22 July 2011 (gig)
22 July 2011
After the post festival bowel problems and loss of hearing has finally died down, Music News takes a look back on this year’s Latitude Festival and how it stacks up against some of its bigger rivals:
The Good
The festival has managed to cultivate a truly unique image, which aside from Glastonbury cannot really be said for any other major UK festival. The eclectic mixture of poetry, literature and comedy as well as the music does make Latitude stand out on the festival circuit. Other festivals should really take note and try and diversify, it makes for a much more interesting weekend.
The layout and facilities of the festival were another massive plus for the festival. With all the stages within a few minutes walking distance, you can easily move about across the day and catch tons of acts. The toilets weren’t too shabby either, always a good way to attract a positive review from a journo.
The food on offer was much more varied than what was on offer this year at T in the Park, so kudos to Festival Republic and Latitude for sorting the festival on that front. Amongst a few of the stalls I saw included Ostrich burgers, Ben and Jerrys (Although it was pretty unpopular with the monsoon style rain) & even a Costa Coffee. There was also a huge variation in stalls too, including one offering a t-shirt made from Bamboo and another from recycled tents!
The chilled atmosphere. The family friendly vibe sails across the whole festival with nobody looking to cause trouble. My tent didn’t get kicked once! First time since I’ve started going to festivals, so that’s a result!
No real clashes across the weekend. I’m still in two minds about this as it meant an 11.00 am wakeup for a live performance of Nevermind the Buzzcocks and catching comedy duo Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon at noon, but it beats missing Suede or Seasick Steve. Not many people complained across the weekend of any serious clashes so Latitude has sorted that quite nicely.
The Bad
Whilst having all the stages together is nice, at the comedy tent as well as others you do tend to get a constant influx of interference from another tent. The extra noise is bearable, but a bit of soundproofing or making a little extra gap between tents wouldn’t go amiss.
One reason cited for Latitude only selling out on the first day of the festival is the poor selection of bands, which definitely deteriorated from previous years. Whilst the headliners weren’t bad choices (I’ll spare you all a rant about The National on this occasion), there was a lack of depth on the main stage as many flocked to the Word Arena to catch other acts.
The Ugly
The lager. Tuborg, just like at Leeds and Reading. I don’t think anyone enjoyed this and a crafty swap to Carling or the even cheaper Carlsberg would probably treble bar takings.
Overall, a pretty strong performance. Let's only hope Festival Republic can take some of these ideas and rebuild the slowly decaying Reading & Leeds festivals.
