Field Day 2008 Blasted By Unhappy Revellers

Despite ironing out some of the problems from the inaugural Field Day in 2007, this year's event has once again come under fire from some unhappy punters. A much larger capacity than last year, there were still mammoth toilet queues for girls with some waiting well over an hour to use the facilities. Many festival goers also complained again about the inadequate sound levels, especially on the main stage. Coupled with the drizzly weather (admittedly completely out of organisers' hands), this severely dampened the spirit. Although the comments section on the official Field Day Facebook page has been closed down, on unofficial pages punters have been voicing their frustrations. Roderick Paterick wrote: “You fucked up again this year, so we aint coming again...toilets??? were worse than last year apart from the urinals which didnt help the ladies out much, cancellations could have been dealt with better, you didnt let any fucker know what was going on so then bands/djs got pushed forward/back so chances are alot of people missed out on who they wanted to see anyway, dan deacon not showing was the nail in the coffin.” Dan Deacon did not perform as he could not travel after his passport was stolen. Another Field Day reveller, Drumbeg Monsmeg, blasted: “Oddly, I think I actually enjoyed last years disaster more, even though the sound and bar situations were much improved this time around... Again, girls pissing everywhere does not make for an enjoyable experience. The intimate vibe of last year has gone out of the window.” Harsher words came from Lou Frerichs, who complained: “I had heard about the previous year but still naively believed that it couldn't be that bad, oh but it was worse than I could ever imagine!! 2 hours there and 50% of it spent in the toilet queues, 2 snakes of desparate folk which very nearly joined end to end. Please dont bother organising another one, Eat your own ears ? Yes please do!!” Some also complained about the oppressive atmosphere created by the heavy police presence and sniffer dogs on site. Fortunately, the bar situation was vastly improved with virtually no queues at all. The Bugged Out tent in particular was host to some classic sets most notably from headlining genius Richie Hawtin. Foals also did a valiant job headlining on the main stage, while earlier in the evening Les Savy Fav impressed despite a miserable downpour. Other highlights came from Jeffrey Lewis, Simian Mobile Disco and Arctic Monkeys' Matt Helders who played a solo DJ set. Were you at Field Day 2008? Post your comments at the bottom of the page. Field Day 2008 in pictures (by James Russell and Diana Jarvis):