Gareth's (Ridiculously Belated) Field Day Review.

Oh well done Gareth, you've gone and taken so long to write your stupid Field Day review, that loads of stuff has happened since, including the WHOLE of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
So rather than leaving this post in blogging limbo (A.K.A. the "drafts" folder), I'll finally get on with posting it. So, ladies and gentlemen, I finally present to you in all of it's entirety:

GARETH HARPER'S FIELD DAY 2008 REVIEW.

I've got to be completely honest:
I thought Field Day was distinctly average.
There, I said it. Not content with either falling in to the "Boohoo, queuing for toilets at festivals sucks, as such Field Day sucks, waaaah" group, nor the minority group that is the "YEAAAAAAH FIELD DAY WAS AWESOME" clan, I simply left Field Day with a great feeling of indifference.

Whilst it was definetely worth £28.50 to see The Mae-Shi, Les Savy Fav and Foals alone, that was exactly the problem; I would have gladly paid £28.50 to see The Mae-Shi, Les Savy Fav and Foals alone, and then gone home.

To be fair, Field Day was evidently designed to be a day festival where the sun was the main event, but seeing as the sun had to cancel...and let's be honest it is the Amy Winehouse/Pete Doherty of the meteorological world, in that even if you think it's going to turn up, it will probably pull out at the last moment...it does beg the question "Why, oh why, would you design a festival in England based on the concept that the sun is actually going to turn up?"

So whilst this whole "village fete" theme seemed to completely pass me by, I harmlessly ambled on through the rain accompanied by friends and girlfriend, to see the following bands:

Magistrates - I don't want to like you, but you're just sooooooooo catchy. Stop it. Stop it now, otherwise I'll have to change my views.

Filthy Dukes - Stick to the DJing (stands for "Day Job"ing). You were just a bit cack, regardless of the fact that you know a rapper.

Laura Marling - Your keyboard player may have been stuck on the M25, and you may have been stuck on the most inappropriately sized stage for your overwhelmingly beautiful, charmingly delicate vocals to float across, but you still managed to make me feel incredibly glad that I stood between some ridiculously tall girls with umbrellas and some ridiculously angry men who hate ridiculously tall girls with umbrellas to watch you.

Lightspeed Champion - Dev, what the hell is wrong with you? I love you, but today you sounded like a bad tribute act of your own songs. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, because when I saw you in Exeter, it was mindblowingly ace, but today you were just a tad rubbish.

The Mae Shi - Most Valuable Players.

Wild Beasts - Most Improved Players.

Les Savy Fav - All I ever imagined them to be, and more, but I would love to see them in the dry. Minus umbrellas getting in my way.

Foals - A tad self indulgent, but they're allowed to be self indulgent; they're Foals. Brilliant though. Absolutely ace. Mathletics for an encore was the really amazingly tasty cherry on top of the distinctly average cake.

I probably saw some other bands as well, but I've forgotten about them now, because it all happened SO LONG AGO.