mogwai headlined the main stage.
main stage line-up included errors, fennesz, final fantasy, dj skream, santigold and the horrors.

field day 2009

photo by robin proper-sheppard

reviews/comments

from nick dyer:

i thought mogwai were truly excellent - a different show to the last few i've seen, even the reading fest show was a lot different dynamics. i sort of missed the massive wave of noise that hits you in the smaller venues but i liked the big dymanics of a headline set. it was quality and one of the quickest 1.5 hrs of my life, and that was despite my knees aching like something nasty and me desperately wanting to get home!! (old man!)

i must see mogwai again - i had forgotten how magical they are live.

thousands of talking numpties around me at the front though - the worst i have experienced at a mogwai gig since i went to my first one at camden crawl at those many years ago.

from 'flackcaptain':

mogwai, sweet mogwai were on majestic form. it was the 15th time i've seen them live and definitely one of the best. great to hear fear satan soundish as fresh and exciting as it did 13 years ago. only disappointment was the lack of my father my king at the end, other than that their song selection was spot on.

from ben rowe:

mogwai managed to avoid the rain, but it lashed it down at about 7pm. fortunately, this is when malcolm middleton was playing in a tented space, so i was spared a soaking! it stopped raining after he'd played.

the main stage was running late. in the end, they cut skream's set down and the mogwai roadies were even setting their equipment on while skream was bellowing his stuff out.

ended with a blistering 'batcat' (after a faltering start!). the sound, to be honest, wasn't too bad, but not great. mogwai's subtle parts (mainly the quieter moments of some tracks) are lost on the open air setting. chatter and the other stage sound spilling out made it difficult to appreciate what they were playing. 'batcat' was the loudest track by far.

i managed to get about 10ft away from the front of the sound desk, but the sound might have been different behind where they had some speaker stacks raised in the air. overall, i'm glad i got to see the guys playing live this year, but i think i'll restrict myself to seeing them indoors in the future.

http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4192984

from http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137528-field-day-2009--the-dis-review:

a certain school of thought would suggest that for many peoole, field day ultimately turned out as a mogwai gig with soggy bells on. maybe unfair, maybe not, but certainly when stuart braithwaite’s troops stomp out under a hail of orange lights virtually the second skream has left the stage, the hitherto noisesome skies decide to clear up, and it becomes clear that somebody has turned the bloody sound up, then the initiative falls to the scots. arguably it was still too quiet – certainly this stately, melodious gig is a far cry from the rock action tour and attendant mutant soundsystem – but if ‘mogwai fear satan’ no longer pulverises you at its climax, the fact several thousand people are standing in a field gawping at a band playing something of this ilk is pretty heartening. maybe the lack of earth-shattering thunder in those early tracks makes for a more balanced set – ‘auto rock’, 'friend of the night' and pretty much all the hawk is howling sounds magnificent, a slow, dignified eruption drenched in nocturnal piano. there’s perennial cynicism over whether mogwai haven’t just fallen into a comfort zone since their early days, but listening to a crowd roar approval as ‘hunted by a freak’ from the once criticised happy songs... swooshes into gear, and you have to wonder whether this headline set isn’t valediction enough.

from http://musosguide.com/field-day-london-victoria-park/6445:

mogwai do save the day to an extent, complete with stunning pyrotechnics. the blissful feedback is all there in ‘mogwai fear satan’ and ‘batcat’ (from last year’s the hawk is howling), and they sound simply brutal at points. there’s people with closed eyes, picturing a scene. the levels could do with being cranked up another 10 notches, sure, but there’s no headliner out there more epic than mogwai. they’re in skullcrushing form.

from http://www.clashmusic.com/live-review/field-day-the-clash-review:

time for some main stage action from sort-of-headliners mogwai. looking like they were enjoying themselves as much as they’ve ever done throughout their 15-year history, the glasgow five-piece brought back a thousand musical childhood memories for a massive crowd, showing why they’re credited as having paved the way for so many other post-rock and instrumental bands. everyone lapped it up, all the more so because this was the band’s only live uk festival show this year. looks like they chose well.

