Highlights from Latitude Festival 2017

After physically experiencing the weekend at Latitude Festival, I can say it's nothing like the other festivals - the place had morning yoga, lake swimming and pink sheep.

(Photo by: Ben Gibson http://www.bengibsonphoto.com/)

Of course there are all the things that are evident at each festival; marquees, tents, overpriced alcohol and exotic cocktails, wine bars that require a deposit for every cup you use. But mostly, everyone becomes united, the field is turned into a magical land distant from real life.

In fact I even witnessed newspapers being handed out only to be turned down by a man who said, "I don't want that, that's an insight to the outside world". So lets give the outside world an insight to Latitude.

Placebo

One of the biggest highlights was watching Placebo overpack the BBC stage tent with a headline slot on the Friday. Still rocking the androgynous, flamboyant appearance of eye make up and slick hair, Brian Molko took to the stage to an adoring crowd cheer. Playing through the best of their 20 years worth of material, the biggest love came when they performed cover of Kate Bush, 'Running Up That Hill', moving a few festival-goers to tears on a Friday night.

(Photo by: Matt Euchas http://www.themancphotographer.co.uk/)

Cabbage

Cabbage never fail to pull of an energetic performance, whether it's in a tiny venue or at a festival.

The Manchester band pulled out all the classics; 'Kevin', 'Dinner Lady', 'Terrorist Synthesizer' and 'Uber Capitalist Death Trade' that motivated the new concert chant, "Oh Jeremy Corbyn" in tune to The White Stripes' 'Seven Nation Army', it was encouraged and humoured for a short while before cracking on with their set. The guitarist stood strumming with a cigarette hanging out his mouth, lead singer Lee Broadbent kicked off the set vocally only to be taken over and shared between him and Joe Martin.

(Photo by: Sarah Koury/Entirety Labs http://entiretylabs.com/)

Two Door Cinema Club

It took Two Door three years to take to the Obelisk Stage at Latitude following a let down back in 2014 when they had to cancel due to illness.

They were here with full avengence, melodic riffs echoeing around the main stage arena, families dancing together and teens creating some kind of mellow mosh pits in the middle of the crowd. Saturday afternoon, grey skies, nothing could bring down the nostaglic vibes from their first album thrown in amongst their new stuff. Ending the set with their biggest hit yet, What You Know, the crowd was jumping front to back at the pop indie anthem.

(Photo by: Sarah Koury/Entirety Labs http://entiretylabs.com/)

HMLTD

Sitting on the hill leading down from the village to the Lake Stage, all attention was forced like a gravitational pull down the slope, all eyes on HMLTD. Man, what an interesting and mind blowing stage presence. From a distance it could've been Adam Ant on stage, large oversized suit next to a scrimpy fishnet mesh top that get's immediately ripped off, the lead singer stomps around the stage, crazy intonation in his vocal arrangement drags people down to get a closer look at what's going on on this little stage in the middle of Latitude.

After 30 minutes or so, the crowd separated to their next scheduled pit stop with massive grins on their faces, shock and amusement, HMLTD are one hell of a performance band that need to be kept an eye on for future.

(Photo by: Jen O'Neill http://www.jennyoneill.co.uk/)

Jack Garrett

An alternative to Mumford & Sons on Saturday night was a headline slot over in the BBC Stage tent with the incredibly talented Jack Garrett, did you know he could do literally everything? He is actually Jack of all trades.

Playing a compilation of his most popular tracks and of course ending it with 'Worry', Garrett showed an icredible energy in his drum bubble where he popped out now and then to do a shredding of a guitar solo that only Hendrix could give justice for, before heading back to finish his track.

(Photo by: Sarah Koury/Entirety Labs http://entiretylabs.com/)

All We Are

Up at the Sunrise Arena in the woods of Latitude, rose the three-piece of All We Are, throwing psychedelic grooves and dirty basslines around the tent. Having never heard them before, the bassline is what caught the eye - or ears - first of all, it made you develop your own bass face as you stood in the crowd watching them vibe and bounce of each others energies not to mention the crowd's growing adoration as the set went on. It's safe to say they're up there on the list of festival bands.

(Photo by: Victor Frankowski http://www.victorfrankowski.com/gallery/overview/)

Maggie Rogers

Ever since the video went viral of this young singer-songwriter moving Pharrell Williams to tears and leaving him speechless; Rogers has been on Jools Holland, talk shows in the USA and rightly so because after releasing two previous albums before this sudden buzz, it's clear it's deserved.

Maggie took to the BBC Stage on Saturday afternoon, wearing an incredible metallic piece with thick plates hanging from her sleeves, shock and a clear sense of overwhelming appreciation took over her face, with a huge grin she greeted the fans, laughed at the amount of people singing and dancing to her songs in disbelief. But that soon disappeared when she got into her groove and started to dance around the stage enjoying the moment playing hits such as 'Dog Years' and 'Alaska'.

(Photo by: Lauren Maccabee http://www.laurenmaccabee.com/)

Dream Wife

Last but by no means least, Dream Wife. Again, sitting on the slope facing down to the Lake Stage, the vibrations and yells from Dream Wife attract everyone's attention.

Girlish yelps and dirty riffs take over the village, but don't be fooled by their band name, tuning into their lyrics, they definitely aren't a dream wife, "do I confuse you do I amuse you?" and "gonna fuck you up, gonna cut you up" they are not family friendly. However, the comedic intonation in their voices make it hard to take seriously yet even harder to ignore the passion, anger and total entertainment they are chucking out.

(Photo by: Matt Euchas http://www.themancphotographer.co.uk/)

As a festival, Latitude was diverse in it's content; music, art & theatre and comedy catering to a variety of people, families, old couples, young groups of teens, there was something for everyone but as a music fanatic, the best bands were the small bands, they gave it their all and weren't deceived or thrown off by the large swarms of people, if anything it encouraged a more dramatic performance.

Highlights from Latitude Festival 2017

You might also like...

People who read this also read...