Latitude Festival 14/07/12

Did anyone else get to this? We met Dr P earlier in the day, by arrangement, but since he had the mini-P's to see to, we lost him for the latter part of the evening, as he stayed at the back for Elbow. I noticed some banner-bearing members of the Pete Turner Appreciation Society near to us on the front row by the runway, but didn't recognise any familiar faces.

In spite of a heavy downpour earlier in the evening, Elbow gave us a night to be proud of. Full set list:

High Ideals - first time I'd heard them do this, so a splendid start!
Bones of You - Ever-present classic
Mirrorball - Really getting the crowd going now
Leaders of the Free World - great to have this one back in the repertoire
Grounds for Divorce - the sing-along stadium-friendly version!
Tower Crane Driver - Mrs f_m started to go all gooey-eyed at this point
The Night Will Always Win - clustered around a couple of keyboards right in front of us, Mrs f_m in raptures!
The Birds -
Lippy Kids -
Weather To Fly - drinks on stage
Scattered Black & Whites - really pleased there's still room for such a long-standing favourite*
Open Arms - "send them home feeling cosy and warm"
One Day Like This - ditto

No encore, as main stage was set for a finish at 23:00 hrs sharp.

* I've posted some iPhone video of SB&W on You Tube: https://youtu.be/5z3RQgu4Mgg

Some general observations for those who don't know Latitude:
Only did the Saturday, for which a day-ticket cost £75 (plus fees (''), however there really is a lot to do for all the family, whether musically inclined or not.
Organisation is generally excellent - plenty of food and drink available at prices that are not extortionate, and mostly from independent outlets rather than big chains.
Loos are plentiful, and regularly cleaned - which Mrs f_m reckoned was hugely impressive (although she declined to sample the 'female urinals').
In spite of the rain the conditions underfoot were pretty good, apart from the area close to the main stage, where there was a couple of inches of sloppy mud (unless, like us, you got to the barrier where the metal base provided clean dry conditions.
The immediate support acts on the main stage were Michael Kiwanuka (top-notch), Richard Hawley (Excellent band, RH arrived in a wheelchair pushed by one Mr G Garvey having broken his leg), and Laura Marling (OK, but didn't impress me as much as I had hoped. She managed to give a performance that was more static than Richard Hawley! Would have liked to see RH return for a rendition of The Fix with the lads, but you can't have everything.
Only criticism related to the 90 minutes it took to cover the 200m needed to get out of the temporary day car park, which we didn't achieve until gone 1:00 am! Thankfully we didn't have too far to go home.

At some point soon I'll sort out photos from the set, and post a link.

Best wishes all,


fragrant_monkey & Mrs f_m.

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Hi Queen Ali, great pics!

I had a trawl about TV coverage before Latitude and drew pretty much nothing at all, apart from a supposed Radio Times listing re-posted on the festival forum reckoning it was going to be covered on BBC Three.

Nope, it wasn't! There was a lot of radio coverage, but that was about it. No good if you crave the visuals as well!

Hi Queen Ali , Wish I could have gone , it sounds like it was a great night , love it when the crowd really go for it. your pics look great. took some at Jodrell bank but they weren't great i'll blame the weather !

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Ace vids and pics, love the crowd singing! Whatever happened to the lads getting the crowd to sing them back on for the encore... I miss that.