APE Presents: Field Day sold out for 2022 the day before it took place, making for a massive 15th celebratory edition. The single day festival took place in the prestigious Victoria Park, London, for All Points East’s massive 6 part series. With a new capacity of 50,000, the site was more than equipped for such a large crowd, the two main stages were on either end of the site, filled in with smaller tents, stages and concessions. It meant that the crowd was free to disperse comfortably around the site and no sound bleed was heard at any of the stages.
This year had an interesting curation of talent with newer artists meeting some veterans of the game. You had incredible talents of house and techno like DJ Rebekah, Haai, Fjaak, Folamour combined on the same day as some titans of electronic dance music history. Kraftwerk, whom pioneered the modern day festival experience, presented their incredible 3D show, based on their 50 year existence, with over 50,000 3D glasses being handed out amongst the crowd. The Chemical Brothers appeared on the line up this year, closing the show to the sell-out crowd. The English duo brought together the young and old crowd with an explosive visual display alongside their forever popular catalogue of music.
From the diverse line up here are some of our stand out tracks from the day:
Salute – Joy
Played by: Salute
This is such a feel good tune. As the sun was pouring down on the crowd, this uplifting record fit the mood absolutely perfectly. With a devilishly catchy melody and punchy drums, it’s no surprise it’s seen support from DJs like Mall Grab and across Radio 1 and Kiss. Salute’s set was littered with groove and his energy was exciting to watch!
DJ Bogdan – Love Inna Basement (Midnite XTC)
Played by: Fjaak
Fjaak have seen a meteoric rise to become the poster boys of the breaks/techno sound. Their sets are rife with energy, pulsing stabs, and fat kick drums, and this DJ Bogdan track (allegedly Bogdan is Objekt, you can hear the influence from Theme From Q) had the crowd jumping! The entire set was a mood raiser. Techno in the sun? Yes please.
ID – ID
Played by: Rebekah
As a late addition to the line up, we couldn’t have been more excited to see Rebekah turn up and destroy the 6 music stage with 150bpm + techno. Taking over the decks at 6pm, she swiftly upped the ante, keeping everyones feet moving for the full hour. Just when you think it can’t get any heavier, Rebekah pulls an even heftier jam out to melt the crowd’s mind. We’re not sure on the ID of this one, but that acid line is naughty!
Tessela – Hackney Parrot (Mark Blair Edit)
Played by: HAAi
Taking over straight from Fjaak is no easy feat, but HAAi delivered spectacularly. Her set was an odyssey of groovy techno, with this heavy unreleased Mark Blair remix of the Tessela classic “Hackney Parrot” doing the damage on the East Stage. We’re hoping this one gets a release sometime soon!
ID – ID
Played by: Denis Sulta b2b Mella Dee
An exciting back to back from the Scottish and Doncaster DJs, switching it up between house, techno, disco, and bassline. The energy (and heat) in this tent was palpable! This bassline ID got a massive reaction from the crowd, with airy vocals just before that drop comes in. ID anyone?
Summary
With the sun beating down on everyone’s necks it was a hot one, but those beautiful rays of sunshine made for happy smiles all round. The intriguing line up combination meant that you had a good range of people in the crowd from young and old, new to the genre, and veteran ravers – with everyone getting along and dancing! The sound could have done with an extra thump, with some more subs around the stages to ensure you felt the low end of the bass. However, for an open air event in the middle of London, we understand this is not always possible and it did ensure no sound bleed across the stages which is vital for the genre. Roll on next year…
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