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Field Day at Victoria Park London Review

Field Day

3/5
Bands: Field Day
Venue: Victoria Park London
Gig: Field Day
Gig date: 1st August 2009
Posted on 5th August 2009 by johnbeyer

Field Day is proving an ill-starred festival. The inaugural event in 2007 was marred by inadequate facilities, abject post-show promoter apologies and indignant Facebook groups demanding refunds. Last year saw it drowned in a biblical deluge, and this weekend spasmodic torrential downpours again left the crowd drenched and deflated. It was a shame as the organisers had compiled a cutting-edge art-pop bill. The precocious Mica Levi had brandished her ukulele-like miniature guitar for Micachu and the Shapes's cerebrally contrary maths-pop. Then the Horrors braved the driving rain to demonstrate precisely how the slick retro-goth of their new album Primary Colours has transformed them from music industry laughing stocks to Mercury prize nominees. Wild Beasts' lavish, opulent pop works well as live spectacle, and their enjoyably overwrought mid-afternoon set appeared intent on establishing them as the florid missing link between a-ha and Lord Byron. Australian duo the Big Pink were an altogether noisier affair, but thrived because their Jesus & Mary Chain-style white-noise rock is blessed with far more great tunes than shoegazers normally summon up. Santigold's bawdy funk-pop, pitched halfway between Beyoncé and the B-52s, lifted the spirits, as did Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabaté. And Mogwai were fitting Field Day headliners. The Scottish band's glacial, minimal-is-maximal swaths of guitar sounded magnificent as the skies darkened, locating a poised beauty at the heart of their moving, epic instrumentals. As Mogwai's vast riffs swept across the sodden field, they proved a welcome and soothing end to what had been a distinctly challenging day. Ian Gittins http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/aug/03/field-day-review

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