The 19 best things we saw at Latitude 2015

Photo: Richard Gray

The dust the sandy hills and lush Suffolk fields of Latitude 2015 has barely left our lips, and if we're honest, it's not a taste that we want to disappear. With a feast of culture across all mediums, Latitude was once again a shimmering jewel in the crown of UK festival season - a genuine midsummer's dream. 

Many compare it to a 'mini Glastonbury' with its charm over-spilling into various areas and the sheer attention to detail that goes into every wonderful, fair-light covered corner of the festival, and sure they have those year-defining headline moments (Ed Sheeran surprised the festival not once but twice, and we were lucky enough to catch Thom Yorke's intimate and secret set) but really, there's nowhere on this Earth quite like Latitude.

These are the definitive 19 greatest moments of the weekend. 

1. Noel Gallagher
"I dedicate this song to all of the Guardian writers strung out at the back on some really strong rosé wine, yah?," smirks Noel Gallagher with a plain-faced glee introducing 'Champagne Supernova' as 'Champagne Socialist'. "Or some really strong weed, yah?" A self-aware chuckle breaks out across the idyllic Suffolk fields. Again later when he introduces 'Talk Tonight' as 'we fucking need to talk, man'. Indeed, it's a conflicting appearance for Noel G.

On the one hand, the serene setting, high-brow cultural delicacies and ultimately civilised atmosphere of Latitude is almost entirely at odds with his no-bullshit, working class background and the brutish headline-grabbing manner in which he found fame. Still, he's also just released one of the most artful albums of his career, and his 'credibility' (for want of a better phrase) was never in question. Still, he always was an honest man, and his Latitude closing set proved more than ever that he is an 'everyman' - much more than a working class hero but a bloody great artist in the eyes of everyone. 

Upon a request for an old Oasis staple, Noel spits back "I don't play that any more mate, because I've got so many fucking great songs - I can't play the same old shit all the time". He needn't worry. Solo numbers 'Everybody's On The Run' and 'The Death Of You And Me' shine with that 'instant classic' charm that runs through all that he does, while 'Half The World Away' (dedicated to TV's The Royle Family, not the 'Nazi sympathising Windsors') and the closer 'Don't Look Back In Anger' unite the masses in song and prove Gallagher as an utterly genius booking on Latitude's behalf, and that there's a seldom soul on this planet that his songs haven't touched.

He is the songwriter's songwriter, if ever there was one. 

2. Manic Street Preachers
"This song is from the heady Britpop days," says frontman James Dean Bradfield adjusting his tie as he introduces Everything Must Go's twisted 'Removables'. "People say that we were in it, but we don't talk about it". True, there's no greater insult to the Manics as to refer to them as a 'Britpop' or '90s' band - the essence of the band is an ever-evolving spirit, while always remaining true to their culture slut tendencies and bile-spitting rhetoric. Always punching upwards with their feet firmly on the ground. 

The forever-shifting sound that they never get due credit for is on full display tonight. We challenge you to find another band who could roll from a monolithic guitar anthem like 'Motorcycle Emptiness' into the Eurocentric synth-led rush of 'Walk Me To The Bridge', the unashamed pop gem of 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough' and the shimmering but explosive post-punk of 'Jackie Collins Existential Question Time' without pausing for breath.

The fact that both 'If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next' and 'The Masses Against The Classes' both land so well tonight and both got to No.1 but are at total opposite ends of the sonic spectrum only further testifies the myriad talents of this band. Our only criticism was that there were no Holy Bible numbers, and that it ended too soon. However we don't despair. The sheer compulsion with which they perform the huge 'Sex, Power, Love And Money' from the immaculate Futurology tells us that the Manics have plenty more fire and life in them yet. We will see them again, essential as always. 

3. Portishead
With wind machines, trippy computer graphics and sound effects reminiscent of dial-up broadband, the set felt like it had been lifted straight out of 1996 - in the best way possible, albeit with an undeniably ambitious staging that proved Portishead to be forever relevant, and always on form.

Make no mistake, this was one of the greatest festival sets of the summer from the band who seldom play live in the UK.

As the flickering green Portishead P logo flickered across the screens, it soon morphed into the flickering and shifting shapes of the iconic trio, as the increasingly menacing 'Silence' kicked off the set with cinematic perfection. The scratchy and mournful charm of 'Mysterons' shone as majestically as ever until they snapped back to the present with nightmare-ish footage of David Cameron, hunting parties, anti-austerity marches and a message that read, "Five more years," during a fiery rendition of 'Machine Gun' attacking the Conservative Party.

