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Latitude 2012 - the aftermath thread
Wow, what a weekend. Have woken up feeling massively inspired and re-invigorated (rather than destroyed, which I'm sure I should do).
HIGHLIGHTS
- M83's new EDM-gaze sprawl of noise
- Sharon Van Etten's sonic leaps and heartbreaking voice (she came into our cabin to play 'Leonard' and I still have goosebumps)
- dEUS! dEUS! dEUS!
- dEUS playing 'Instant Street' in the DiS cabin (video to follow v.soon!)
- dEUS pouring me whisky and allowing me to chat for hours with one of my all-time favourite bands
- Yeasayer being all kindsa amazing. I'm sure a True Blood sex-trance broke out around me at one point. (they came in to our cabin and showed us some of their gear)
- nearly losing my voice shouting 'HOLD ME LIKE BEFORE, HOLD ME LIKE YOU USED TO! HOLD ME LIKE YOU USED TO!'
- Antlers (gee, I'm predictable)
- Perfume Genius playing a session for us that was so intense and gorgeous that I think Jordan Dowling might have imploded.
- Wild Beasts telling us a story about their "feminine guitar" which they bought along for 'show and tell'
- Josh T Pearson and his blowjob jokes interviewing Elbow for DiS
- the enthusiasm that pours from Dom Gourlay when he talks about music, it's so incredibly infectious
- everything about Latitude
LOWS
- a few things clashing (Antlers, Polica and Chairlift being by far the most frustrating but I somehow managed to see 20mins of all three!)
- missing St. Vincent but I got to meet Chilly Gonzales
- failing at the high-art of taking wellies off whilst getting into a tent
We'll have these interviews and sessions up throughout this week and save a few bits for the coming weeks so you don't get deluged with it all at once http://drownedinsound.com/lists/latitude-festival
p.s. a extra special thank you to the crew from http://www.accesstomusic.co.uk/ who helped record and film our interviews and sessions this weekend. A lovely and hard-working bunch of people.
OK:
HIGHLIGHTS:
- The weekend long euphoria induced by completely unexpectedly getting a ticket Friday morning, sacking off work, and hopping on the first train out of London...
- Tune Yards. Saw her last year, and she's come on even more in the time since. Absolutely next level, life affirming stuff. The effortlessness of what she can do with her body (it somehow feels a disservice to just say 'voice') is staggering.
- SBTRKT. Shit was going pretty hard down the front for that - crowd surfing and pits. I'd never seen them live before and it was so amazing to see them really push themselves for the live show, when lesser acts would just use a laptop or whatever. Amazing set, danced like a git.
- Bon Iver. Predictibly great, but wonderful all the same.
- Wanda Jackson - Didn't even know she was playing. Came across as a class act, had a little dance, and something about older people being so hyper-awesome and active in their twilight years is just inherently uplifting.
- Josh T Pearson - Seen him a bunch of times, but never fails to completely hijack me. There's something about his guitar playing - how deeply responsive and alive it sounds - which tears me up just as much as the lyrics. I may or may not have cried. I bumped into him at one of the bars, and was a jammering wreck.
LOWLIGHTS
- Saturday was just a slower day in general, no? Missed a wealth of good stuff travelling there on the Friday - could've done with more spread out onto the Sat. (This first 'lowlight' gives a flavour of how little I have to complain about here...)
- St Vincent tours with a backing band now?! Is it something to do with sharpening the juxtaposition between the clean, spacious and serene arrangements with her searing, fucked up guitar lines? I kind of understand what she's going for there, if so, but I three hundred times preferred her touring with a band.
- Kurt Vile. Was just really lifeless to my ears. Although, I had just come away from Janelle Monae (another definite highlight)
In short - IT WAS A WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WEEKEND AND I HOPE YOU ALL HAD AS BLOODY MARVELLOUS A TIME AS ME!
well thats as good as an outdoor festival in the UK is gonna get
Gotta do my review later, so ill mention what i wont there; cheers to sean for cognac and perfume genius, nice to bump into fuckyeahdubstep on sunday, girl on the production area gate for putting up with me for 10 minutes whilst i figured out where i knew her from, jtp for humouring me with a pity laugh when i told him a joke. Oh everything except "woop woop" guy
Christ, you just reminded me of woop woop guy
Even when he was off shift there was people sitting at the benches by the beer tent shouting it every five minutes :(
just realised most people are still asleep/driving back
but if you hate the DiS gallery pagination as much as I do (can't wait til I have enough money to finish the new website!!), I've put a little sampler of photos up on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150987690253145.429890.19343183144
if you hate facebook
photos sampler also up on G+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/106899308697136746325/106899308697136746325/posts/M2mBnxyXxYu
2 Questions...
I really enjoyed Latitude the one time that I went, 2008 I think (Interpol, Sigur Ros etc etc) and the site is undoubtedly beautiful.
