Field Day 2013

Four Tet, Main Stage

Field Day is a one day festival which takes place at Victoria Park, in London's East End. The annual festival is curated by Eat Your Own Ears, Bugged Out!, Bleed and Lanzarote amongst others and features a phenomenal line up bursting with home-grown talent and as well as the cream of international DJs and artists. Field Day's unique 'Village Mentality' sees Kopparberg-fuelled festival goers take on traditional village fete competitions, whilst eating and drinking from a twee selection of local kitsch stalls. The festival site itself was well-organised and queues were kept to a minimum. Victoria Park is well-served by public transport and the after parties were easy to reach (although they could have been in bigger venues to accomodate the crowds of people wanting to party on into the early hours.

I spent most of the day getting my groove on at the Bugged Out tent, meaning missed acts on other stages such as Solange, Bat For Lashes, Django Django and Mount Kimbie. I did manage to catch Four Tet on the main stage, who kept the crowd amused by launching colourered balls in the air for us. Animal Collective's trippy main stage show was also a treat. Maybe it was jsut my energy levels waning but I was a little disappointed by TNGHT's set which felt a bit lacklustre, with HudMo and Lunice's partnership feeling a bit more like a DJ set than a live performance. Hessle Audio's afternoon performance (feat Ben UFO, Pearson Sound et al) also fell a bit flat, but the atmosphere it might have been more to do with the crowd being a bit thin on the ground.

My personal highlights of the day were:

1.Seth Troxler: DJ's aren't always renowned for their great personalities, but Troxler's adds a uniquely fun touch to his techno and house set.

2. Jacques Greene: this chilled out afternoon set was perfect as the sun reached its peak over Victoria Park. Closer 'Another Girl' was a crowd favourite.

3. Julio Bashmore: Yes, he dropped ‘Battle for Middle You’ and ‘Au Seve’. Yes, it was fantastic.

4. Daphni: Caribou's Daniel Snaith's latest project unleashes a plethora of funky melodies onto the Bugged Out crowd.

5. Disclosure: the Lawrence brothers have beefed up their impressive live set to feature more visuals, shared instrumentals including guitar and percussion and live vocals. Although it feels a tad like a pop concert, its still a worthy spectacle.

25th May, Victoria Park E9