A quick search for English summer festival reviews of the last ten years or so that begin with the words “Despite the rain…” (Or its variants) would probably yield hundreds of results. Such is the regularity of rain soaked summer events that many of us either clear off to the continent, or steer clear completely. Nevertheless, with a pretty solid list of mix leftfield indie pop/rock types (Mogwai, Errors, Mystery Jets) and established DJs/producers (Fake Blood, Skream, Aeroplane, Erol Alkan, Fennesz), you might think that despite the rain, Field Day would have been a big success. Unfortunately, poor sound quality and one or two lacklustre performances will have left the organisers with a few things to think about ahead of next year.

The day began well with Fanfarlo taking the stage forty-five minutes later that scheduled. Not a typical Pejhy band, the group play melody driven indie pop, with horns, keyboards and the like which all combine to create a sound somewhere between early Belle & Sebastian and Beirut. The performance was tight, with lead singer Simon Balthazaar’s voice particularly good, and with the rain holding off, it looked like Field Day was only going to get better. Next up were Errors, a Glasgow band on Mogwai’s Rock Action label. They don’t play many gigs this end of the country and although at times they appeared a little bewildered, their measured post-electro synths and bleeps sound transferred surprisingly well into a live setting. Tracks like ‘Hans Herman’ were given extra bite and sounded more grizzled than on record: a good thing given how easy it would be for them to turn up, press play and sit back. Hopefully we will see them play more gigs in England when their new album is released next year.

By the time Owen Pallet aka Final Fantasy came on stage, the Eat Your Own Ears stage has just about got back on schedule. Pallet is the man behind the string arrangements for the Arcade Fire album ‘Funeral’ and has also worked with Canadian indie-poppers Hidden Cameras. Undoubtedly a gifted musician, the problem with the set was not his own. His voice and violin (+ loop pedal) is more suited to indoor performances, and consequently his sound seemed to be carried off by the frequent gusts of wind and rain. Unfortunately, a similar fate struck Fennesz. Stuck on a stage that would be ill-suited to his kind of fuzzed out electronica in the sunniest of conditions, additional problems with the sound quality meant that the intricacies of his work were lost. A shame that the quality of the equipment was detrimental to the set, but sadly not a problem that was limited to Fennesz.

Four Tet who played the Adventures in the Beetroot Field tent suffered badly because the sound simply wasn’t loud enough. With the rain forcing a number of people into tents they may otherwise have avoided, Kieran Hebden had the impossible task of battling the chatter of drenched London hipsters. He did treat his audience to the brilliant ‘Moth’ and at least Hebden tried, which is more than can be said for Malcolm Middleton. The former Arab Strap member seemed bored through out, perhaps believing that many of the people watching on were only there because it was raining outside. His attitude may be understandable but in the past, Middleton hasn’t shied away from confronting those that interfere with his set. In Norwich 08 he quite admirably said that anyone using their phone during the gig was ‘…not fucking welcome. Seriously. Fuck off outside.’ In Norwich he got a huge cheer; If he tried that on Saturday, no-one would have listened.

Mogwai were the final act to take to the EYOE stage. A performance that for many will have justified the entrance fee alone. They were a staggering climax to a festival which faces a dilemma. On the one hand Field Day is in a great location, and from the start has had interesting, diverse line-ups (where else could you see Mogwai follow Skream?) for a price much lower than many of the more established festivals. But with such diversity comes a cost. Festivals are rarely the best place to see your favourite band, much of the interest is passing at best and consequently passable performances can be reduced to rubbish because some of the crowd would rather talk than listen. Field Day seems to suffer from this problem to significant degree. Things are not helped when the sound quality is poor and the organisers are going to have to try and address these issues if they want to continue to compete in a growing market.