1) But, I recall there being lots of complaints a few years back that the crowd was now too large and that it had become LADitude. Is that still the case or has the audience profile returned to how it used to be?
2) Is there still a problem with thefts from tents? I've been to A LOT of festivals over an 18 year timespan and have never had as much hassle as I had at Latitude. My tent was wide open to the elements virtually everytime I returned to it and all of stuff had been rifled through. It was a major hassle and mos of the tents around us were turned over. There were a load of fights with Scousers (sorry, but they were!) who had got 'lost' and entered tents by 'mistake' and the whole thing put me off going back. In the end we kept pretty much everything apart from sleeping bags in the car, but it was a hassle having to walk back and forth for everything all of the time.
It was certainly busier than 2007/8 (the two times I went previously)
but the atmosphere was pretty much the same as it ever was. Also, didn't hear of any thefts this year - they've got a lot more staff patrolling the campsites now.
Sounds like most people in this thread were
in 'guest camping', where I'd imagine tent theft is very rare.
Nah, I had a guest pass
But camped in regular as that's where my friends were.
EFFING BRILLIANT
MORE TO COME L8ER
good
I thought they were better at ATP.
I dunno if they are a Saturday afternoon kind of band. I really enjoyed 'Sunflower' and 'Try to Sleep' but they played to a pretty sparse crowd (despite the fact it was raining outside).
weird set too
i appreciated hearing songs i hadn't before, but 'Pissing' and 'Monkey' is a strange opening couplet. really surprised to hear 'I Remember' and nothing from Drums and Guns.
'Especially Me' and 'Try to Sleep' were two of my favourite songs of the weekend. So intense. The rest of the set was a little meandering but good nonetheless.
Especially Me was definitely the highlight
really great weekend
- Destroyer with his big backing band busting out the smooth jams
- Janelle Monae looking annoyed as she tried to get the entire festival to kneel down the mud for a laugh
- Tim Key doing an even better performance of his set from last year and basically being the best stand-up around
- Van Dyke Parks being the strangest old man ever
- double bill of mind boggling future rock from Zun Zun Egui and then BATTLES tearing the festival a new lake after technical difficulties
- really great talks in the literary tent about revolutions, footy and brains
- having to hug Jordan last night after the tent basically being silent for Perfume Genius
- Metronomy becoming a proper main stage killing band
- the tiny Laetitia Sadier solo set last night featuring her doing International Colouring Contest
so much more. really great weekend with loads of highlights (and admittedly some low points as well).
you didn't HAVE to
cheers anyway. did you enjoy Wild Beasts?
they were decent. second time i've seen them play to a big festival crowd on the Smother tour and I think I preferred them playing small shows with less bongos and MPCs and sub bass etc
oh that was YOU!?
i was/am Will, hi Jordan
ah cool
i thought you were just a real person keiran knew.
hi
Saw loads of genuinely brilliant acts.
Highlights:
M83 sounding massive.
Perfume Genius playing to a crowd that actually stopped talking for once.
Dexy's.
Lloyd Cole (and his son) playing the VU.
Sharon Van Etten.
Toy.
Josh T. Pearson's standup routine.
Los Campesinos owning the Lake Stage.
Elbow playing 'Scattered Black and Whites'.
Moshi Moshi DJs on Friday night.
Lows:
The crowd in general (sorry) - talking through bands / LADS on tour / camping chair nazis. Had to move so many times during Bon Iver just to hear.
Alabama Shakes - just a bit tedious.
Battles only playing for 20 minutes 'cos of technical issues (the drummer looked well pissed off)
The sound on the 'i-stage' and missing Django Django as a result.
Not managing to catch anything in the comedy or literary tents.
Other stuff:
Lana Del Rey pulled a massive crowd and is apparently very popular with teenage girls. Still all feels a bit contrived though.
Went to see Dingus Khan purely on the basis of that thread that was on here and was pleasantly surprised!
Stanier launching his snare drum across the backstage after smashing it by playing so hard was a festival highlight
That twenty-minute delay was infuriating but their set was just pure intensity in ten cities. Stanier's slowly-building fury (chainsmoking on stage throughout the technical difficulties, launching the snare dream and finally whilst packing up the drum kit, taking it all out upon a pillow) was perhaps the main cause of that. Man needed a hug.
It was bloody marvellous
Sunday's line-up was what all festivals should aspire to.
HIGHLIGHTS
Los Campesinos- Haven't checked them out since a disappointing Scala performance in 2007, in hindsight this was probably a mistake. All the hits, loads of good-natured pogoing and more fun than anything else I've seen this year.
Elbow- Yeah, they're a bit middlebrow, but they owned that headline slot in a way Bon Iver totally failed to do. "One Day Like This" with a fuckton of fireworks was nigh-on perfect.
