overview

Field Day – a smashing idea for a petite festival – psychedelic, art-rock, alternative bands? Check. Quirky games like Tug O’ War, a coconut shy and a jumble sale? Check. Groovy food including a Lock Tavern barbeque and a cake stall serving homemade scones with jam? Check. Cool London location in the heart of uber-cool Hackney? Check. Swarms of trendy Hoxtonite-style locals? Check.

Though, as is traditional with this crowd, everything’s just a little bit sketchy...

Brusque, scary security women who got out of bed the wrong side, shove us through the front gates, relieving us of every can, glass and plastic bottle in our possession, "No, water, no alcohol, no NOTHING!!" one of them shouts. I ask if I can keep my bottle of water ‘for medical reasons’ (i.e. it being 26 degrees Celsius in the middle of the day) but she just snatches the bottle out of my hand and gruffly says "Free water in there. No plastic bottles allowed." This turns out to be true. There is one drinking water tap for all 10,000 of us.

For those of us who prefer a more alcoholic watering hole, there are two bars. And not huge bars like at most festivals. The minimal beer tent is swathed in a mass of thirsty punters. At least I think there’s a beer tent there. There’s a big sign that says BAR, and a five metre deep crowd obscuring the view. Those that stagger out of the throng successfully, beer carriers in hand, have been in there for up to an hour. This continues throughout the day; I overhear a disgruntled pear cider drinker telling her friend that the bar staff’s excuse is “Well this is the first festival they’ve done.” – an amusing tale since the organisers and supporters include The Lock Tavern, Bugged Out and Adventures In The Beetroot Field...

For a festival whose inspiration lies in the quintessential English village fête, the spirit carries through in an inordinate amount of queuing. The toilet queue next to the Bugged Out tent is a 1-hour wait. The wine bar queue is at least half an hour. The other toilet queue is a speedy 20 minutes, and the barbeque queue stretches for a good 50 metres.

As is the good ol’ British, way, we don’t let these little hiccups dampen the spirit. It’s a beautiful day, people are lounging in the sunshine, enjoying the outdoor stages (Field Day and Homefire stages) and many have given up trying to squeeze into the tents (Adventures In the Beetroot Field and Bugged Out) and are playing Frisbee instead (that would be a £22.50 game of Frisbee).

The Homefires stage hosts some fabulously chilled music throughout the day - James Yorkston’s set is chilled and mellow, perfect for a Sunday afternoon, but spoilt by the pumping beats from the Bugged Out stage next door. Adem’s set is floaty and magical sounding but still can’t compete with JoJo De Freq and her set next door.

Adventures in the Beetroot Field’s tent, has the most entertaining and poppy line-ups of all the stages. All very civilised – the line up is chalked up on a cheery looking board outside. I happen upon The Concretes. It’s rock. It’s pop. It’s Hackney-does-country-dancing (except this cheery bunch of lasses are from Sweden, not Bow). Now here’s a band that you can really kick up your heels to.

Kid Harpoon is equally entertaining, opening with a gravel-voiced version of Leonard Cohen’s 'We’ll Take Manhattan' – an utter triumph...but The Aliens are about to start on the Field Day stage so we wander over there for a look. They have elements of early Beta Band (they’re all ex-members) and 60s psychedelia and they’re a right old romp.

It isn’t until Archie and the Bronsons hit the Homefires stage that they actually manage to drown the Bugged Out speakers. The Homefires audience are finally on their feet and cheering loudly to Archie’s boisterous set. I don’t want to miss Mr Alkan’s set, so I tootle over to the Bugged Out tent...

Talk about overspill. It’s a bijou little striped tent and nowhere near the size needed to accommodate the hardcore party crowd who fill the space outside dancing like their lives depending on it. The heat is taking it’s toll, and there are several casualties lying about under the welcome shade of the old oak trees.

This is where the heart of the party really is, with Andrew Weatherall and Ivan Smagghe following Erol’s set. Here we have a crowd who strangely don’t seem to need the offerings of the bar, preferring to drink from the water tap next to the tent, so there is minimum amount of interruption to their revelry. It’s a good place with a good feeling to end a queue-filled day.

One hopes the Field Day Collective keep to their Myspace page declaration where they apologise for underestimating the amount of toilets and beer-supply needed and promise that it will all be better next year, because Field Day has the makings of a wonderful day out.

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