Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Field Report: Field Day

OK lets get it out the way..the queues for booze and toilets were bad, really bad...but fucking hell they always are at festivals! at least these toilets arent coated in shit like Glastonbury. Relax everyone! Field Day was AWESOME!

Billed as Londons Pysch day out, i was instantly there...however long shaggy beards and homemade shoes were outnumbered by crystal castles and ed banger tees...but when Justice is on the lineup, you know the score already. The only pysch garage of that ilk was when i heard was Pyschotic Reaction as i walked in (instantly turning me in a happy punter)
Amazing weather. Great atmosphere. Great site (nice and small but not too crowded). Nice people around. Amazing music...what more do you need really?

As with most festivals, you go in with the intent on seeing specific bands and you arrange a schedule to catch them. For me it was four tet, caribou, liars and battles. As soon as i got in and found out i missed Caribou (this was like 2.30pm) the old zen buddist mindstate kicked in - relax, your at a festival, youll be lucky if you catch one band!

The timeslots were half an hour long, which worried me at first, but one of the good things about this is that it means the bands dont mess around too much by trying to be comics (hello the aliens!) and instead they play nonstop bangers... i do like long sets at festivals but the field day system wasnt too bad. So i caught The Aliens (always good), bats for lashes (wannabe bjork tag definitly didnt go away live), dude from Super Furry Animals (on at the wrong time), Erol Alkan (always get the kids dancing), Archie Bronson Outfit (great!), Mystery Jets (no dad and pot banging but my Twickenham homies were actually good), 1990s (Yummy Fur i miss you!), Fridge (OK)....but i wanted to see so many more, but you know what its like when your with mates.... the Headliners Justice played their 'first live set' in London...actually its their third, but hey, dont tell the kids...and it didnt blow me away like i expected, gotta be honest, perhaps it was the toned down soundsystem?...but thats OK because earlier on i had a very very amazing experiance by Justice that kicked me hard and made everything else anticlimatic....

I was whispered by a friend in the loop that Justice would be doing a secret dj gig at the myspace bus (ZEITGEIST!) so i was lucky enough to get on with my mates...and they only let 30 people on. Now imagine that, an old routemaster bus, with Justice Djing for you and 29 other people...fucking insanity. The bus wobbled,and Justice literally played everything and the kitchen fridge (in this case M People 'moving on up'!), and i would say its one of the best dj experiances ive had. Last time i saw them play in an 'intimate' venue was bloggers delights first night, but i was tooooo fucked that night that i cant remember a thing...but this time it was double awesome. It came to a stop 45 minutes in when the bus caught fire. no shit, it was awesome!



Those that slept on buying tickets or waited to be put on the list (one of my friends had to queue an hour and a half on the list) but didnt get the hook up...do yourself a favour and get tickets the moment they go on sale next year, because you missed a great fucking day out...queues or no queues. I would easily say Field Day was one of the best musical events/gigs i have attended in london and ive been to a fucking lot!

PS organisers next year - double toilets and bars, let people bring water in and dont be miserly and charge for programmes - its a fucking low punch(even Glasto dont do that)...im sure people dont mind a sponsor if they know who they're seeing on the stages...and where was the wellie boot throwing?

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