St Vincent- Always found her very hit-and-miss live, but yesterday she was flawless. Setlist was wonderful (although would have killed to have heard 'Krokodil') and that shimmy she does when shredding her guitar to fuck = <3
Zun Zun Egui- Totally nailed it. They've cut down on the self-indulgence jams, and finally focused on what they're best at- getting people to dance. That drugged up teen who looked a bit like that lass from the Clingy Girlfriend meme was pretty annoying though.
Lang Lang- Watching one of the world's foremost pianists performing Chopin and Liszt on the Waterfront Stage was a pretty sweet way to spend a sunny Sunday lunchtime.
Liz Green - Charming, eccentric set from a singer whose voice belongs to a different era.
Apparat- Never heard 'em before, but their soundscapey electronica was mesmerising. Fine way to wrap up the festival.
Destroyer- Been waiting years to see Bejar in action, didn't disappoint. Hearing "Rubies" at last made me so happy.
Battles- Technical problems abound and Stanier looked very unhappy, but "Atlas" remains an absolute beast of a song. The dog collar-wearing vicar standing next to me was loving it.
M83- Couleurs with added sax. Enough said.
Also: halloumi, chorizo and tzatziki rolls. That ballerina suspended by a balloon above the lake at 1am Sunday morning. The guest portaloos, which were SO less grim than the ones in the regular campsite. Free yogurts every morning.
LOWLIGHTS
Alt-J- Dull hipster bollocks.
Band Clashes- Missed Daugher, Other Lives, Chilly Gonzalez, most of Edward Sharpe and Janelle Monae and pretty much everything that wasn't on the music stages. That's probably a testament to the strength of its line-up more than anything else though.
Some of the audience- Latitude has a diverse line-up and thus attracts a diverse selection of people, which includes both perfectly pleasant, civil human beings and absolute steaming cunts.
Mud- By Sunday night, it had reached Glasto levels of turgidness.
Not pleasant.
Thoroughly enjoyed it
HIGHLIGHTS
Perfume Genius - didn't really enjoy him at Primavera last year, but his performance last night in front of a beautifully silent crowd was incredible and, as with a few people above, almost moved me to tears.
Alt-J - bit annoying everyone doing them hand triangles at them, but other than that, I thought they were excellent. My favourite bit was shouting the "BADABADA" bits in Breezeblocks. That was fun.
Sharon van Etten - annoyingly missed my favourite song (All I Can) because we were late getting in, but the rest of it was brilliant. Me and my mate pretty much fell in love with her.
Josh T Pearson's blowjob jokes. All his between song banter was a complete surprise to me, having never seen him before. His music was pretty good too, especially when he started really going at that guitar.
Django Django - I couldn't see a thing, but still thought they were great. Really got everybody going.
Singing loudly to all the Elbow songs, especially Tower Crane Driver. Probably pissed a few people off, but they all had blankets and chairs so can do one. Was so pleased they played Scattered Black And Whites, but would it have killed them to play something (ANYTHING) off the second album? They seem to be completely ignoring that at gigs now, and the first one pretty much.
Dexys' love of a false ending. They well and truly dragged Come On Eileen out, but I'm really glad they did. I thought I was watching a musical at a few points during their set. That's a good thing.
Scroobius Pip's late night poetry.
Smuggling cans and wine boxes.
Pie and mash.
LOWLIGHTS
Mainly the rain and mud.
Also, as alluded to above, all the dicks with camping chairs and blankets. I suppose they're alright during the day, but they're a right fucking pain during headliners, especially when they have them fairly close to the front. I started just walking on blankets with my muddy wellies because I'm a wanker and couldn't be arsed walking twice as far just to avoid them every time I went to the loo.
Kids with daibolos.
Band clashes.
No shit gigs really (nothing can top Glasvegas from last year). Other Lives were a bit boring I suppose, and while Bon Iver sounded pretty good, I'm not sure he's festival headline material. Needed more singalongs.
All in all though, a very enjoyable weekend. Will probably do it again.
did anyone see Principle Six or The Grubby Mitts in the woods?
both got my attention as i was walking past. fabulous
Saw the start of The Grubby Mitts
but felt a bit self conscious because there was pretty much nobody else there at that point, and there was somebody about to start in the i-arena that we wanted to see. What we heard sounded good though.
ah
they were really good.
Had a great time
highlights
The Field- been rinsing his records recently, the only problem was the lack of crowd response
Sharon Van Etten- actually moved me quite a bit, which pretty much never happens
Zola Jesus- she's really transformed from lo-fi witch house to electro queen. Not sure about that dress though.
The Horrors-sounded great and really energetic, could have done without the teens starting mosh pits.
Amadou & Mariam- 2nd band I saw and possibly the most joyous.Dad dancing abound.
Wanda Jackson- fuck she's old. But charming. Really nice atmosphere.
Josh T Pearson's jokes. Wssn't enthralled by the music really.
St Vincent's amazing footwork/guitar shredding. Can tell she's a perfectionist. Could be even bigger.
