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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
André Paine's rating
Reader rating
Description: Eclectic music festival also featuring performances from Santigold, King Charles, Fanfarlo, Mumford & Sons, Delphic, Mystery Jets, S.C.U.M and many more.
Groove-based tunes: Yannis Philippakis of festival headliners The Foals
The inaugural Field Day was a chaotic affair, short on toilets, bar staff and decibel levels.
A year on, and the organisers lived up to their promise to do a better job on this festival of left-field music but the rain meant some acts would always struggle. Noisy US band Les Savy Fav cavorted on the main stage in a state of undress but really needed some anthems to rally the crowd.
The damp did hold off for a while, allowing Lightspeed Champion to make an impact with his awkwardly epic tunes and indie interpretation of the Star Wars soundtrack.
There was plenty worth seeking out on the other stages, too. King Creosote had a shocking, multi-coloured cardigan at odds with his terse, brittle folk, while the harmony-heavy Efterklang from Denmark were a revelation. Under cover in the Bloggers Delight Tent, Brooklyn electro-pop trio Telepathe made up for a lack of presence with abundant percussion.
Oxford band Foals were also big on clattering drums during a set of smart, groove-based tunes. "Thanks for staying, it's pretty ****ing miserable," said frontman Yannis Philippakis. They also had to compete with Simian Mobile Disco playing a packed dance tent.
Nevertheless, Foals were worthy headliners, drawing on art-rock and punk-funk for churning, rhythmic songs such as Cassius and Balloons. They got a decent-sized crowd dancing, too, despite the conditions.
Perhaps it needed a couple of bigger cult acts. But Field Day is one of the friendliest festivals I've attended and deserves another outing next year.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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It's a real shame the weather was so awful because field day would have been really fun had the sun shined- but as it was the cold and wet killed it some what.
Also there were still issues with the toilets, although a few of these were ironed out later- but basically there weren't really enough.
Also and it seems odd to say this but for my money a lot of the music wasn't loud enough especially on the mains stage.
- Will, London
The organisers failed to provide enough toilets - the queues to get to the toilet were far too long - poor organisation!
- Anon, London
