Festival Review: Field Day

Field Day's was always set to be one of the biggest London has seen so far, with a line-up forged from the crème de la crème of emerging musical talents, and improvments to the sound and lighting quality, since last year saw many complaints concerning underwhelming audio.

With beloved indie rockers Animal Collective facing off against trapstep superstars TNGHT for the biggest crowd at Field Day’s headlining slot, the event was sure to please bassheads and rock fans alike. The sun was shining and the crowd was dressed to kill - it was clear that Field Day 2013 had arrived at East London’s Victoria Park on 25th May.

The Bugged Out! tent was rammed from start to finish, housing some of the biggest names in EDM. Proceedings in the tent nicely started off with a promising set from East London regular: Kiwi, whose minimalistic house was a fresh and welcoming beginning to the day. A moderate crowd turned into a raving, lunatic mass for midday act Seth Troxler, whose deep house joined forces with the blazing sun to create an Ibiza-style party that had vested house-heads fist pumping like it was two in the morning rather than the afternoon.

Meanwhile at the Laneway Stage, Chvrches were bringing their sparkling indie-pop to a huge crowd which grew significantly for Kurt Vile, proving his status as an emerging rock God, aspiring to the likes of Tom Petty and Neil Young. King Krule was another male crooner who grabbed the attention of many this Field Day, and indeed over the past year, his striking appearance combining with his gorgeously husky vocals and refreshingly organic sounding blues rock to create a snowballing indie sensation.

How to Dress Well, despite some unfortunate technical issues, succeeded in communicating the complex, multi-layered sound of his soulful R&B  - not a microphone in the world could ruin Tom Krell’s plaintive lament. Ben Pearce and Waze & Odyssey rocked the Desperados Factory to the tune of free desperados whilst Clean Bandit had the crowd jumping like they only can in a dark, sweaty, packed-out tent.

It was a touch call between the headliners, but TNGHT get our vote as the act that best rocked the headliner slot in a true Field Day fashion, with a high-tech stage show ablaze with dry ice and flashing LEDs. Lunice in particular was on top form when it came to hyping up the crowd. Overall this year’s Field Day was arguably the best yet, with the weather and the lineup both impossible to argue with. Another success story added to its history, Field Day looks set to get better and better.

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