Field Day
Various Artists
Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd June 2018
Brockwell Park, SE24 9BJ
£54.50 (+ booking fee of around £6)
Traditionally held in Victoria Park for the past 11 years, Field Day found a new home in South East this summer. Originally showcasing high-profile indie acts, Field Day has drifted somewhat towards the underground music scene, with 2018's acts being mainly Techno.
We were blessed with beautiful weather for the event, maybe even a little too hot (typical Brit). With an array of different tents, bars and food stands to choose from, Field Day does actually feel like a proper festival, despite only lasting two days and with no camping. The one major difference between Field Day and others is space.
I went to Sunfall last year, in the same location of Brockwell Park, same sort of festival with very similar acts. Field Day is apparently three times the size of Sunfall in terms of area of the Park used, however, despite this increase in space, the whole day felt incredibly busy and it was almost a struggle to find room to chill out. The festival area itself was fantastic, and tents all of a good size, so the explanation for the overcrowding was probably due to an overselling of tickets.
Most of the stages/tents you were able to get into to enjoy the acts, even though this did require quite a bit of pushing and shoving... that is all apart from 'The Barn'. At around 4pm Daphni was playing, one of the few acts that weren't solely Techno based. Keen to have a boogie which didn't involve two-stepping, we beelined here - to no avail. The sides of the tent were boarded up way too much, meaning there were only two small points of entry. The whole tent was packed and looking inside it didn't look like it would have been much fun, even if the music was good.
We gave up on The Barn and headed for the RA Tent which had plenty of room, followed by the Main Stage, which, given the set up was spacious even at the very front. Music was good, the vibe was nice, people were friendly etc etc. Plenty of loos, although you did have to queue, unlike Sunfall, but that's probably just due to this being a much bigger festival. Water taps were free and positioned with every portaloo area which was handy, there were also plenty of bars if you wanted something more exciting. Queuing for the bar took no time at all, but the beer was a tad pricey at £5.50 for a small can of Camden Hells.
Before the day was over, we wanted to go and see Four Tet play, who was headlining and closing the festival. Unfortunately, he was playing in the dreaded Barn, so we headed up for one last try. Turns out Four Tet was refusing to play due to an issue with crowd control and the fact people would not stop pushing. Apparently this was eventually sorted out and he did play but by this point I was over it and headed out instead.
Field Day was a fun festival overall but could strongly benefit from selling less tickets and having better stage setups. It would also be nice if the acts were a bit more diverse - but that's probably just me. The price was OK, given the amount of people you could see, but also a bit steep given you often don't see the people you want due to uncomfortable conditions. Overall, I thought Sunfall was a much better festival in the same location with similar acts.
OVERALL RATING: ***
http://fielddayfestivals.com/