Low, Apparat and M83 were all great as well. (Except from a few new M83 songs which are basically anthems/power ballads and not real songs. Think he's pandering to the festival crowds with those.
Film and music tent had loads of great stuff on. Saw some really odd video art, the Abi Morgan talk and the Chemical Brothers ravefilm.
Lowlights
Rain on Friday night. Wore shoes stupidly, and felt a bit miserable by 2am.
The lack of proper acts after 11. Thoughts the DJ's were generally a bit dodgy. Heard one play Tinie Tempah at the Sunrise arena. Not on. Could really do with putting acts like Walls and The Field on around this time.
Food prices- some things were ok, but it was a miracle to find a filter coffee for less than £3. Thai was good.
Some apathetic/nobbish audiences. Because the festival is so diverse you get a few people just standing around looking bemused.
Great festival though, I was reminded how nice Latitude was on Sunday night, walking through the woods in the twilight.
Oh and Battles only playing about 4 songs was a blow
They were brilliant. Not sure why they couldn't have been more flexible with the line up.
I think my favourite thing was Tony Harrison in the poetry tent
I think we only went because we couldn't get into Adam Buxton, but it was totally amazing, really powerful, biblical stuff about, um, death. The in conversation between Mark Ravenhill and Giles Fraser was brilliant as well.
Musical highlights - walking into Battles exactly in time for the very first note of Atlas; Destroyer's live version of Rubies was incredible - it never occurred to me that Dan Bejar might actually be able to sing; Walls and The Field both great... I assume there must be some licencing reason why 'live' dance music isn't allowed late but DJs are. Still, in general there's fuckloads more to do now after the headliners finish, I think they're quite close to cracking the perfect formula, logistically, I just wish they'd just up their game a bit vis a vis main stage headliners.
no idea what vis a vis means
but i think the main stage headliners were pretty good. radio 2 stuff for the families. i'll stick to the word tent
Won't be the Word tent next year...
that's for sure.
Perhaps DiS should apply for the franchise.
with all the behind the scenes stuff DiS have done
they'll have a lot to bargain with. can't wait til its all up
I get the Radio 2 thing
it's not really a big criticism, I just feel like it didn't used to be SO meat'n'potatoes. I dunno, if you take the attitude 'the main stage isn't for me' then that's fair enough, but I have seen some really great stuff there and I do feel like it has got MORE Radio 2 of late...
oh, i'm not saying its not for me
not at all. really enjoyed Bon Iver and Elbow. what i meant more is; those are the sort of bands that pull in the families and keep the capacity high. i would have been happy solely with the Word and I Arena line-ups in all honesty, so i don't mind meat and potatoes.
incidentally, who would you have put on the main stage for next year? me and Dom were talking about possible headliners for next year. Belle and Sebastian & Arcade Fire are good shouts i reckon. My Morning Jacket, The Chameleon and Band Of Horses would probably be good main stagees too.
think it's a frustration with Latitude
that Arcade Fire are probably a bit too big for them now, even though they'd be the perfect band, I can imagine Glastonbury might beckon... Sufjan would be great if he's doing stuff, maybe Animal Collective if the album's a hit, PJ Harvey if she's back in action... Jack White, maybe?
are Arcade Fire bigger than Elbow?
i'm not sure.
Jack White...good call for Sunday.
weeeeell
I'd probably say they are, they headlined Hyde Park and Reading/Leeds and they'd be a plausible Glasto headliner... not beyond the realms of possibility, though, I just thank that with the relative dearth 'young' bands who can headline a festival these days then they'll be a very hot property next year...
true enough
I'd really like to see Wilco headline,
maybe the Friday night. Think they'd be great to open things up.
I think Pulp would be perfect headliners.
Too big perhaps?
hard to say
I think nowadays it's big enough that you'd be hard pressed to say many acts were 'too big' to headline it, but it still does only have a capacity of 35,000, which is 20,000 less than even Bestival, so in terms of competing for headliners it's always going to have its work cut out booking anybody properly massive. And I guess even if, say, Radiohead wanted to play there - not totally implausible - having a band of their scale would probably unbalance things. Pulp next year would probably be fine, though.
Had an amazing time this year
Highlights :
Destroyer - Didn't know much about them aside from listening to Kaputt a couple of times when it came out but they were excellent, Dan Bejar is completely captivating and will be delving into their catalogue.
The Antlers - Amazing as always, new song sounded so good live.
Dingus Khan - Great fun to watch and even more fun to chat with.
The Walls - Brilliant set but really should've been on around 1am, it was far too early for them.
Chilly Gonzales - What a showman, could've watched him perform for hours.
St. Vincent - Left me speechless, tried to cheer between songs but couldn't even speak, ten times better than when I saw her last year and that was great enough.
Doing some really interesting interviews especially the chat I had with Sean, the passion in which he talks about what he does is very inspiring.
