As soon as I heard that Portishead were headlining at
Latitude Festival this summer I knew I had to go, they're one of the last bands
on my list of artists I really want to see! So on Thursday 16 July my boyfriend
and I headed to Victoria Coach Station to catch the National Express to the
festival. 9 hours later we arrived, 9 hours from London to Suffolk and 4 of
those hours pretty much at a standstill! I know there's alot of people arriving
at once but surely something could have been done. We were due to arrive
at 3pm, but didn’t get there till 9pm so I missed the National Theatre Live
screening of Everyman I had my eye on! Although we did make some friends on the bus, we were starting to think it was some kind of Big Brother experiment.
Arriving as dusk falls is quite magical
(possibly more so if you have not just spent 9 hours on a coach) particularly
as Latitude is one of the most magical places in the world! We had also splashed
out on the “glamping” option and it was worth every penny, didn’t fancy
roughing it for 4 days although as it was so dry and dusty we still seemed to
feel filthy most of the time! Tea and coffee every morning and showers with
relatively short queues were a luxury.
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| The view from our home for the weekend |
As we had missed most of Thursday night’s
programme I was interested in, we went for a wander around the site. As we were
approaching the Obelisk arena a firework display suddenly began, it was a
stunning display! One of the best I’ve seen made all the more special as it was
a complete surprise. We then continued to explore the site, as much of the
festival is set within woods it does feel enchanting and there is so much to
see it’s hard to drag yourself away.
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| Magical woods |
Friday
Friday morning arrived after a bad nights
sleep, a group of friends felt the need to loudly discuss crisps until the
early hours! First on the bill for Friday was a talk from the V&A about
their blockbuster exhibition Savage Beauty. I’ve been to the exhibition and so
was intrigued to hear more about it, and I wasn’t the only one! A packed tent
of avid listeners, and perhaps some bored partners (sorry Rob), absorbed all
the detail about the exhibition and the insights into Alexander McQueen’s life
and work.
Next up we headed to the Obelisk arena to
hear Summer Camp, perfect sunny afternoon cheery pop! Nothing breath-taking,
but a nice start to the afternoon. Then it was over to the 6Music Stage for The
Districts with their infectious energy!
Up next was something a bit different, I went
to Latitude in 2010 and don’t think I fully took advantage of the theatre
programme so when I saw that theatre company Made in China were there I made a
note to try and find them! I’d seen Made in China perform while I was working
at Battersea Arts Centre in a show called 'Gym Party'.
'Tonight I’m Gonna be the
New Me' couldn’t have been more different, while retaining the uniqueness of a
Made in China performance. We were slightly late (it’s hard to find a theatre
in the woods) so snuck in to see Jess manically dancing, this then broke to her
ragged breathing as she regained her breath the monologue began. It was at
times hilarious, then suddenly very haunting and by the end I was close to
tears. Hard to believe I was still in the woods in Suffolk!
After the intense performance from Made in
China we needed some light relief so it was off to the comedy tent for quite
possibly the best stand up performance I’ve ever seen. Russell Kane was
absolutely brilliant, I genuinely couldn’t breath at times as I was laughing so
much. Next up was Jon Richardson, unfortunately I missed a bit as I was stuck
in the queue at the bar (a theme of the weekend as the bar staff were slightly
clueless for the first couple of days), he was great too although not quite as hilarious as Russell Kane who left a lot to live up to!
During the day I tweeted Public Service
Broadcasting to ask them to play Lit Up during their set that night,
unfortunately they said it hadn’t been rehearsed but I still looked forward to
seeing them perform again (having last seen them at the BFI the previous
week!). It was a great set as usual –
the only flaw being that the screens showing the archive footage were a bit too
small to see! Django Django were up next on the BBC 6 Music stage, and with a
couple of ciders in me I was looking forward to a dance! They didn’t disappoint
and are one of my highlights of the weekend.
We were a bit torn next, Alt-J were playing
the Obelisk Arena and on the 6 Music Stage was Jon Hopkins who I was intrigued
to see. As we’ve seen Alt-J play before we decided to see a bit of their set
and then run over to hear Jon Hopkins, a perk of Latitude’s size is that this
is relatively do-able! We then ended up back at Alt-J as Jon Hopkins live is very different to Jon Hopkins on Spotify!
Saturday
Tom Robinson and Band were on at 12 on
Saturday morning, unfortunately we were a bit too sleepy to make it but we did
get to the comedy tent for 1pm to see Rob Delaney. I know him from his Channel
4 show Catastrophe but have never seen him do stand-up before. Although a funny
set at times it felt he was being crude to get a reaction rather than because
it’s funny.
