Thursday Night Showcase – Electric Fields Review

Electric Fields is the latest outdoor music event to hit Dumfries & Galloway, and the weather couldn’t have been better for its debut.
Set in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle near Thornhill, the setting was ideal and the festival arena was compact enough that food, drink and music were placed snugly together. So much so, that the two main stages were placed side by side so that when one act finished, another started on the second stage 5 minutes later. No waiting around for bands to play, no two-mile treks to get food. Just a perfect little festival playground.

Local music opened the show, with Annan band The Sheepwagon being first on stage to entertain the revellers who had arrived as the gates opened. Barstow Bats followed, with Cammy Black delivering a great set (as usual) after. It was a shame to see these acts on so early and playing to a ‘relaxed’ crowd, but nice to see them on the stage regardless. A personal highlight of Cammy’s set was seeing probably the youngest fan in the crowd – Cammy’s toddler niece – dancing and singing along to his songs. Very cute indeed.
More From Jim played their ‘last’ gig (or was it?) and entertained the crowds with plenty of ska, semi-nakedness and general shenanigans. I sincerely hope that isn’t the last we see of them.

If you keep up with the Thursday Night Showcase news, you’ll already know that I’ve attended a lot of festivals and events over the summer and was pretty tired out, so I welcomed the chilled out feel of the acoustic stage at where local favourites such as Zoe Bestel and Bobby Holly both played beautiful sets. Surrounded by picnic benches, bunting and fairy lights, it offered a relaxing space with great sound quality despite being in such close proximity to the main stages.

Later in the day Scottish bands from further afield such as Vukovi, The LaFontaines, Vigo Thieves and Fatherson all took to the stage and as the sky grew darker, the place began to feel like a real festival. Every band on the line up held the attention of the crowd both due to the quality of the music and the 20 – 40 minute sets. By the end of the night, most were pleased to head home to the comfort of their own beds knowing that Electric Fields had truly marked the end of festival season.

So, to summarise…

Positives

• Quality of the music – the line-up was amazing.
• Quick changeover times between stages – very little standing around waiting.
• Location – stunning.
• Capacity – it was nice going to such a small festival. Easy to find people if you lost them!
• A good bit of buzz created through Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos appearing on stage with The Amphetameanies.
• Sound quality – everything sounded perfect.
• The layout of the beer tent was superb and well managed. Good to see local music shop Jurassic with a stand there.
• Having the Green Tea Room from Moniaive was great for veggies like me!
• Good police presence early on in the day – they were very friendly and approachable too!

Negatives

• Lack of local music acts – although I’m a bit biased about that…
• Site layout – although compact and great once inside, we experienced issues coming from the caravan site due to lack of barriers around the site. I believe that this wouldn’t have been the case from those who were coming from the car parking or camping areas, but might be something that needs to be looked at next year.
• Disappointing (for some!) when the beer tent ran out of vodka at night, and some of the food tents ran out of some of their menu in the early evening.
• A better variety of food would have been good for meat-eaters – only 3 food stands, 1 of which was vegetarian.
• Security staff – generally not very friendly or approachable. No security presence at caravan area (or possibly for the car parking and camping areas, although I can’t say for sure).
• Not a great deal for children to do.

Verdict

A good debut for this festival, although it will be interesting to see how they beat the quality of this year’s line up if there’s an Electric Fields 2015…

Melissa Gunn, 2014