Sun comes out for Field Day

Field Day is back to early in the summer again this year having been disrupted by the Olympics last year, not sure why. As there were long queues last year at the ticket collection offices I cycle from work (Stratford) to pick up tickets on the Friday evening. Cycling through gale force winds with rain and white stuff coming down (I can’t quite believe it’s snow or sleet) I pick up the tickets and wonder if the met office have the forecast of sun for tomorrow right. Pretty bleak at Victoria Park at the moment. Pleasant ride home along the canal to Angel then pick up the South Bank at Blackfriars. Saturday morning is bright and sunny. With daughter picked up by Anna with the promise of visits to bead shops and choccy wokki do dah (isn’t that a Russell Brand book?) and a swim with an Olympian swimmer Debs and I are free to worry about what to wear deciding against jumpers just shirt and jackets and to have a quiet glass of wine before heading off east. Hordes of trendies making for Field Day from Mile End tube and we get in without any hassle on the gate. We have a date at 1pm and so bypass MT WARNING who sound good but search out the highly recommended CHARLIE BOYER& THE VOYERS who are a 5 piece playing gritty 70s rock with a sort of American tinge and are well worth getting here early for.

Next we top up last year’s non existent tans in the sun to see STEALING SHEEP who are three folky girls not either of ours usual cup of tea but sound quirky and great harmonies. Lazing in the warm sun not seen for a while listening to wafty music is very enjoyable until we realise we’re about to nod off so we wander up the Shacklewell Arms tent to see the last thrashy and great song by METZ who make us wish we’d arrived earlier. Ah well, a band to look forward to seeing again. Meet up with Simon & Jules to see CHVRCHES who are an 80s influenced electronic pop who sound really good with female singer and sound just like the Human League when the guy sings. Odd how this music is so resurgent after 30 years but it does sound good. I catch a bit of THOMAS MAPFUMO whilst taking a loo break and waiting at the bar which takes ages as the place gets far too crowded. From being nicely buzzy at 1pm it’s now nigh on impossible to visit the bar and get back during a set. More bar staff needed.

Next up the brilliant SAVAGES but being rammed in the tent lessens the experience not sure why not on the main open stage like they were last year when we first saw them and got hooked and seen twice since. See those blogs for what they’re like. Meet up with Colin, Olly, Eiza and Naomi and chill out chatting before catching SOLANGE in the sun. Solange play fairly poppy funky beats with a great voice and put on a good show. Didn’t realise who they were when watching and now surprised as when I’d listened to them beforehand on Spotify Field Day Playlist didn’t think much of them and filed under Madonna. Guess that’s not a bad sound for mid afternoon at a sunny festival. Have since found out that the singer (Solange herself) is Beyonce’s sister.

Olly is desperate to go the The Desperados Factory at the far end of the festival so wander through the crowds but the place has a big queue so we jig about outside for a bit before dancing to a house DJ in the small bandstand (Dig It the stickers said) along with about 30 other happy heads then wander through the dance in Bugged Out tent (possibly HASSLE AUDIO) who are quite hard core dance then catch some KORELESS which is good for a while then bores us then back to sit in the sun listening to EVERYTHING EVERYTHING at a safe distance. Must admit these last are growing on me as I seem to inadvertently see them about at every festival. Colin and crew still have itchy feet so we head back to Bugged Out to see DISCLOSURE but Debs and I lose our friends and as the tent is rammed and the music not brilliant we get into the Red Bull small white tent to see EGYPTIAN HIP HOP. There was a massive queue to get in before they come on but the place is now about ¾ full. I still love the band but others obviously think otherwise. They seem pretty together today which makes them tighter as a band but I feel that it loses something of their shambolic brilliance.

Surprisingly by this time the crowds have lessened and the place is a lot freer to wander about. Debs and I catch a bit more of the evening sun also catching a little of the unimpressive BAT FOR LASHES (neither of us has ever got them) before tenting it for the brilliant PALMA VIOLETS who get the place jumping with their hard fast Libertineish rock n roll and excite a massive stage invasion that must've had the boards groaning. I utterly forget to wander over to see Fucked Up who, unlike Everything Everything, I seem to miss at every festival I go to. Similarly I fail to meet up with Pete and Wendy at all this afternoon or to meet again with any of my friends who I’ve already seen today. Drinking gin and coke in the hot sun (avoid, G&C not drinking the hot sun) has made my memory of the latter part of the day a little hazy to be frank and so the fantastic DJANGO DJANGO who wowed us recently at Brixton are not quite so memorable tonight. After Django we end the evening by seeing the last few poems of the author of our wedding reading the excellent JOHN COOPER CLARKE. After the skinniest poet with the biggest hair on the who’s ever rhymed a couplet we wander back to Mile End and treat ourselves to a taxi back from Balham station after a thoroughly great day.