It was a risky decision to place 'Glory Box', surely the band's best loved song, halfway through the set - and it didn't entirely pay off. After they'd finished, the crowd began to gradually dissipate as fair-weather fans decided to chance their arm getting into the over-capacity Vaccines set. More fool them, as all that followed was truly unforgettable. Those who stayed were richly rewarded - not least because later, Thom Yorke arrived onstage to massive cheers from the crowd, joining the band for 'The Rip' - a song Radiohead had previously covered. He didn't say a word, choosing instead to walk on silently, perform the song, and then disappear.

Overall, it was a consistently gripping and ultimately flawless performance, an opulent feast for the eyes, ears and heart - a show for all time from with an unflinching sense of artistry.

4. Alt-J
To cut to the chase, Alt-J's long-awaited headline set at Latitude will go down as one of the true musical highlights of summer 2015. Cynics may think their tight-knit introverted sounds more suited to a more intimate and humble environment - but the truth is that their charming eccentricity and idiosyncrasies were multiplied tenfold in wide open space, as the live translation of the likes of 'Hunger Of The Pine', 'Fitzpleasure' and 'Something Good' bloom into a far more cinematic and life-affirming experience.

"Latitude, it would be very special if you sang this next song with us," said keyboard man Gus Unger-Hamilton - before the packed out field roared back the words to 'Matilda'. Their cover of Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day' sent waves of fans into a deep swoon, before 'Breezeblocks' proved itself a bona fide modern day alt-anthem. Radiohead-sized greatness awaits them. One might not put the term 'crowd pleasers' and Alt-J in the same sentence, but the truth of the matter is that's all that Alt-J do - they were born to headline. 

5. Ed Harcourt
"Thanks for coming out," smiled the always exceptionally-dressed Ed Harcourt to the midday crowd, "I am the horsderve of the day." It was a pleasure. The day may have been young, but Sir Harcourt did all he could to win over the sun-baked audience with some bright and breezy charm. This came in spades with a heavenly rendition of 'God Protect Your Soul', before the searing hellfire and brimstone of new track 'Immoral' - taken from his upcoming album and given a more dramatic and post-punk darkness since he last performed it acoustically for Gigwise. 

The jovial defiance of 'Born In The '70s' delighted all as he captured the true spirit of this sweet midsummer dream of a day, and clung the audience close to his chest from then on. May his next LP finally bring him the success he has so long deserved. 

6. Marika Hackman
There's an eery discordance dripping through Marika Hackman's restrained folk-rock - the kind that you might not notice until you listen back a second or third time, or - as an impressive number of Latitude-goers did on Saturday - you see her live. Like the mythical siren in music form, her songs lull you in with a beautiful melody before grinding their teeth with a clashing chord or a sinister lyric. The set was not without its issues - she forgot how to play 'Animal Fear' and had to start again twice, and her faulty amp began making angry noises of its own accord at one point, but Hackman is an impressive and accomplished musician in the making.

7. Wolf Alice
Wolf Alice are a band of contradictions. Musically, their raucous urgency is wrapped up in poignancy and subtle melodies; lyrically, they roam from odes to friendship ("I'm so lucky you are my best friend") to scathing attacks ("You're a germ, twist my insides) without breaking a sweat. Their set at Latitude explores and exploits these contradictions with an ease and charisma that belies their relative inexperience. If we had to put money on festival headliners of 2018, Wolf Alice would be our bet.

8. Unknown Mortal Orchestra
After a slightly lacklustre start, the subtle, psych-rock melodies of 'So Good At Being In Trouble' kicked in, and the restless crowd stopped fidgeting and chatting enough to appreciate Ruban Nielson's pitch-perfect falsetto. By the time they'd reached material from their latest album, Multi-Love, the crowd - from the dedicated mosh pit in the front row to the fair weather fans (literally) lingering in the back - were fully on side. Multi-Love's title track, with its themes of polyamorous relationships and gender ambiguity, was undoubtedly the set's highlight.

