venta

Wow, it's a festival whirl round these parts at the moment. First Glastonbury, then Elton John developed appendicitis and caused his headlining (and very expensive) show in Hyde Park to morph into a free gig, and then last Friday was a day out at Latitude. Next stop, Indietracks.

Latitude has always given the impression of being much more like Glastonbury than - say - T in the Park is. The year I went to T I was disappointed to find that there really was nothing there apart from bands-on-stages. Latitude advertises comedy, spoken word, arts & literature, theatre and all manner of things which are not bands-on-stages. Its tag line is "more than just a music festival".

So, we trundled in through the gates around lunchtime in blazing sunshine. I keep trying to remember that my views are going to be biased, as everywhere looks nicer and brighter and shinier in the sunshine. And even though it was a bit on the hot side for me and I had to find patches of shade to hide in, better that than a wet festival where there's nowhere to sit down.

Anyway! We arrived, and set off to find drinks. Only we got distracted by the distinctive sounds of Dreaming of You spilling from the 6music stage. Were The Coral on the bill? They were not. In fact, the handy Clashfinder[*] said that some unknowns called James Skelly and the Intenders were playing. But they did sound very like the Coral...

A bit of light Googling later (day-attendance at festivals == not needing to worry about phone battery) revealed all: James Skelly is better known as the main singer from The Coral, and his backing band, The Intenders, is... well... three-quarters of the rest of The Coral.

A second attempt at finding drinks and lunch was more successful, and I perched myself on a nice bench with a helping of cullen skink from the Loch Fyne stall and a pint of elderflower lemonade. Luke Sital-Singh serenaded me from the nearby Lake Stage.

Did I mention? We described Latitude as "nice". "Pleasant". It wasn't until chatting to a friend later in the day, that we realised what we meant. She described it as "the most middle-class festival ever". And she's right. It's middle-class. And it's varied and interesting, and advertises the Independent and even has salubrious toilets. It's small, and easily walkable-round. It has a lake where you can hire punts. It's clean and tidy, and there are litter pickers and toilet attendants. And bins for cigarette butts[**]. It's got proper, raked seating round the main stage. It's family-friendly. The National Gallery has its own trailer with scheduled half-hour talks throughout the day. If you've ever liked my descriptions of Glastonbury but thought it was a bit hardcore and terrifying, try Latitude. It's like Glastonbury, only less so.

Revelling in the fact the site was so tiny, we ambled around excessively. Worried that Stornoway and Malcolm Middleton clash? No problem, simply watch half of each.

We spent a while wandering through the woods, finding an area aimed at young teenagers, and running into Natalie Lake doing an excellent acoustic version of Lovecats. We skirted the kids' field and the sand sculpture, and strolled through the outdoor theatre fields pausing at various different stalls and art installations and street theatre. We passed the comedy tent in time to see a bit of Elis James, and I eventually found a bar which sold sodding beer. Like, not Tuborg. Mind you, £4.10 was rather painful for Hobgoblin.

We threw ourselves back into bands, skipping between the main stage and the other nearby venues. I only sort of accidentally watched the Maccabees while trying to meet up with someone. They confuse me. Firstly, they are surely a thing from the Apocrypha, not a band. Secondly, I haven't heard of them for years. Thirdly, they were top support on the main stage and fourthly, they had a massive crowd. Also, Calexico sound nothing like how I think they sound. I was expecting vaguely Spiritualized-esque ambient woogling and instead got brass-riddled natty jazz.

Bloc Party, finishing their current post-album tour, were on form, lacing the trees surrounding the main stage with lasers. And then it was a bit of lounging in a bar, and away off the site. I think I rather like Latitude. I'd like to give it a proper go.

Latitude does have a lot of the appeal of Glastonbury. It has some of the same attention to detail, of putting effort into making things beautiful as well as functional.

	A circular bench, near a small cafe in the woods, sported a profusion of purple flowers.
And there are outbreaks of vaguely inexplicable art.
	And... stuff. People who wanted to create their perfect person using a doll (the results were hung in the trees) should come back tomorrow.
And me, as usual, lost in a good book.

Here is a photo of ChrisC's showing the kids' area and the Latitude logo of multicoloured sheep (I think the picture looks like it should be an album cover).

I feel that I saw a lot of bands so briefly that many of them ought to be in brackets by my usual standards. However, to prevent future confusion, I reckon I interacted in some capacity with:

James Skelly & the Intenders, Luke Sital-Singh, Tim Burgess, Stornoway, Malcolm Middleton, Deptford Goth, Natalie Lake, Elis James, Sweet Baboo, Beth Orton, Yo La Tengo, Cat Power, Villagers, The Maccabees, Calexico, Bloc Party.

[*] Anyone who goes to UK - and indeed some European - music festivals needs to make the acquaintance of the Clashfinder General. People kept coming up to us at Latitude and asking where we'd got our ataglanceable program from.
[**] Obviously, plenty of smokers ignored them and dropped their butts on the floor anyway, but you can't have everything.