

Belfast-based And So I Watch You From Afar are an instrumental rock band known for blending post-rock, progressive-rock, math-rock and more. To date they have released seven albums with their last EP, ‘Megafauna’, coming out last August. The four-piece band will be sure to bring their Irish energy to Hackney in May.

Bands such as Waldo’s Gift, mouse on the keys, TOTORRO and EXXASENS will also be performing on the Sunday in Hackney.

If for some reason you’re still undecided about heading to Hackney towards the end of May, head over to their website here where you’ll be able to find more details including the full line-up, ticket information and details on how to get to and access the venue.

It is worth noting that the majority of the festival is wheelchair accessible, with the EartH Hall and Theatre having lifts and stairclimbers, although the EartH Bar does not have any stair-free access.

Head over to www.portalsrock.com/festival right now to find out more information, where there is also the chance to sign up as a volunteer for the weekend!

As stated on the festivals Instagram: “If you’re coming, now is the time to buy a ticket!!”

You can head to this website to buy tickets to the unique event, https://link.dice.fm/PortalsFest2025. Tickets are available now with day tickets costing £60 and access to the full weekend costing only £99, although you can choose to pay £150 for the full weekend whilst also offering a donation to Portals to help them continue running these great events.

Meshuggah will be supported by artists including Animals As Leaders, And So I Watch You From Afar and Three Trapped Tigers. Festival-goers will also be treated to performances by Textures, Curse These Metal Hands, Plini and many, many more.

The festival celebrates all forms of rock music, becoming labelled as “three days of expansive exhilaration” and “a haven of progressive music across the spectrum of all things heavy.”

2024 will mark the festival’s 10th anniversary, with a special 30% off deal on tickets available until the end of 2023, or until tickets sell out. To celebrate the anniversary, festival organisers took to social media to christen the show as “Arc10Gent.”

// Were you waiting for the icing on the cake after last week’s first 2024 announcement? Arc10Gent comes but once in a lifetime so we’re pulling out all the stops…

Headlining the Friday of #ATG10 is the mighty @meshuggah, alongside the amazing @AnimalsAsLeader! pic.twitter.com/WvhXShSMzf

— ArcTanGent (@ATGFestival) November 16, 2023

Organisers also put together a YouTube playlist for metal fans to enjoy ahead of time, “featuring the greatest hits of all the newly announced bands” for the 2024 lineup.  

// Did you catch the big news yesterday? Happy goddamn birthday to us. Follow our YouTube playlist featuring the greatest hits of all of the newly announced bands for #ATG10. https://t.co/QSOFSO0o9x pic.twitter.com/woq14n8S2C — ArcTanGent (@ATGFestival) November 17, 2023

ArcTanGent organiser James Scarlett shared more on the plans for the 10th anniversary of the festival, saying, “To celebrate our 10th birthday we wanted to invite back some of our all-time favourite bands from over the years. We drew up a list of all the bands that have ever played ATG that we’d like back and, as it was probably the best thing I’ve ever seen at ATG, naturally Meshuggah was top of that list.”

Scarlett continued, “Animals As Leaders last played way back in 2016 so they weren’t far behind! We’re stoked to be welcoming both bands back in even bigger fashion than last time, to celebrate 10 years of ATG.”

ArcTanGent will be the only UK show that Meshuggah will play in 2024, as well as being the only European show for Animals As Leaders.

// Fans take note – this is a UK exclusive. It will be the only UK show Meshuggah play in 2024, and the only European show of 2024 for Animals As Leaders.

— ArcTanGent (@ATGFestival) November 16, 2023

More acts are set to be announced as excitement for the ArcTanGent 10th anniversary builds. Tickets are available to purchase here.