Getting free cake from various food stalls everyday.
There's a load of other stuff I've probably forgotten.
Lowlights
Getting dropped off by the coach at 4:30 on Thursday and having to wait over 2 hours for someone to take a load of us round to the guest camping area as they wouldn't let us walk through the site. There was a queue of over 100 people including bands and in the end we had to pay a coach driver a couple of quid each to drive us round to the other side of the site.
Some twat camped near me continuously shouting "shamone motherfucker" all night long, it's not fucking 2008 anymore!
Twin Shadow - Left after 3 songs, what I've heard of the new album I really like but really didn't enjoy it live.
That's about it really, had a great time and really look forward to doing it all again next year.
What the fuck..
meant Walls not The Walls, I need some sleep.
Oh god, I got stuck waiting to get a shuttle bus to Guest area as well
complete shambles. The mini buses were ridiculous.
First time at Latitude. Really enjoyed it.
Like Glastonbury levels of enjoyment. I think the really telling thing is that, whilst I dont regret seeing anything, I feel like I could go back and see completely different things on the same line-up and still enjoy myself.
Was really struck by the amount of families there...
Highlights:
Paul Heaton's the 8th- Went not knowing what to expect, and really enjoyed it, even if I am still confused about what I saw...
Elbow- Top Headliner. Still shaking my head about that thread a few weeks back that asked what the point in seeing them live was...
Lang Lang- lying in the sun with a coffee and then a gin listening to amazing music. Perfect...
Buena vista Social Club- so fun.
Summer Camp being announced last minute.
Battles set. Never been a big fan but wow
Chinese Elvis- what an incredible way to end the weekend!
Honourable mentions- Los Camp, Josh T Pearson, Bon Iver, M83, destroyer, Janelle Monae, Amadouille and miriam, Apparat, ETC ETC (thats just the Music)
Lowlights
Somehow being a complete idiot and missing all but the last two tracks of the Antlers through napping. Really kicking myself over this one...
Battles having coming on late and not being able to do a full set.
That mad cup collection thing?!
Screaming baby in the tent next door.
food wasn't wuite as good as i hoped...
In conclusion: I wish every weekend was like this! I now have so much music to check out, which is really exciting. Feeling extremely exhilarated about the whole thing.
Had a fantastic time
Too exhausted to give a proper run down. But as others have said, Destroyer was great (Rubies was one of the best things I've ever seen). St Vincent was ridiculously good - just captivating, amazing stage presence. M83, Battles, Bon Iver and Janelle Monae also killed it
this was my first festival
There's a load of other stuff I've probably forgotten.
don't know how ^that happened
pretty gutted it's over now. it was heaps good.
here are some highlights-
i stumbled into a tent
Archie the Inventor was talking about a book he'd recently written.
I sang him his theme tune, shook his hand, then left.
Tim Key was on top form. had to bite the arm of my brother to muffle my laughter during the unraveling man joke.
Zun Zun Egui were hands down the best band i saw.
Met a girl in Low, watched the Elbow fireworks from her tent.
chatted to Wooden Shijips about the benefits of european toilets.
did a gig on the Lake stage. smashed the set real hard. there was a wall of death at one point..no hiccups other than this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b7NHhojp30
met sadballadman after. he did an accidental Sting impression.
took full advantage of the backstage stuff. ate all the food, pillaged the dressing rooms, got a haircut and had a rainbow tiger painted on my face.
caught the last couple of Battle tunes. guitarist made his guitar sound like steel drums. drummer had his cymbal real high.. pretty exciting
ate nothing but cold tinned ravioli
the best thing there was John Cooper Clarke last night. he blew my mind. If you get the chance to see him, you must. Machine gunning words at a staggering pace. so sharp. still recovering from it.
gripes:
bands were not loud enough for my liking.
the chair people.
people who think it's acceptable to refuse others entry / won't move to let others in / out
the arena didn't stay open long enough, there should be a few more things which last 'til the early hours.
overall
brilltastic
jcc was on top form
Musical highlights-
Rufus - strutted out and bellowed out a minute long acapella intro to his first song. Earned his long Sunday slot.
Francois and the Atlas Mountains - Well not many saw them to be impressed by their funky gallic indie but the ones that did could have watched twice as much (and we a bit enraged when they were pulled off after 5 songs despite the big long gap after them on that stage).
Dingus Khan - A surefire winner of the Dingus Khan award for most fun band of the w/e.
Bon Iver - Epic. Not headline material? They are if you know the songs.
St Vincent - Not familiar with her stuff but she sure can shred a guitar.
Non-musical highlights-
Simon Armitage.
Perfecting napping technique to erase gaps between bands.
Pie Minister.
Laughing at some hipster rolling around on the Word Arena stage at 2 in the afternoon like he was a BIG STAR. Gabriel Bruce?
Also: I really hate myself for saying this
but my reception with Three was far better than it's been any of the previous four I've been to... well done, er, someone.
ha!
same for Orange.
