Founder Tom Baker steps back from Field Day

Eat Your Own Ears’ Tom Baker, the co-founder of Field Day, has confirmed he is no longer involved with the long-running London festival, three years after its acquisition by Broadwick Live.

Baker – who started Field Day alongside Marcus Weedon (who now runs Christmas-themed event Winterville) in 2007 – remained part of the Field Day team in a programming capacity in the turbulent two years following the Broadwick roll-up. Field Day previously took place in Victoria Park but was forced to move to Brockwell Park in Brixton for 2018, before settling on new permanent home at Broadwick’s industrial Drumsheds space near Enfield this year.

“After 12 years of living and breathing Field Day – something I co-founded in 2007, and that seeded out of earlier multi-genre events my partner and I did before, [including] Village Mentality and Return of the Rural at the 291 Gallery, Hackney, and Homefires at Conway Hall – it feels like the right time for me to move on to new things,” he tells IQ. “It’s a blank canvas, a challenge, but time to do something exciting and creative in a very changed landscape.

“Aphex Twin closing the 17,000-capacity the Barn structure in 2017 with an epic, mind-bending, incredibly magical set was a huge highlight, and one that will stay with me when I remember what Field Day was.

“After 12 years of living and breathing Field Day … it feels like the right time for me to move on”

“As was spotting members of Radiohead in the audience at an ecstatically received Toumani Diabate show at Field Day in 2009, when ‘world acts’ were viewed as a controversial booking.”

Baker says his focus now is on his promotions firm, Eat Your Own Years (EYOE), which has busy calendar of events for the rest of this year.

“Eat Your Own Ears has a strong autumn line-up with a brand-new live AV show from Floating Points, the return of Metronomy and Bill Callahan, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s biggest-ever show, Alexandra Palace,” he continues, plus “Hot Chip are back with brilliant new album and Alexandra Palace show, Anna Calvi’s third Mercury Prize nomination, EYOE celebrates the music of Talk Talk and Mark Hollis with a very special event at the South Bank, and much, much more.”

Field Day is expected to return in 2020, though owner Broadwick has yet to announce dates. Upcoming shows at the Drumsheds include Kano, Chase & Status and Elrow London’s Halloween event, Horroween.

 

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