Field Day 2018: Charlotte Gainsbourg and Oumou Sangare

I’ve always had a soft spot for Field Day fes­ti­val: its cura­tors have form in entic­ing less­er-seen artists onto their fes­ti­val stages, such as Mazzy Star’s mem­o­rable set in 2012. Field Day’s move this year from Vic­to­ria Park to the con­sid­er­ably small­er Brock­well Park has not been with­out its issues – from pre-event con­cerns from…

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The best of festivals for 2017

Rejoice – fes­ti­val sea­son is just around the cor­ner. So what’s in store for 2017?  There’s def­i­nite­ly a trend towards offer­ing debates, talks and work­shops. And kids are well catered for with high qual­i­ty and orig­i­nal learn­ing activ­i­ties, take Bluedot’s Plan­e­tar­i­um and Beard­ed The­o­ry’s OFSTED approved school. But hey, let’s not get too seri­ous about it all. Fes­ti­vals pri­mar­i­ly still…

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Field Day festival 2016

I was tempt­ed to call this piece “A Tale of Two Fes­ti­vals”. Sat­ur­day at Field Day 2016 was pri­mar­i­ly geared towards a mid-twen­ties crowd, with plen­ty of dance music and DJs on offer. The cen­tre of the site fea­tured the fes­ti­val’s delight­ful Vil­lage Men­tal­i­ty area where games and gen­er­al silli­ness were in full flow on the ‘vil­lage green’, com­plete with hay…

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Green and pleasant: the ultimate festival guide 2016

If you’re a fes­ti­val fan, by now you’re dream­ing of a green field, ban­ners wav­ing in the breeze, the sound of a band on the main stage… yes, fes­ti­val sea­son is near­ly upon us again, and here is my Ulti­mate Fes­ti­val Guide. Most have been per­son­al­ly tried and test­ed, some on a year­ly basis – plus there’s…

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Review: Field Day, Victoria Park 2012

  I’ve been to a num­ber of Wire­less and assort­ed day fes­ti­vals in Hyde Park but gen­er­al­ly not been won over. Pre­fer to wan­der around the are­na know­ing my tent, a cup of tea and a snooze on a musty sleep­ing bag are only a stroll away. But Field Day in east Lon­don’s Vic­to­ria Park was…

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Mazzy Star ate my ears

The elu­sive Mazzy Star have a new album release mid 2012, so the band are now out on the road, yay! The band played at Field Day fes­ti­val, at the same time as head­lin­ers Franz Fer­di­nand on the Eat Your Own Ears main stage. Mazzy played at the Vil­lage Men­tal­i­ty tent, and the await­ing crowd…

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