Crack

Having really enjoyed last year’s Latitude-oh-so-much-more-than-a-music-festival- Festival, (due in large part, I have to admit, to Thom Yorke’s solo set) I was looking forward to returning this year to see what, beyond the music, they had to offer. I managed to see something at each of the different tents/arenas; comedy, literature, poetry, film, cabaret, theatre and dance, as well as at the three music stages.

I finally got to see Four Lions in the film tent, which is as good as the hype, fantastically astute and absolutely fucking hilarious. I saw The Royal Shakespeare Company presents: The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo, in which, in fairness to the RSC, they managed to successfully incorporate a bit of audience interaction with a production that seemed perfect for a midnight slot at the festival if not really doing a whole lot for me. I saw the Phil Jupitas & Friends Improv show open the comedy tent on Friday morning, which drew a massive family crowd and resulted in Jupitas apologising a lot for his swearing.

However, for me, the music was definitely the strongest aspect of the festival. Amongst many, I saw The National play a phenomenal headline set in the Word (magazine) Arena which confirmed that their latest album, High Violet, has finally pushed them over from being indie kid darlings into ‘big time’. The XX, who I saw last year on one of the smaller stages (and whose album I find under-whelming and over-rated) impressed me by filling their headline slot well and proving that all it takes is one album, one year and a lot of hype. The other standout performance I saw was Jonsi, of Sigur Ros fame, whose ridiculous Indian headdress during the second half of his set seemed to spur him on to raise the noise and atmosphere and the songs just exploded majestically. Everyone left with that smug, blown away feeling that they’ve just ‘had a moment’

Latitude has, as Phil Jupitus reminded everyone with his HILARIOUS! ‘Welcome to LATTE-tude’, opener on Friday morning, been dubbed so, cos, let’s face it, it’s pretty damn middle class and we all know how the middle class lurve their lattes). I can understand this Phil; it’s so green; everyone actually uses the recycling bin system!
There are kids watching ballet on a waterfront stage surrounded by a picturesque lake with people being punted across it by Jack Wills clad chaps; there’s vegan, organically grown food tended with the love of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, falafels galore and families lounging around everywhere reading the Sunday Times/Guardian (delete as appropriate).

Enough painting of that latte-stained picture.

However, this year, ‘people’, (ie. some journalists/strangers I spoke to on the train on the way home), seem to have come away with a different picture of the festival; hence the LAD-itude slogan which seems to have reared its head. This may be due, very sadly, to two reported incidents of rape at the festival. While there was no official statement from within the festival itself, the media outside of Henham Park were, predictably, having a field day. The atmosphere definitely shifted slightly.

This, along with other supposedly ‘LAD’ type incidents of groups of teenagers going around shouting “BANTER” in people’s faces, (they’re mental them teenagers), a higher number of reported thefts, and someone allegedly groping Crystal Castles’ front woman Alice Glass, after she jumped into the crowd, has left people with a slightly more bitter after taste from their lattes then previous years.

What this debate surrounding the class/type of coffee drinkers who go to this festival ignores is that, despite deciding to let Florence and her Machine headline, (SHE’S ONLY GOT ONE ALBUM!) this festival has the broadest, most eclectic mix of cutting edge bands, celebrated authors, poets and comedians; dancers and Theatre makers, both contemporary and traditional, and coloured sheep (yeah, they even dye the sheep wool, kooky fuckers) than any. Surely that is what LATI-tude is about. Go and check it out for yourselves.



Words: Jenny Duffy

- - - - - - - - - -