Then it was time to pick up some overpriced
lunch and listen to Badly Drawn Boy or as Rob renamed him Blandly Drawn Boy.
Don’t think I need to say much more about that!
We lay out on the grass for the next artist, the perfect sunny afternoon
companion – Jose Gonzalez (remember the ad with the balls bouncing down a
hill?)
Lianne La Havas was the next artist we wanted
to see, and she completely nailed it. Flawless vocals and so much style that if you didn’t feel a bit scruffy already you
certainly did after watching her! A lovely mix of old and new songs, she had the
crowd in the palm of her hand.
At this point my excitement was building,
only a matter of hours until Portishead took to the stage but before that it
was James Blake. Rob and I watched his set at Glastonbury on TV last year and
loved it so were looking forward to his Latitude performance. It was good, but
wasn’t quite as exceptional as I’d hoped. I’m not entirely sure why but the
bass was so loud my hair was shaking (call me an old woman but I don’t like it
when it’s that loud, drowning out any melody) and I wasn’t so keen on some of
his newer material.
I was a bit wary now that Portishead might
disappoint me but I needn’t have worried at all. I’m not going to say how many
times their set moved me to tears, but it was more than once. I’ve wanted to see them for years and
couldn’t believe I was really there. Their set was as close to perfection as you can get, Beth’s vocals enchanted the crowd and her iconic swagger was
perfection. Often low lights on stage with amazing effects on the stage and
visuals behind added to the atmosphere. Even Rob who is not particularly a fan
was impressed by their performance.
During the set it suddenly turned into a
protest against the Tory government as during their performance of Machine Gun a terrifyingly large image of David Cameron’s head appeared with laser blue eyes staring into the
crowd followed by the slogan ‘Stop Tory Cuts’, whatever your political
persuasion this was a bold statement and the crowd reaction acknowledged this.
The most talked about moment is probably when
Thom Yorke wandered on stage to join the band for The Rip, no announcement just
suddenly that iconic voice I’ve heard on so many amazing Radiohead tracks and
the whisperings of everyone around going “That’s Thom Yorke”. I could write for
ages about Portishead’s set, but I’ll leave it at this, they are quite possibly
the best live band I’ve seen, ever.
After Portishead we rushed over to the Poetry
tent to try and get in to see John Cooper Clarke but it was already overflowing
and after standing outside for about 10 minutes and being pushed and shoved
around so much it just wasn’t fun. Next on our adventure was the realisation
that Thom Yorke was doing a surprise set in the woods. We rushed over along
with the rest of the festival but were met with a dust filled woods and angry
people trying to jump fences … so decided this wasn’t worth it either. A bit disgruntled
we headed back to get some chips, as we walked past the Poetry tent Rob was
wondering if John Cooper Clarke was still around before we realised that he was
standing right by us, Rob shock his hand and our disappointing half an hour was
forgotten!
Sunday
All too quickly the final day arrived, the
Last Leg were on but at 11am and after a late night the night before we didn’t
make it! So we got ourselves to the Comedy tent in time for Romesh Ranganathan,
very funny particularly when asking a 17 year old boy what his favourite
breakfast cereal is and he replies ‘granola’ – very Latitude!
Kindness were next on the bill for us, I love
their song This is Not About Us which they didn’t play. But their set was
amazingly fun, they all looked like they were having the time of their life! We
then grabbed some lunch and headed over to see the Boomtown Rats, neither of us
making the connection that their frontman is Bob Geldof, which explained the
huge crowds at the Obelisk Arena. He really is a great frontman,
completely mad and had the whole crowd transfixed!
Perhaps one of our mutual highlights of the
weekend was Seasick Steve, with the sun blazing down on us we pretended we were
in the deep South of America and as Rob said, he is just so cool. We then headed to the iArena to see Jack
Garratt, I didn’t know any of his stuff but it was great, a less well known
James Blake who still seems really fresh before the commercial music world
takes over. Then it was a dash over to hear the rest of La Roux’s set, I probably
wouldn’t have chosen to see her but it was actually brilliant, really fun
atmosphere and a good kick start to the last night!
Headliners for Sunday night at the Obelisk Arena were the Manic
Street Preachers and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds but we decided to go
and see SBTRKT instead. Although we did hear a few songs from each, SBTRKT stole
our attention. An amazing way to top off an incredible weekend, dancing around
and having an amazing time!
Latitude is a fantastic festival, a cultural feast of a
weekend with too much to see to possibly feel like you’ve taken full advantage
of everything that is going on. And to top it off we had sunshine EVERY DAY!! Despite wearing
factor 50 all weekend I now have a tan for the first time in my life. Now I just need to find a cure for those post-festival blues.
