I won 2 tickets for the Converse Sbtrkt represent gig at the legendary 100 Club on Oxford St a few weeks back. I got there at 5pm to be sure of getting in, slightly eager on my part as no one was there yet! Anyway went in around 6.30 and things kicked off with two bands “Lemonade” & Man Without Country”.
As the place started to fill (It’s a tiny club) The sweat started to pour down my face and back, I thought I was going to pass out quite a few times but the mounds of beer I drank certainly helped. I was wetting myself at the chance to see Sbtrkt and John Talabot so close up. John Talabot was up first, Great live show seen him a few months back in Porto so knew what to expect. Check his album “Fin” one of the albums of the year in my opinion.
Then Sbtrkt, This was the 3rd time I have seen him and certainly the best, a hyped up crowd went mental to “Wildire” if only Little Dragon or jessie Ware had come out. But we had Sampha, his treasured sidekick who’s voice is pure heaven. I Won’t be seeing many things like this in such a small venue again.
So we went to Field Day expecting bad sound, overpriced food and beer and lots of posers. We got the last two but they seem to have finally sorted out the sound that has plagued the festival for years. Anyway here is what we saw and what we thought of what we saw. Feel free to disagree….
FRIENDS
They played the smallest stage of all the Shacklewell Arms Stage, They were one of the first bands on so I thought there wouldn’t be anyone there… I was wrong, the place was packed to the rafters. The sound was a bit iffy but that may just be me being picky. Great band, Great Funky tunes and a seriously hot front woman. What’s not to like.
COM TRUISE
I wanted to see Savages as I wasn’t that keen on Com Truise but I’m glad I did as he comes across much better live than on record and the bass in the tent was banging!
PEAKING LIGHTS
While watching Peaking lights I felt like I was in a trance like state (and no I wasn’t on drugs) With an effortlessly cool front woman who doesn’t even look like she is trying, this put me in the best mood for the day ahead.
LIARS
This was one I was looking forward to the most, We Managed to get up quite near the front and the sun came out as they came on. Loads of energy and thrashing sounds, but it wasn’t long enough and they didn’t play alot of their bigger tracks, Defiantly one to see again, I was happy enough though.
KINDNESS
This was my second time seeing Kindess, They have One of my favourite albums of the year so far and also one of the best live bands I have seen in a while, They just all love each other so much! (Maybe a hint of sarcasm there) Great crowd and the two backing singers always seem to steal the show!
METRONONMY
Someone fell on my head while I was watching them so I wasn’t best pleased but there you go. They played all the hits and I think they drew the biggest crowd of the day. Always a crowd pleaser and the drummer was dressed in a gold catsuit. Again I was very satisfied.
SBTRKT
You couldn’t get in the tent for this, had to stand outside for like 5 min, managed to push our way in though. As they started they blew the power so there was a very awkward 10 minutes of no music. But when it got going again I thought the roof was going to come off. “Wildfire” was a highlight of the whole day.
GOLD PANDA
This was my second favourite act I saw of the day, when he played “You” Everyone went completely mad. It was alot better than I expected, maybe because the sound was really good for this.
MODESELEKTOR
And so we have the final act, and probably the best of the day. I have seen Modeselektor before and didn’t think anything could top that, boy was I wrong. Personally I have never gone so mental at a gig, The place was rocking, even when some guy was being a twat and I called him a prick it didn’t ruin what was a monumental end to an extraordinary day. Thank you Field Day Keep it up.
Ok this took alot of time for me to decide what i wanted to put on my top 10 tracks of 2011.
I have gone for the tunes that i played most and also the most played when we djied. I have left some crackers out but this is still a very enjoyable list and there will be big things to come in 2012 for some of these artists, Here we go with some IMMENSE TUNES.