Such a great weekend/festival
Highlights:
Bon Iver - Pure magnificence
Elbow - the set had it's dull moments, but a fantastic climax
Slow Club - first time seeing them with a full band and they were brilliant. Starting with a touching cover of Disco 2000, and ending with a massively mischievous fuck you to the stage manager.
Lana Del Ray - seemed very contrived and ridiculous yet simultaneously brilliant
Leeds representatives Sam Airey and Paul Thomas Saunders both going down brilliantly on The Lake Stage.
Other musical stuff I really enjoyed: Twin Shadow, Other Lives, Sharon Van Etten, and Richard Hawley.
A hilarious and very quick witted, freestyling irish rapper who was on before Reginal D. Hunter.
Reginald D. Hunter telling an 11 year old boy that he was going to grow up to be a "sexual threat".
Adam Buxton's Bug
Catching the boat across the lake.
The Helter Skelter!
Lowlights:
The werid drink cup policy, which made buying rounds rather awkward, although we overcame this with some inventive booze smuglging methods.
All those bloody armchairs everywhere.
Pie Minster running out of pies quite early on Sunday.
Missing Django Django.
Reginald D Hunter fell oddly flat didn't you think?
Love the guy but he didn't seem to gell with the audience. They probably weren't used to being referred to as crackers.
Also the drinking policy was a nightmare yeah. Tried our best at smuggling. Had about 2 litres of wine confiscated on the final night tho :(
Reginald was great, audience was good too imo
Yeh it was a weird set from him
Very short I though too, and the Thatcher stuff seemed to sit a bit uneasy. Still funny though.
here is my weekend, in numbers
tUnE-yArDs - 9.5/10
Van Dyke Parks - 9.5/10
The Paper Cinema - 9/10
Los Campesinos! - 9/10
David O'Doherty - 9/10
Phil Nichol - 9/10
Battles - 8.5/10
Perfume Genius - 8.5/10
Zun Zun Egui - 8.5/10
Kwes - 8.5/10
Dexys - 8.5/10
Kindness - 8/10
The War On Drugs - 8/10
Esperanza Spalding - 8/10
Elis James - 8/10
Reginald D Hunter - 8/10
Chilly Gonzales - 8/10
Tom Deacon - 7.5/10
Ian Marchant and Jake Simons - 7.5/10
Sunless '97 - 7.5/10
Chortle Student Comedy Awards - 7/10
Kurt Vile - 7/10
Abandonman - 7/10
Why Comics - 7/10
Elbow - 7/10
Gabriel Bruce - 6.5/10
The Early Edition - 6.5/10
Bon Iver - 6.5/10
St Vincent - 6.5/10
The Antlers - 4.5/10
School Of Comedy - 2/10
did anyone else see Sunless 97?
lovely.
spoke to the main guy at Kwes
he was really really sweet!
oh sorry, i didn't read you had seen them
perfect band for the very short amount of sun on the saturday.
oh my,
just did some research - didn't realise he was in Larrikin Love!? that's amazing :D
i thought i recognised him!
Zola Jesus was my highlight
Particularly when she jumped off stage barefoot into the pit, wandered off into the woods, grabbed a 10 foot wooden stake that was lying around, and in a triumphant march held it aloft back on to the stage (which didn't look at all easy), all while singing the hell out of a song. The staff didn't exactly know what to do when she chucked it back into the pit though.
I was already a fan but that dose of madness made me like her even more.
aye, shame about the lack of tunes though innit
First time at Latitude. Definitely going again.
Highlights:
Tim Key - first act I saw, excellent start to the weekend. The man's a genius.
Bon Iver - absolutely spine-tingling.
The Horrors - I unashamedly jumped around at the front like an excitable kid on (free) lucozade. Fantastic live band.
St Vincent - I am now convinced. Her sound is soaring and powerful.
Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club - No mentions on the thread yet? Just great fun really. A bit samey but no-one in the audience gave a shit.
Lang Lang - I remember thinking that right there was the most tranquil place in the world, listening to Chopin and Liszt on the waterfront.
Battles - incredibly good despite being cut short.
Having a wee chat with Josh T. Pearson. He takes laid-back to a new level, whilst I jibbered like an idiot. Taken aback by his flamenco style guitar technique too.
The Poetry Takeaway - highly recommended, and you get a lovely souvenir with a personal touch.
A few gripes about the i Arena: sound mixing was a bit poor, and too many young'uns pushing. Generally it seems a bit claustrophobic rather than intimate, but still enjoyed Twin Shadow and Django Django.
All in all, brilliant.
Fantastic festival, enjoyed it a lot more than the 3 Glastos I've been to
Lowlights:
The strict stage managers at the Word Arena cutting off Yeasayer before they played Ambling Alp and not giving Battles any extra time. They should either be more flexible with the timings or allow more than 25 mins between bands. At Primavera there are quite large gaps between bands but this means they begin dot on time every time.
