Latitude

Last weekend I went to the latitude festival in suffolk and it was tremendous. Haven't had chance to blog since as I've been busy every night, which also means I haven't full caught up on my sleep. We were really lucky with the weather too, i'd been praying for some sun, cos rain reduces the fun of camping. And the sun certainly shone. Left work a bit early on the thurs to drive down, giving a lift to ad, sb and ms. The traffic wasn't bad and we made good time, getting there before nightfall. However it was quite a queue to get our wrist bands so by the time we started on the tents it was getting dark. This resulted in one tent taking over an hour to erect, what with poles getting jumbled and the canves getting twisted!

There were a myriad of excellent acts playing at the festival and sometimes it was impossible to choose who to see. I was very lucky to be invited to stay as a guest of monkey swallows the universe as I had been helping them with a marketing scam. I'd written their stage time on one side of a peg and on the other a web address for an exclusive download. We then spent the weekend surrepticiously pegging people, on hats, jumpers, coats and bags in the hope they'd be intrigued enough to check out the band and even download the free tune. It was fun watching people wander around unsuspectingly with pegs dangling from their person.

I saw numerous acts and won't review them all, just a special mention for a few. The strange death of liberal england were even better than when i saw them at the leadmill. They were really drawing adrenelin from playing to a large crowd and I shall have to track down their cd. I was a cub scout also showed promise, bedroom rock backed by sequencers. A vibrant sound that can only mature. MSTU were on fine form and their music really suited the early evening sunshine. Bat for Lashes were plagued with technical difficulties but still managed to perform an entertaining set with natasha dressed in a skeleton costume. Finally Arcade Fire were awesome. Joined onstage by Final Fantasy they played probably one of the best performances i've ever seen. There is little more i can say to embellish this performance. Phenomenal.

Then there was the long drive back, the last hour of which I found a real struggle, battling with sleep and fog.