Review: Latitude Festival 2015

It’s Latitude’s tenth birthday and to celebrate they opened the lake to swimmers for the first time. An exciting prospect for those having been a few times now, there is nothing more tempting than taking a refreshing dip in that cool water on a hot summer’s day, with the surrounding trees and reeds reflected on it’s surface – very appealing. Inevitably, everyone else had the same idea and all of a sudden a refreshing spritz was preferable over the hour-long queue for the lake.

Fortunately, there are many things to see and do besides swim. Latitude has carved out it’s niche very nicely in the Southwold hills in Suffolk. And judjing by the throngs of teenagers and families, this is its biggest year to date. The diverse lineup has always been at the heart of what this festival offers. Comedy, poetry, art, theatre, music and political debate all live here, and make for an eclectic mix.

At the centre of the arena is the food court. Here you’ll find the usual fair of burgers and noodles, with some good fresh veggie options too, all served up in compostable dishes for eco plus points. Tucked away in the woods you can find holistic treatments including yoga, massage, and saunas. There are also workshops such as screen printing and beat boxing for the little ones. Latitude is nestled in a valley so you pretty much walk up and down to each stage, kicking up plumes of dust as you go.

As Friday night’s headliners Alt J played the Obelisk, you could hear the crowd cheer across the site. They were hotly followed by Jon Hopkins.

Saturday’s lineup was the pick of the weekend. Drenge kicked off the BBC 6 music stage, which had a strong draw throughout the day. Thurston Moore played an after lunch set, chunking out that one note drone he’s so famous for. They’re on tour with Sun Kil Moon who were up next. Mark Kozeleck’s songs and voice were full of passion, which made for a truly captivating set. The tent was also rammed for Britpop legends The Charlatans, who cranked out their hits to a very lively audience. 

That said, the night belonged to Portishead, who maintain their mystic trip hop powers. Use of live VJ projections, created an immersive and atmospheric show. And as they played encore song The Rip, Thom Yorke joined Beth Gibbons on vocals. Later, his secret set had the iArena full to the brim. This kept the energy going for those in the glade who stayed to party into the early hours.

Sunday brought us several world class theatre shows. Cornwall’s Kneehigh opened the theatre arena to a full house. While later in the day Blind Summit premiered their new show, Citizen Puppet to a very receptive audience. Fuel’s experimental shows Ring and Fiction were also hot picks.

Warpaint had the main stage in the palms of their hands during their set. While elsewhere other musical delights included Manic Street Preachers, Adult Jazz and Young Fathers, with their second set of the day blowing the sound system.

A high energy finale for the festival of plenty’s tenth anniversary.