Mae Shi audience, originally uploaded by jellybeanz.

The overall Field Day experience was a bit.. meh. While there were a number of highlights (seeing Jeffrey Lewis and the Mae Shi live again, and watching Les Savy Fav and The Field for the first time), the rain and dampness of the whole event, the number of the usual London twats in the crowd and poor sound in the tents meant that it couldn’t be a great festival experience. But focusing on the good points, Jeffrey Lewis performed not only his Crass songs, but also the older material like Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror and The Last Time I took Acid…, reminding me just how great his lyrics are. The Mae Shi performed their highly energetic show, though with the size of the crowd it wasn’t as interactive as usual. They did try their best, with a massive tug of war over their parachute.

Festivals are great for watching new things. I’ve been meaning to see Les Savy Fav for some time. Although they were on the main stage, Tim Harrington still managed to run into the crowd, fall into the mud and generally run while on stage. I wonder how much more fun their show is in an indoor venue.

Though, I don’t really know what classes as ‘new’ any more. Especially since I first saw Jonquil almost two years ago. But every time, they still surprise and reveal how bands really should develop.

This show was a near perfect set from Jonquil, full of the great songs from Lions and trying out a couple of new songs. While you can hear the way the band’s ambitions have developed into a more orchestrated sound over the two albums, they are pushing themselves into different approaches with their new songs. With Parasol they are trying out synthesised beats but building them easily into the song. While they already have some great songs, it is also refreshing to see that they are not only writing new versions of similar songs, but trying out some new ideas as well.

So, after numerous attempts to see Fuck Buttons, after clashing shows, being in the wrong country, and even missing one because I was still in the queue, I finally got to experience them live. And even more luckily, after all the praise I’ve heard about them, they exceeded my expectations. For all my experience of laptop based acts, I didn’t expect to see one with so much stage presence and activity. Hopefully it won’t take so many failed attempts until I see them again.

The overriding decision to catch this show was to break my run of bad luck over Fuck Buttons, so it was a bonus to catch the Cornelius show. It was a surprise that he put on a great live show. Although he isn’t an electronic act, the visuals and overall presentation, was very much more like one of those shows. The videos in the background was superb and the lighting too. Singing mainly in Japanese, it also struck me how it was a great sounding language and how it was refreshing to listen to a language just for the sounds it makes instead looking for meaning behind the words.