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Overview
In a flurry of metallic temporary tattoos, fuzzy bass drops and Santa Cruz singlets, Field Day made facing 2015 that little bit more danceable for Sydneysiders yesterday. And while a cheeky 214 people have been arrested for drugs — a record number for the festival, top work y'all — the high calibre of the one-day festival lineup makes Field Day a genuine reason to not completely smash the Prosecco on New Year's Eve.
Sharing is caring in this day and age of festival production, with high freight and travel costs making it difficult for bigger international artists to top multiple festival bills throughout the year. Joining forces with the teams behind Falls Festival and Beyond the Valley, Fuzzy shared many artists from the Falls/BTV lineups to play their New Year's Day festival in Sydney — Danny Brown, Todd Terje, Jamie XX, SBTRKT et al — meaning the best bits of faraway camping festivals came right to The Domain.
This year's Field Day kicked off 2015 with every last beat in the arsenal. Danny Brown's frenetic set sent the crowd into various states of undress, punters who remained free and breezy for Peking Duk's spontaneous blasting of Darude's 'Sandstorm' to a kneeling crowd.
Gaining furious arm raising from a modest but dedicated crowd, Sydney's rap supergroup One Day hit home with the Field Day front-rowers by spinning rhymes about the HSC, while Kaytranada's set reminded us all what it means to have seriously good taste in beats hunting. Continuing said excellence in crate digging, the ever babyfaced Jamie XX generated an awkward, jolty excuse for a dancing crowd, with most newcomers to the Man of XX unsure of the Brit's unconventional beats.
As the last skerricks of light left The Domain for 2015's first Friday, things went bassy. Rufus straight-up nailed it, with big lights, big sounds and one epic drum solo from drummer James Hunt. On The Island stage, UK foursome Bastille gave a few sneak previews into their upcoming second album (take a peek at our interview with bassist Will Farquarson for more), while Hamburg's Tensnake cranked out one of the crispiest, most danceworthy sets of the festival amongst the trees.
Proving smaller stages are made for experimental electronica, no matter how big the artist, SBTRKT's set came up a little wanting, with the bass quiet, vocals strained and crowd mostly unfamiliar with the Brit's second, more experimental album Wonder Where We Land. Predictably hitting it out of the ballpark were Leeds's alt-J, with watertight harmonies, crisp sound, killer lighting and crowd singalongs aplenty. While this reviewer still maintains the band are secretly Furbies in human bodies, there ain't nothing like hearing Joe Newman's adorable voice growl about wanting to "turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet." Wowzer.
Todd Terje crammed as many slick beats into one session to wrap up the night on the Left Field stage, epic British producer Dillon Francis brought huge sounds and frenetic rainbow visuals to the Centre Stage — even stopping to scull beer from a shoe. Nice.
With one of its best lineups yet, Field Day remains one of Sydney's best ways to ring in the new year — even if you have to step over the odd used condom and scowl at several inappropriate headdresses throughout the day. Win some, lose some.