Review: Field Day Festival 2011

Field Day Festival, started in 2009 and now in its third year, took place this weekend amidst some heavy anticipation for its exceptionally strong line-up, featuring US/Canadian rarities Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Born Ruffians and Willy Mason alongside some top UK underground talent and some bigger Mercury Prize-type acts such as Wild Beasts, The Horrors and Kieran Hebden. 2011 has already seen more than 30 festivals pulled altogether in the UK alone, Ignition Festival being the most recent, as the wave of enthusiasm which has come over the past couple of years post-recession seems to have come back to haunt.

The general consensus on Field Day seems to be that it was a little overcrowded, with poor sound (particularly during Wild Beasts, the headline act), considerably too few toilets and poor staging. Jamie XX, Glasser and Born Ruffians were all huge acts in >100 capacity tents and to top it off - the only beer available was a small size can of San Miguel at £4.10. Petty it might seem to pick out, but hugely frustrating price-fixing considering rules on no liquids or re-entry were so intimidatingly enforced (full searches, sniffer dogs and a ridiculously high police presence.). According to reports, anyone who arrived after 3pm was subject to hour long queues.

The line-up overwhelmingly saved the day - with fantastic performances all round, though I might single out Zola Jesus, inspired by the 1979 Guilio Paradisi film of the same name, in particular. The Russian-American classically trained vocalist wrought a shockingly deep operatic vocal over gothic electronic synths - running around with a white flowing toga over her long blonde hair. Named after an experimental film, her music evokes dark imagery as such, which after the initial shock of her entrance rendered more smoothly some precociously powerful shades of goth-pop music into Field Day’s running order.

Zola Jesus - Night (MP3)

Ariel Pink was also refreshingly wrong-sounding at the Village Mentality Stage just before. He played mainly from the most recent LP ‘Before Today’, including Pitchfork #1 single of 2010 ‘Round And Round’ which certainly granted the warmest response. Genuinely unpredictable club-funk music with guitars, brilliantly executed.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Round And Round (MP3)

Veronica Falls hit some sound problems closing the ‘Do You Come Here Often?’ stage near the main entrance, after much-hyped (particularly off the back of his recent production work for Air France) Manchester DJ Star Slinger had warmed the crowd up for an extended period pre-headline. Veronica Falls came on in a hurry an bashed out some brash and inequitably levelled lo-fi pop songs with some tight boy/girl vocals and pronounced British accents. High energy from the quartet, you can catch their most recent release over at there store.

Veronica Falls - Right Side Of My Brain (MP3)

With Wild Beasts unfortunately blighted by disappointing sound, perhaps my fourth highlight would have to be Warpaint. Though this inclusion might be a little predictable, the band are consistent as ever, impressing repeatedly at Glastonbury already this year with their sunken female harmonies and reverberant spindly guitars - moulding and melting into an idiosyncratic mesh of ambient and energetic post-punk. Pick up The Fool here.

Warpaint - Billie Holiday (MP3)