The sound on the i Arena was a bit bad at points, most notably for Twin Shadow, but I do love how you can see through to the trees behind the stage.
I ate too many Medley bars
The literary, poetry, cabaret, comedy tents were constantly rammed and impossible to get into if you arrived after an act had started.
Highlights:
Tim Key - An ox. An ox? An ox? An ox. An Ox?
The compere guy in the Literary tent reading chapters from his unpublished book about a spy called Owen. I NEED to know who he was, it was hilarious.
Sharon Van Etten - Brilliant. I got something in my eye during Give Out
Polica - Really groovy and the singer is probably one of the most enthralling people I've ever seen
Destroyer
Janelle Monae - great fun, what a show(wo)man
Yeasayer - Probably the strongest I've seen them.
The Field - blissful
Tall Ships
St Vincent - Wow
Battles - Never thought I'd get to see Atlas again (had seen them twice before Gloss Drop and they'd not played it). YES.
M83 - So weird that he's become this massive festival band, I love it though.
Lang Lang - what a nice chap
All the free Medley bars and Percy Pigs
Perfume Genius - haunting and the i arena was the perfect setting
Dermot's Indie Disco - Singing along to Just in the woods, excellent. Thought it was just some guy called Dermot until I got a bit closer to the stage and saw it was THE Dermot.
The site in general - Really pretty and not too big but big enough to have distinct areas and never felt overcrowded.
Big Bad Wolf's midnight tales in that lounge by the lake. A puppet doing a puppet show, very clever.
Nabakov's Symphony in the Theatre - An amazing trio of musical plays by some immensely talented performers.
Overall 9/10
Oh and Vodafone customers getting to go into the sound tower at the main stage
was pretty cool. Went up there for Metronomy and stole some earplugs.
Absolutely brilliant time, pushing close to a 10/10
Glasto will always be my benchmark, but Latitude is a lot easier. Also there was only 3 of us and we made an agreement to stay out til the end every night. Partied pretty hard.
Good stuff
Antlers were brill
Enjoyed Destoryer
Yeasayer were the best I've ever seen them
The Field killed it
Saw the end of Bon Iver, was like a Emerson Lake and Palmer Show
Janelle Monae was great but I've seen that show 3 times now so it's wearing a bit thin
Low
Walls were immesnse
Battles and M83 were huge
We Are Augustines were good fun
Average stuff: War on Drugs were a bit worse than when I've seen them before
I didn't really enjoy Los Camp at all
Django Django were crap I thought
Wild Beasts were bit boring
Bad stuff:
Bars seemed to close early on Sunday so I both couldn't get another drink and got lumbered with £9 worth of cups
Cups before they abandoned it. The bars turned to total gridlock
We were camped next to the biggest cretins ever. A load of uni leavers who would get up at 7am and start screaming banter at each other, throwing rubbish around. Found it funny when their tents got flooded, less so when they began using the resultant pond as a urinal
The way people looked at you strangely when you actually knew and were into a band
A lot of the DJ sets were awful. i always think Glasto doesn't have enough indie discos but Huw Stephens and Moshi Moshi aside, you could've been in the Metro in 2005. Were people under contractual obligation to play Sex on Fire? Someone even played it in the middle of a load of rave at the screen in the woods
I saw you skulking off in the distance from the main stage after Amadou & Mariam I think.
Where were you camped? I was in Red D.
Yeah we saw the end of that
We were in yellow c having decided to just cross over from red a. Man I wish we had stayed there
reviewed it ah did!
http://www.contactmusic.com/review/latitude-festival-2012-live-review
did you recognise the guy from Sunless '97?
He was the singer in Larrikin Love.
Everyone has already
gone through all the great stuff, Destroyer, Sharon V E, Battles, St. V (Annie watched M83 from the sound desk), SBTRKT, Low, Metronomy etc etc etc
I thoroughly loved the festival as a whole, but the attendees were utter cunts a lot of the time. Jumped up 'look at me' posh girls too busy photographing each other and talking through intimate sets to the detriment of the atmosphere.
I must have been walked into about 5 or 6 times by people who just weren't paying attention, and they rarely acknwoledged my apologies, even though I wasn't at fault.
Felt sorry for M83 when over half of the crowd upped and left after Midnight City, but then doubly sorry for the crowd after their magnificent finale.
I danced a lot, if you saw a blonde guy dancing like a prime twat during Janelle, SBTRKT, Wild Beasts or anything in the Word Tent then I truly apologise. I have no rhythm but everyone was just so damn good.
