This August bank holiday saw 40,000 festival-goers flock to London’s Victoria Park for Field Day 2021. On behalf of PIRATE.COM, I was given access to every corner of the huge site; from the VIP area and artists corner to the six packed-out stages. However, VIP access aside, a medly of chatty strangers will give you a better sense of the day than I ever could.

With commentry from DJ Seinfeld, the infectious crowd and diligent staff, here’s a 360 take of what went down at Field Day this year.

THE STAFF

I arrived at Viccy Park around 3PM and by the time everyone who needed to pee had peed and gotten their drinks, I’d missed a decent chunk of the programme. To get up to speed, I nudged a couple of main stage security guards who had been there all day.

I’d been looking forward to seeing O’Flynn play with TSHA and I was pretty gutted when these guys confirmed I’d mugged myself off by arriving too late:

“That girl that played on the main stage earlier was so good, TSHA. TSHA was banging man.”

Though this was unlucky, I took it as a positive sign for what was yet to come and ploughed on.

THE ARTISTS

Walking through the VIP area I spotted Mr Jukes. I asked him for a quick one-word review. He stalled as if he didn’t want to answer, but in the end he was too nice and eventually told me: “Fantastic.”

After my success with Mr Jukes, I ran off to the artists area where I saw DJ Seinfeld. Luckily, he wasn't too knackered from playing Lost Village the day before and he was up for a chat.

DJ Seinfeld is somewhat of a Field Day veteran and he had nothing but nice things to say about this year’s installment:

“This is my third time playing Field Day, each year feels like a step up - it’s a really well run festival.”

Seinfeld had just come off the main stage where he’d been playing with George Fitzgerald, so naturally I asked him about that:

“The set was super fun. It was only an hour so you don’t get to play too many tracks, but playing with George is always great. I never know what he’s going to play but it feels like we have really good chemistry up there. As people, we’re quite similar as well. We’re both mellow, down to earth (although that sounds a bit pretentious), neither of us are massive party animals.”

DJ Seinfeld has a new album ('Mirrors') coming this Friday via Ninja Tune. Of this, he sounded relieved above all else:

“I’m just happy to finally have it out there.”

Personally, I'm just looking forward to the live shows he was hinting at during our chat - keep your eyes peeled for the tour.

THE PUNTERS

I met quite a few people at Field Day this year, none less lovely than one fifty-four year-old gent who described himself as "an original dinosaur raver". We took a seat and I asked him how this festival compared to back in his day. This really got him going:

“It’s great but it’s not as good as in my day. It’s more organised and the music is a lot more advanced, it was more simplistic in my day. I'm just glad I’m my age and not your age.”

Dancing at Floorplan (my highlight set), I needed a lighter. I borrowed this from a young party-goer who'd come all the way from Belfast. While I had their attention, I asked what they made of Field Day. Though it took a minute, in the end, they put it quite succinctly:

“I can’t explain it in a sentence, it’s just so needed. It’s in us all as humans.”

The last person I spoke to was a twenty-something year old heading for Bicep's closing live show (which was absolutely euphoric). I asked the twenty-something year old if the festival was living up to their expectations. As we spoke, they referrered to those eighteen months where our industry was dormant, before explaining:

“It feels so good to be rubbing shoulders with strangers again.”

To be fair, I'd almost managed to avoid talking about Covid all day.

Overall, after two years out in Meridian Water’s The Drumsheds and Brixton’s Brockwell Park, I think it’s fair to call the 2021 edition of Field Day a landmark homecoming. With details of the 2022 event due to be announced next week, Field Day organiser Luke Huxham had this to say:

“We’ve waited a long time for this and it’s hard to express how good it felt to be back at Victoria Park. We’re very grateful for everyone that’s stuck with us and we're looking forward to going even bigger next year.”

All being well, we'll see you there.

For more on London's finest day festivals, check out our GALA 2021 review by Liv Mesce.

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