Saturday 09/08/08 Field Day @ Victoria Park, London

With criticisms of last year’s inaugural event still smarting, Field Day 2008 announced itself with more promises than Beijing’s Olympic press office. Thankfully for the organisers, the shortcomings of 2007 seem largely forgotten as Victoria Park fills up, albeit slowly thanks to the reliably piss wet English climate. Whether this year will be a success or not remains to be seen; and as the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case, can I get a beer and have a slash in under two hours?!

Unfortunately the rain is dictating the crowd, something not lost on Howling Bells who thank the sparse turnout for braving the weather. The Australian four-piece play a tight mix of old and new including the upturn swell of ‘Broken Bones’, ‘Into The Chaos’ and hand on hip strut of ‘Nightingale’ before ending with a draw your own conclusion dedication to the Mighty Boosh’s Crack Fox in the form of ‘Low Happening’.

A few umbrella related injuries and a tug of war later and the gruff falsetto operatics of Wild Beasts fill the main stage with ‘Vigil For A Fuddy Duddy’ and ‘Devils Crayon’. This is a group who prefer to let their music do the talking for them but despite the sentiment and amazing performance, the rain wins this battle and as the remains of ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’ hangs in the air ‘Cheerio Chaps, Cheerio Goodbye’ is a fitting end to a swiftly deteriorating audience.

Field Day is an event struggling to find its standing amongst the oversubscribed UK festival list. There’s plenty to do if you’re into coconut shies, egg and spoon races and scrabble. As the Farnborough Concert Band of the British Royal Legion provide an Abba mega-mix soundtrack, Gigwise decide to plump for a six point word score at the Homefires Stage with Tunng. It’s a much smaller platform and as a result a seemingly bigger draw in terms of numbers and of course umbrellas. Despite the weather, their organically grown outdoor acoustic folk suits the rain which doesn’t detract from ‘Bricks’, ‘Bullets’ and ‘Take’ although the sound levels are noticeably poor throughout and are beginning to plague the day.

Just ten minutes after Tunng exit, anti-folk beatnik Jeffrey Lewis appears to massive appreciative applause. His matter of fact nonchalance and breathless vocal delivery expertly splutters its way through ‘The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane’ and ‘Creeping Brain’ complete with comic book flicking slide show. Halfway through the set and unfortunately for me it’s the moment of truth as my bladder throws down the gauntlet with a challenge to relieve myself and make it back before the end of Lewis’ set. I fail… badly and so has Field Day on a fundamental level. Yes the bars are bigger, busier and quicker to please, but despite the promises the toilet situation is severely lacking and a big kick in the teeth for the organisers.

A meander back to the Converse stage and Lightspeed Champion are filling in for the unfortunate cancellation of Mystery Jets. For a change, the weather has relented and the area is packed. There’s no sun, but who cares, its dry and the ever-polite Dev Hynes, sporting his trademark furry deerstalker, pays immediate tribute to Blaine Harrison and peppers their performance with snippets of ‘Alas Agnes’ and ‘You Can’t Fool Me Dennis’. Despite more intermittent sound issues big claps and front row skirmishes mark a strong set that showcases Hynes’ underestimated musicianship throughout ‘Galaxy Of The Lost’ and ‘Midnight Surprise.’

To prevent the sudden crowd swell from merging into another toilet queue overflow, a rapid energy injection is needed to maintain the murmuring buzz so it’s a good ****ing job that Les Savy Fav are up next. More fun than watching a three-legged greyhound on a wet kitchen lino, Tim Harrington appears umbrella in hand modelling a Columbo style rain mac begging the sun to appear while stripping off to psychedelic tie-dye T-shirt before favouring the bare chest look. Throughout the abrasive shouty delivery of ‘What Would Wolves Do?’, ‘The Sweat Descends’ and ‘Patty Lee’, Harrington seems possessed running backwards and forwards and bantering incessantly with the crowd. Throwing toilet rolls out into the fray Harrington runs off stage as the opening of ‘Who Rocks The Party’ draws the set to a close only to reappear once again surrounded by a wig wearing cancan dancing entourage and sporting a fetching pair of Y-Fronts complete with a fully functioning genitally placed party blower… indeed.

With the day rapidly drawing to a close, it’s down to Foals to end what has so far been a wet, cold and largely depressing affair. Despite an energetic set that includes ‘Red Sox Pugie’ and ‘Two Steps Twice’, the weather and sound issues have left a large proportion of the audience feeling cheated - as the band play on a steady stream of people are turning their damp spirited backs on Victoria Park. An encore of ‘Mathletics’ later and Field Day 2008 is finally over.

Despite improvements on last year and in spite of the weather which although beyond the organisers control hasn’t helped, this is a festival that still leaves a lot to be desired. 2009, should it happen, needs to raise its game or be gracious in defeat.

Click here to see stunning pictures of Field Day 2008