Rank Latitude *types* by the worst
1. Parents letting their children chase clearly terrified rabbits around with a wooden sword (saw this more than once)
2. LADS in mandatory shit fancy dress
3. Posh BROS in wife beaters bragging about their recent graduation from an average university whilst shouting BANTER and calling everything gay
4. Posh girls intent on smashing into every person in the crowd on their desperate struggle to get to the front in order to stand around disinterested and talk
Rank people by the best
1. The couple in their 60s absolutely raving their fucking tits off to M83. Utterly joyous.
2. Everyone else
Best and worst person =
dude stood just in his boxers during Battles.
Otherwise I strongly agree with numbers 3 and 4 in particular
really didnt think the crowd was that bad
i mean, yeah there were those groups, but it's a festival innit. one of the best festivals i've been to for crowds.
yeah i thought the crowds were all good really
no agro lads or hossing of piss filled bottles.. i was expecting a lot more of that.. i was pleasantly surprised that i saw neither over the whole weekend
i think i was the only person who threw a bottle all weekend
who did you throw it at?
there was a flag at the front for Wild Beasts that was annoying
hit it from quite a distance. nothing in it
where did I say the crowd was bad?
some words
not really a 'review'.
some of you will REALLY hate it. http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4145250-latitude-2012--the-editors-reviewgasm
this really made me smile :)
Food
The music was of course fantastic besides that disgusting Polica/Anters/Chairlift clash on Friday, (Bon Iver, Battles, Antlers, Wild Beasts personal highlights).
However, the obscene general price of festival cuisine aside, the food at Latitude was actually pretty brilliant. Made everything that much better if you were willing to hunt it down.
Friday - Salad Days: Chorizo flatbread wrap hellz yeah.
Saturday - Eat Thai: full meal including spring rolls for less than £8. Best thing I ate all weekend.
Sunday - Scottish boar company thingy, I can't remember the name: But damn I remember how amazing their burgers are.
The jerk pork at the Caribbean place next to the main bar was good
£7.50 for a big plate or rice, pork and veg. It was really tasty too. Pie Minister is always worth the money even though the boxes are WAY smaller than the ones you get at their shops despite costing more.
the jerk chicken and pork were both very good
as was the kebabylon lamb kofte and the breakfast baguette thingy from that place.
it costs about £2k for a stall there, that's why it's so expensive.
lasagne for £1
noddles for 42p
on sunday night
I thought actually for a *boutique* festival
The food was poor.
Basically ending up eating giant robot hot dogs all weekend
Yeah they could have done with a few more proper food places
Field Day had a Bodeans stall (I know you don't like Bodeans LLB but it's a cut above most festival foods). And End of the Road has an abundant choice of decent food vans. Giant Robot was good but fuckign expensive.
the food was pretty disappointing
i was expecting it to be really good. eotr beats it hands down. also, why do really shitty food stands insist on prefixing their wares with 'posh' or 'gourmet' when they're anything but?
Yeah
I agree. There were a couple of diamond options, but I was really disapointed in general!
From popbitch
Were you at Latitude last weekend?
Did you try to watch Low but found
yourself annoyed by some middle-aged
bloke standing in the centre of the
tent with his back to the stage,
talking loudly and obnoxiously to
his mates throughout the set?
If so, it was Geoff Hoon.
(FYI: We're told Hoon did like some
other acts. Including Perfume Genius.)
Quick question
Anyone know what Perfume Genius ended his set with? It seemed very familiar, but I don't think it was one of his (*prepares self to eat words*)
i think it was Mr Peterson
dont remember though
It wasn't his last song...
but he did cover 'Helpless' by Neil Young.
had a really good weekend
musical highlights: tuneyards, janelle monae, the antlers, sharon van etten, los campesinos! bon iver and st vincent.
other highlights: the chairs at the back of the main stage (i am definitely getting old when i appreciate seating so much, but they were just the job when the ground was too wet to sit on), the immaculate portaloos (i've never encountered such clean bogs at a festival, what a joy!), the helter skelter, the indie disco circa 2004 every night and the site in general was lovely.
lowlights: the torrential rain on thursday and friday night, pieminster selling out of pies so early, the ridiculous cup system which made buying rounds so difficult and the strict no booze in the arena policy. i also found the i-arena stage a bit crap, loved the idea of it being right in the woods but it was really hard to get in and out of, and difficult to see the bands. couldn't get anywhere near it for django django. a few of the scheduling decisions were a bit frustrating too, there were some annoying clashes on the friday especially.
although it was a fairly tame crowd by festival standards, i encountered very little LAD behaviour and it was without a doubt the friendliest/nicest festival i've ever been to.
Saw so much great music and comedy
Also kept seeing a young guy with a Bella Union tote - he must be on DiS?
Music highlights: Bon Iver, Metronomy, The Horrors, SBTRKT (surprisingly amazing live show), SPLASHH
Comedy highlights: Josh Widdicombe, David o'Doherty (as always), that guy from NYC before Jack Dee
Food highlights: Halloumi & Chorizo burgers were amazing, as were churros.
Food lowlights: Pieminister closed Sunday?! Was looking forward to it.