Music > Live Reviews

Latitude Festival 2017

Latitude Festival

19/07/17

This year’s Latitude festival - while producing a relatively weak set of headline slots - still succeeded in bringing together a broad range of talent and music; from the powerful pop choruses of Sigrid, to the apathetically-politically charged IDLES, to Fatboy Slim’s masterful manipulation of the BBC tent with lasers, a huge light show, and rumbling drum and bass EDM.

Mumford and Sons and Fleet Foxes both headlining felt relatively samey, and the line up could have benefitted from including a more rock-y act to perform on one of the nights. While The 1975 may have been put in the top 20 Spotify rock acts, they lacked the edge of rock,  replacing beer with wine and powerful chords with 80s sparkle pop guitar tone. They very much came across as what INXS could have turned into if they had not had catchy songs.

Norway’s happiest export, Sigrid, was one of the youngest acts at the festival at only 20 years old, and managed to gather a sizeable crowd in the Sunrise Arena for her contagiously happy sound featuring powerful choruses and leaving the crowd smiling.

In the theatre tent, a gymnastic-musical-dance performance of On The High Road became one of the most interesting experiences of the festival. The performance was more than just a visual experience, it was an aural one as well, featuring a soundtrack with storm sounds and a vocal performance from one character. The music helped maintain the theme of the storm and the concept of confusion and isolation with bright flashing lights and bipolar dynamics. The acting helped demonstrate exchanges of power between the characters by changes of posture and levels within the house. While the storyline was not explicit, it was perfectly easy to discern the intended meaning due to the clarity in which it was put across through symbols and emphasis of movement. The dancers/artists/gymnasts on stage demonstrated an amazing control of their bodies in an ethereal experience.

Declan McKenna appeared to successfully fill the BBC tent with adoring teenage fans who jump at the opportunity to mosh to songs that are not particularly mosh-y. Despite being only 18, McKenna is a very skilled performer who is comparable to Sigrid in the sense you leave the set refreshed and uplifted– the youthful energy and happiness is contagious.

Bands such as IDLES, despite having a small following, appear to be bringing back old genres – during their set at the Lake Stage Joe Talbot (lead singer) shouted “Follow me fuckers!” before diving into the mosh, crowd-surfing to the back and sprinting off to the BBC Introducing stage with the audience in hot pursuit for an intimate set in the woods. Meanwhile, in notable contrast, on the main stage German band Milky Chance were happily producing poppy, bitter-sweet tunes.

The Lemon Twigs in the BBC music stage failed to gather a sizeable crowd, which is perhaps  predictable given their muso appeal and acquired taste. Showing off their knowledge they played a cover of a song by an obscure artist, Roky Erikson, and finished their set with their own classic rock track Queen of My School which featured mid-air splits and hitting powerful chords. While not conventionally rock ‘n’ roll, they certainly channel the vibe of The Who and fellow 70s rockers. The Lemon Twigs’ live performances display their musical ability through the continual swapping around of instruments, and the two brothers taking it in turns to front the band.

Bands like The Lemon Twigs and IDLES stood out at Latitude - while the headliners may have been relatively unimpressive, the smaller acts stood out the most. This Latitude Festival also lacked their famous secret sets – years prior to this they had Ed Sheeran, Thom Yorke and Damon Albarn all perform secret sets around the festival. Despite there being an hour and a half gap on the BBC stage between acts at the same time as Mumford and Sons, nothing happened, leaving some festival goers a bit disappointed.

The first full act of the day on Sunday was Public Service Broadcasting, and the Obelisk Stage seemed an odd fit for them as a relatively alternative, niche group - they might have been better suited to the BBC stage. Despite this, they offered a charming set which featured Madness-esque brass as well as documentary footage on the side screens. It featured some of their newer songs which included clips of the miners’ strikes, and some more aggressive riffs which differed from some of their older tracks. The crowd reception was not fantastic, but they still made a very enjoyable and entertaining set. While they may not have been particularly well received, they did their best and it was worth the time.

In the comedy tent Katherine Ryan proved her relevance by cracking jokes about pop culture icons such as Taylor Swift and Love Island, but many went awry for the Latitude crowd, who are a bit too Radio 4 for that. The lines seemed to be disconnected from each other, and didn’t seem to work together.

In the BBC tent The Jesus and Mary Chain had problems with an effects pedal, an inevitable issue for a band that relies on purposefully broken pedals – despite this, they succeeded (relatively) in delivering their traditional loud, distorted and feedback filled rock. Although, the crowd remained completely still and while not necessarily reflective of the band’s music, it perhaps suggested a demographic issue facing them.

Later in the BBC tent Fatboy Slim masterfully presenting his bassy DJ set to an overflowing tent of fans of all ages. His performance was a fun one – he had everything that Fleet Foxes did not that night: a huge, excited crowd, and lasers. The entire tent was moving and the drum and bass rumbles could easily be heard from the Obelisk where Fleet Foxes were performing. Fleet Foxes no doubt felt frustrated that the complex music they devoted so much time to was being dismissed for a middle-aged man with a laptop.

Despite the festival’s flaws, expensive food, weak headline slots and a lack of secret acts, it still succeeded in bringing together a large and varied mix of bands and artists. The comedy was somewhat lacklustre this year yet the theatre was excellent, and while the food was expensive, it tasted great (particularly Flavours of Africa).