Field Day festival 2010
Photo: © Victor Frankowski 2010
Nature does not have bad weather, goes a Russian saying. London hipsters would beg to differ. For the previous two years, Field Day in Victoria Park [Tower Hamlets] was dogged by drizzle and downpour, dampening the vibe and driving crowds into overfilled tents. This year the organisers finally had their lucky break with a clear, hot summer’s day.
The mood of the event changed significantly, revealing the full range of events on offer. Apart from the arguably ever-stronger line-up of alternative and electronica music, festival-goers were treated to a full village fete and a cabaret performance. An interpretation of Lady Gaga by the Royal British Legion orchestra was a stand out.
Local businesses featured prominently on the stalls, offering a selection of food from around the world. Many, like the Fat Cat Café organic bakery from Stoke Newington Church Street, came to Field Day for a second or third year, and see festivals as a useful way to raise the profile of their businesses.
Music-wise, the selection was strong as usual, although the main stage consistently underwhelmed. Due to volume limits and open layout, the main stage made it difficult for the artists to capture the audience’s full attention, diffusing the atmosphere of practically every performance.
Vocals-led main stage acts such as Beta Band ‘s Steve Mason, the Fall and headliners Phoenix were particularly affected, failing to leave a mark on the day despite generally solid performances. Even the aural assault of Canadian genre-blenders Caribou failed to break through the weak speakers and apathetic crowd.
It was the more intimate setting of numerous tents that offered the highlights of the festival. Instrumental duo of virtuoso drummer Chris Corsano and electronic harp player Mike Flower stood out early on, entrancing with waves of intensifying and ebbing beats and static. Dubstep darlings Mount Kimbie proved worthy of the hype, expertly relaying the highlights of the debut album Crooks & Lovers to the packed Bloggers Delight tent.
These New Puritans’ percussion-led post-punk disappointed. The baroque, cathedral-like eerie sounds of the new album Hidden translated poorly into a bright, mid-afternoon set, with the slim-framed frontman Jack Barnett failing to fill the stage with his presence.
Deerhunter’s Brandon Cox easily avoided this problem despite his even skinnier build. Performing under his solo moniker Atlas Sound, Cox put on a captivating one-man show armed with his acoustic guitar and a myriad of loops. An over-reliance on pre-recorded samples was the only criticism that could be levied on the performance of his intricate, ephemeral songs.
By 8pm, punters had to start making seriously tough tent choices as the night’s big tickets simultaneously took to the stages. Having missed minimal techno royalty Pantha du Prince for the generally uninspiring Caribou main stage set, we opted for a rare performance of Berlin electro supergroup Moderat over French electro-pop headliners Phoenix. It proved a wise decision. Moderat’s four-headed hydra took the rammed Bugged Out tent by storm, palpitating the crowd with multi-layered bass lines and infectious grooves. At next year’s Field Day getting the same level of talent with the same budget would not be easy, but then again, the organisers have done it before.