from http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/aug/03/field-day-review:

mogwai were fitting field day headliners. the scottish band's glacial, minimal-is-maximal swaths of guitar sounded magnificent as the skies darkened, locating a poised beauty at the heart of their moving, epic instrumentals. as mogwai's vast riffs swept across the sodden field, they proved a welcome and soothing end to what had been a distinctly challenging day.

http://strangeglue.com/news/field-day-2009-live-mogwai/10006015

from http://www.nme.com/reviews/wild-beasts--3/10772:

it’s left to mogwai to provide a thunderous culmination to a day that even the weather’s been unable to spoil. when, during ‘mogwai fear satan’, they bring the sound down to barely audible levels, it’s not because of the intervention of a jobsworth noise abatement official but because mogwai are still kings of the loud-quiet-loud. just one guitar can be heard, then… suddenly, it’s as if the echo of a barrage from the anti-aircraft guns that were stationed in vicky park during world war two could still be heard. these days, mogwai might look a bit old for their sportswear but, as a coruscating ‘batcat’ shows, they’re aging garrulously.

from rob strong:

i thoroughly enjoyed mogwai's set, thought they were on great form.

the late running of the main stage had me worried earlier in the day, but the very sensible scheduling of band/laptop set/band/dj/band for the last five acts made the changeovers quick.

the atmosphere was pretty antagonistic as mogwai took the stage. dj skream had his set cut short and a few cans were chucked towards the stage by peeved skream fans. i can understand their frustration to some extent, in different circumstances i'd have enjoyed his set too (although i couldn't quite work out why he gets so much press attention, given that he appeared to be doing exactly the same as djs have been doing for the last 20 years?)

mogwai were on stage within a minute, possibly less, of skream finishing, and thankfully very close to their scheduled 9pm start time. i was dead centre, about 10 rows back from the stage at this point (by the end, i was only about five back from the front as the skream fans gradually left).

the start of long way was a bit confused from where we were, still a few folks shouting for skream to come back, mogwai fans moving forward through the crowd and other people moving back, didn't seem particularly loud. there was a group of lads stood right next to us who were obviously mogwai fans and who seemed to be competitively smoking and pretty hammered. i wasn't sure how that was going to develop but they, and vast majority of the folks around us, calmed down pretty quickly, helped by a pretty brutal run through jim morrison as the second track - someone found the 'loud' button on that one for sure.

the sound was good, and certainly seemed plenty loud enough from where we were. did anyone notice whether michael brennan was on the desk?

there were a few occasions when i thought my head was about to explode with excitement, none more so than the opening guitar on fear satan. magic, as always. and the melding of the end of helicon 1 into 2 rights. and that sudden speed-up in the early part of killing all the flies.

james from errors played a small second drumkit throughout 'mogwai fear satan'

don't know how obvious it was from further back, but there was a small (maybe 10 people), good natured but pretty violent mosh down the front during batcat.

funny things - during the quiet part at the end of helicon 1, someone shouted 'i want to hug you' and stuart was obviously struggling to supress his laughter. towards the end of 2 rights, some random bloke managed to get on to the front of the stage from the crowd, and stood there with his arms raised before being removed by a couple of security folks. the band carried on playing and were exchanging shrugs and grins with people in the crowd after he'd been removed.

a very enjoyable 80 mins. i'd be curious to see a printed setlist - i wonder whether the slightly late start meant they had to drop anything? 12 songs suggests not, but there was some confusion on stage about whether they were going to do an encore. it would have had to be pretty short if they'd done one, as it was 10.20 or later when they finished and the 10.30 curfew was rigid.

photos

http://mk-s.co.uk/2009/08/field-day-2009/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wits/sets/72157621916449068/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rorysteele/tags/mogwai/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ohmystars/tags/mogwai/