Earlier this month, a joyful celebration of club culture took place in a brand new leafy location under the guise of Field Maneuvers — returning for the first time since 2019. Three sun-soaked days and laser-filled nights packed with good vibes,, the festival brought a warm crowd of up-for-it party people, performers and artists to four stages, decked out with top spec sound-systems, hard visuals and a host of the most revered DJs.
Field Maneuvers’ carefully curated, diverse programme aims to represent the broad-ranging sounds, styles and characters of the global club scene, and this year they featured more takeovers than ever. Stage takeovers came from London’s queer clubbing mecca Dalston Superstore, South Asian Collective Daytimers, Berlin’s queer femme / non-binary forward collective, Room 4 Resistance, Elena Colombi’s Osare Editions, South London’s Touching Bass and more brought an exciting set of international artists across the spectrum of electronic sounds to the fore.
Amongst the line up was rapid-rising, London-based prodigy Tia Cousins. Having spent the last couple of years playing at some of the most exciting events across UK such as Risen Festival, Patterns, Cabin Fever and Gottwood, the young artist has also supported the likes of Overmono — set to support them for their Ireland leg of their tour this October. We asked Tia for her favourite moments from this years Field Maneuvers outing.
Sputnik
I really hope there’s a Sputnik in heaven, it’s the tent of dreams! The lasers, the sound system, the fog machine which really throws you off when you’re not sober – what more could you want? There’s no place like it! If I ever get married (which is highly unlikely) there will be a Sputnik at my wedding.
Dalston Superstore Takeover
Sunday funday, the vibes were immaculate! I vividly remember tucking into my brekky to the sound of Alexis Jordan – Happiness, being dropped by Reece Spooner, at this point I knew it was going to be a great day. We spent the whole day dancing by the lake, intermittently imitating the giant inflatable tube man who was swaying in the wind. Also big shoutout to Nadia Ksaiba and Michelle Manetti for killer sets!
iona
A truly iconic set from an absolute queen, iona made the Sputnik her bitch!! A set full of so much fun and energy, I loved it when Lobsta B’s edit of Call Me Maybe / The Vengaboys got dropped! I actually don’t remember any more specific moments, as I was absolutely inebriated, but I do know I had a banging time.
Techno Pacifist Sanctuary
The tent of peace, tranquility and choco coconut chai teas. Ever since I first visited FM in 2019, I have gone to every other festival wishing there was an ambient tent like this! A much needed place to sit back and relax, after some pretty wild times in the other tents. Bring back ambient/chill out rooms everywhere!
Danny from Peckham who works with trains
Last but not least, shout out to Danny from Peckham who I first met at the fest in 2019 and haven’t had contact with since. Big legend appears out of nowhere and asks if I remember him – how could I forget you Danny! Danny if you see this pls slide in the DMs cause me and Jacob wanna go for beers with you!
Follow Tia Cousins on Instagram.
