Field Days

Field Day Festival with south Wales holiday as a free added bonus! As this blog is about "Music Footie Cycling... anything else a bonus" the holiday in Pembrokeshire is well covered. Camping were the usual suspects from over a decade worth of summer holidays plus recent additions: me, Debs, Jack, Maya, Lily-Rose, Bruce, Gita, Ramsay, Jo & Maisie. With non stop music, barking commands, late night fires with much smoke, chat and laughter following hot days (mostly!) at the beach surfing, cricketing and annoying the local crustacian population aka crabbing and later annoying the local camping populations aka crabbys.  Music: ahh, back to our youth with the 80's disco at the St Davids rugby club which entailed an epic pitch black bike ride home complete with old style backying and hedge crashing. Also saw decidedly dodgy Tenby bands with even dodgier large tattooed dancers and underage stage botherers who at least were civil compared to some of the moronic locals. Footie: as the close season just a bit of beach side foot tennis and keepy uppys interspersing the serious annual cricket series. Cycling: see the link to rides where I've put a couple - unfortunately didn't have the Garmin on for the epic night ride as would be nice to see where we went. Surely Le Tour doesn't have to deal with Welsh seaside hillsides? RIP 2 bikes and minor injury units for the rest. For pics see Google+ if you're my friend. So a great time was had by all and after a last night celebrating Gita's birthday Chinese meal we leave living in fields in rural south Wales for the luxurious indoor accommodation of the big city...

Maya and Maisie off the the Underage Festival in Victoria Park east London (don't wait for their update on whatever shennanigans they got up to) and then me, Debs, Jo and Ramsay to Field Day at the same venue the next day.

We roll up midday to catch the end of Scum who play laid back stoner rock and then after stopping briefly for a couple of Willie Mason guitar songs catch the end of 2.54 who are similarly laid back. It's going to be an afternoon of bits of bands. We see all of Spector delivering energetic indie rock and very poor jokes but we'll forgive the lead singer that due to his enthusiasm and the sharp suits of his band. And the fact they've gee-ed us up for the rest of the day. Ariel Pink look like they've come out of the US west coast circa 1970 and sound like it too. Entertaining but not really moving music along much. Ditto The Villagers except substitute Ireland for US. Hazy running order here and might have caught a bit of Mount Kimbie but definitely saw Zola Jesus who started well with 3 laptops and a singer who had quite a voice and weird speaker clinging stage show but after 3 songs the 3 laptop players and drummer didn't seem to have moved on from the 1st and Debs and I leave for more entertaining stuff which we may have found in Electrelane except that they were just finishing their last song. As we're at the only outdoor stage and the sun is coming through we stay for the legendary John Cale who sounded really good and worth getting up to dance for if only I had more energy and eeking out the the last of the holiday laying in the sun experience. In contradiction to John Lennon we give Warpaint a chance but leave bored and make our way to catch all of James Blake. After a dodgy start the well schooled boy sorts out the sound and builds his set up to a great crescendo of dub beats before bringing us down to earth and spewing us out of the tent into the fading daylight to the east and setting sun in the west. Wanting time to recuperate we go see the last couple of The Coral songs and then torn between all the different stages plum for Factory Floor in a smallish tent. Starting industrial and like sons of Factory Records they must be named after (either that of after Arsenal's LP Factory Smog is a Sign of Progress which was set up by a Big Black member who were signed to Blast First which is what Factory Floor are signed to - sorry for obscure references but check out Arsenal and Big Black). Anyways, Factory Floor start big drum and synth industrial rock with a great beat to move your body to and regress (but in an excellent way) to a Hawkwind-esque free form space rock headbanging finale. All's that's left to do is to catch a bit of Wild Beasts who sound pretty good live and at a different time maybe we'd join the happy jumpy dancers lurking about at the edge of the crowd. Then the long haul back to south London for a well earned sleep before bidding Ramsay and Jo a good trip back north, a read of the Observer, catching up with Tottenham rioting and anticipation of the start of the footie season without a great deal of hope that the mighty Arsenal (the north London football club this time, not the Chicago based post hardcore band) will win silver unless Arsene pulls his cheque book out for once before the end of August.