The way in which Suffolk’s Latitude Festival is so often hailed as a ‘family-friendly’ festival has always, until this year, put me off going, as the idea of experiencing a festival in what is essentially a giant crèche was all too much for me. However, earlier this year when Festival Republic announced a line-up featuring the likes of Foals, Hot Chip, Cat Power and Bobby Womack, I threw off my prejudices and got a ticket. And was not disappointed.
Before going into the all-important musical side of things, the sheer beauty of the festival site itself must be accounted for. Latitude boasts one of the biggest festival arenas available to the British festival-goer, with the epic Obelisk Arena and 6Music Stage providing ample spaces for the main acts and countless other stages of various size providing spaces for more intimate musical performances, literary talks, signings, comedy and cabaret. The impressive integration of the iArena and the In The Woods Stage meant festival goers could enjoy music under the ethereal canopy of the trees which surrounded the festival arena. On top of this, the festival organisers showed a meticulous attention to detail in making the site a constantly exhilarating experience, in areas such as the Lavish Lounge, providing what was basically a lusciously decked-out jazz café in the middle of a forest. In this way, the festival was a truly immersive experience, and made you want to laze around in the arena regardless of whether there were any acts that interested you. What was perhaps most impressive, however, was just how clean the festival was. Even after a full-on headline set in the Obelisk Arena, the field was almost completely devoid of the usual festival crap and gunge that comes with a heavy day of revelling. This was in part due to the green credentials and initiatives of the festival organisers, although I have a suspicion it may also have been down to the middle-class, middle-aged demographic of the festival, with their green morals and crippling recycling guilt. Until now I have always embraced the squalor of festival sites, revelled in it almost. But I’ll admit now I enjoyed the cleanliness and the liberty of being able to sit on the grass without the fear of sitting in someone’s discarded giant Yorkshire Pudding. There I said it.
Now on to the important stuff. Friday kicked off for me with a set from the riotous Mark Thomas in the Literary Arena, providing some much-needed laughs in detailing his plans to commit ‘100 Acts of Minor Dissent’. I also secretly enjoyed observing how many times Thomas had to use the word “fuck” to shift concerned parents away from the tent. Sorry, kids. The Obelisk Arena saw Cat Power take to the stage as an act surprisingly low down on the bill, and she proved that after years in the business, she certainly has not lost her edge. With near-perfect vocals and a clearly heart-felt aspect to her songs, the sun blazed down on Cat, creating a joyful experience for the Latitude folk, culminating in an almost euphoric rendition of ‘Manhattan’.
Tired of the grassy pastures which were home to the Obelisk and literary arenas, I ventured into the woods to see electro-pop sweethearts CHVRCHES. On arrival, however, the tent was so packed people were spilling out of the sides into the trees, and it was near-impossible to even catch a glimpse of the band. This was made worse at the end of the set when almost the entire tent decided they wanted to get back into the main hub of the arena. Turns out thousands of people moving in one direction through a wooded area takes a long time. For this reason, I concluded that perhaps the wooded arenas were best kept for late night raves and obscure bands, despite their beautiful atmosphere.
Bloc Party brought Friday night to a close, and their performance was solid. With a slight alteration in the band’s line-up (Hot Chip’s drummer was brought in as a replacement) and a crowd which did not fill the arena’s potentially great capacity, however, it felt as if their performance may not have achieved the heights of energy and excitement that they are famed for. Perhaps, however, this can be explained by the sheer amount of choice at Latitude. With so many acts going on throughout the day, the headliners of the Obelisk Arena seemed less important than they would at other festivals. In a way, though, this is all part of its charm, and Friday was, overall, a resounding success.
Saturday arguably saw the most exciting line-up for the literary arena, commencing with the renowned Germaine Greer. Despite being half an hour late, she more than made up for it in her dynamic and eye-opening talk. Greer concentrated on the idea of the ‘disappearing woman’, that as a woman moves away from girlhood into womanhood and slowly into old age, she starts to disappear in the eyes of the general population. The audience, made up primarily of women and girls spanning a whole range of ages, this was particularly poignant stuff, and culminated in a standing ovation lasting several minutes, proving there is hope for feminism yet. Spurred on by feminist fervour and a horrendously over-priced hog-roast, I spent my afternoon in the company of Daughter, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Hot Chip. Needless to say, all were excellent. Daughter provided the beautiful vocals, Yeah Yeah Yeahs provided the outfits, and Hot Chip provided the beat. And we danced. A lot. I should probably include something about Kraftwerk at this point, but having only caught the last few songs, and at this point being too out of it to care, four German sexagenarians in iridescent cat-suits was too funny for me to handle. I’m sure they were great.
Sunday brought the likes of Bobby Womack to the Obelisk arena, and, obviously, he was brilliant. By this point, I was fully accustomed to the family aspect of the festival, and it was genuinely uplifting to see people of all types moving to Womack’s ‘Across 110th Street’. The rest of the day saw a host of great acts from Swim Deep to Disclosure, and ended in a great set from Foals. Not accustomed to headlining such big stages, the gig was clearly an important one to the band, and this showed in the calibre of their performance. Classics such as ‘Two Steps Twice’ provided the dance, while songs such as ‘Bad Habit’ proved just how far the band have come, and it was a great end to the weekend’s music.
Having fully proved itself to me as a festival, I could not quite let Latitude go, so it was straight to the Lake Stage for some impromptu raving. It was here that I met one of Latitude’s most exciting security guards, Caz. We spent a good hour pondering life’s great philosophical mysteries: why I didn’t appear drunk after seven ciders, why the queue for the women’s toilets are so much longer at festivals, and why he decided to take a course in Health and Beauty at the University of Birmingham. Then he gave me a venison burger. After a great weekend it suddenly struck me that Latitude must be one of the best festivals I’ve been to: even its security guards are fun.