With rucksack firmly thrown tentwards after 8 hours of tubes, trains and automobiles, the wait appears worth it. The serene site of Latitude folds out from a lake in the middle, adorned with lily pads and gondolas. It’s almost tempting to forget about dirty old rock n roll – almost.
Day one begins with KYTE’s sonic blasts echoing around the lake stage, with breathy vocals soothing the seated sun worshippers. Next, and BEARSUIT are suitably twee: their backdrop balloons spell out their name and sway almost in time to the music (careful, the mini cheddars might reappear).
FRANZ FERDINAND have morphed in the past few years, from skinny pant wearing schmindies to blisteringly big headliners. They come out fighting with the jaunty yet dark ‘Michael’, seamlessly ingraining in your soul favourites-in-the-making, such as ‘Ulysses’.
Fortunately Sunday takes a soft start, with JOANNA NEWSOM forgetting some of her words with a sheepish apology to a hushed and appreciative coo. Those with their ears to the ground stampede and strain to catch a glimpse of LYKKE LI . She may be angelic, but the voice and attitude are getting ballsier as she abruptly exits following ‘Can I Kick It?’.
At a crowd-bare Obelisk, THESE NEW PURITANS’ paranoid, iridescent drones during ‘Swords of Truth’ are too diffused in the open air. Meanwhile, fresh from some fisticuffs with Johnny Rotten, FOALS are sleep deprived; they play a set of controlled chaos allowing this exhausted hour to feel like the real future calling.
To THE BREEDERS, and we find that Kim and Kelly Deal are typical siblings – one being respectable and well kempt, the other sporting un- brushed hair and cracking jokes about her mum’s Alzheimers. Still, if it influences a single as good as ‘Here No More’, you can hardly blame Kim for being witty about the ordeal.
BLACK LIPS on a bill = debauchery, and within the first minute spit is flying up in the air and getting caught in the mouth again. Hooray (?) Meanwhile, INTERPOL loom like morbid rock moguls and play a set of draining intensity, proving Paul Banks to have the most doom-laden croon in the world atop.
And with the encore ‘NYC’, the end of the festival is nigh. The sheep will turn back to white and the woods will be abandoned – but July 09 can’t come soon enough.
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Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
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