9. Laura Marling
When the words, "This is a living nightmare" are uttered from a musician's mouth during a set, it's usually a subtle clue that things aren't going well. Thankfully, Marling's Latitude performance was the exception to that rule. It was an exquisitely judged blend of the blissful Americana to which she has gravitated on her latest album, and her more acoustic back-catalogue, which better demonstrates her soaring, silky vibrato. Her stage persona, too, has blossomed - there's a humour to her self-deprecation where before there was discomfort and introversion. Oh, and the "living nightmare" part? She'd just told a very, very bad joke about bears and chickens.

10. Warpaint
Warpaint have always nurtured a degree of sonic chaos in their live shows. Too often in the past though, this has spilled over into something messy - their tendency for experimenting onstage resulting in false starts and meandering instrumentals that border on the self-indulgent. What a transformation they displayed at Latitude. Theirs was a masterful, polished set that demonstrated the dreamy synergy that this band has teetered on the edge of since 2010's The Fool - without ever sacrificing the sense of musical spontaneity they hold so dear.

11. The Twilight Sad
Taking a sonic sledgehammer to serenity of Latitude, leaving nothing in their wake but smouldering ash after the heat of the cinematic misery and open-hearted, poetic beauty. The ache of James Graham's towering vocal is underlied by a web of post-punk, orchestration and skin-tingling noises to create a sound that one would struggle to give a name to, but one word springs to mind: immense. The maniacal dance of Graham's performance met by the dizzying rapture their dedicated fans reserve for them mark them as one of the greatest bands of this century, without doubt.

 

12. Santigold
To say we'd forgotten Santigold existed would be putting it a little harshly, but our copy of 2012's Master Of My Make-Believe hasn't exactly been worn out from over-use. It was with a degree of indifference, then, that we arrived at the Obelisk Arena on Friday afternoon to see the US electronic singer take to the stage dressed in a tracksuit-cum-picnic-blanket, a fried egg on toast on her chest.

Thank goodness, though, that we suppressed the resulting urge to run off to the breakfast bar for an egg butty, because Santigold's set was pure, charismatic magic. On tracks like 'Disaparate Youth', which lies in the beautiful, unchartered lands between balladry and thumping electronica, she paired her silky, languid vocals with inimitable dance moves. Towards the end of the set, she and her dancers began throwing doughnuts out into the crowd - but it wasn't needed. The crowd were already on side.

13. Fake it 'til you Make it by Bryony Kimmings & Tim Grayburn
A man on one side, a woman on the other, they walk to meet centre stage. Wearing woven baskets like full cover Hockey masks, her in skin tight nude shorts and vest, him in white briefs and tank top. They squat, they twerk, they shake maracas. 

"Tim and I are a real life human couple,” announces Bryony Kimmings, “that means this is going to be a love story, sorry.” More than that, this is a true story, a voyage of discovery for both parties into what it is to be a man with clinical depression and for the woman who loves him. Narrating their story together but from their own vantages, they show ground breaking bravery, boldness and jaw dropping honesty about themselves, and the nature of Tim’s condition.

Hazardously and frantically darting across every inch of the stage, this high energy, emotionally charged rollercoaster of a story is heightened with forceful drums and crashing symbols. This, combined with large red and blue halogens flashing like a wild lightening storm, creates one incredible and overwhelming experience.

Put simply, Fake it 'til you Make it is raw and real. It will have you laughing with joy and crying with sadness within milliseconds, have tissues at the ready. But, in the words of Tim; ”This is clinical depression in its simplest form, with mambo music”.

Your next chance to see Fake it 'til you Make it is 6-30 August at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

14. Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck
“I feel like people want me to die, it would be the classic rock and roll story” - Kurt Cobain. 

“I’m Kurt Cobain”, says a completely adorable blonde haired, blue-eyed toddler to a home movie camera. It becomes clear that the angelic façade masks a hyperactive boy desperate for love, “he just wanted to be the most loved, and that wasn’t ideal,” recalls his Stepmother. Shunted from one home to the next, a misunderstand Cobain sought place and reason in creativity; “he always had to do some kind of art...usually defacing something”.

“This is going to change your life, buckle up. You’re not ready for this,” Wendy, his mother, warned the first time she heard Nirvana’s breakthrough album, Nevermind. Mothers have an annoying habit of being right. At the height of the band’s success, Cobain abandoned a tour, taking six months off to sit in an apartment taking heroine and stroking a cat with Courtney Love. Heroine, extreme emotional sensitivity and intricately fragile humans don’t mix.

This aside, their relationship is visceral - blindingly obvious is their symbiotic infatuation, later extending to include their only child, Frances. She would become executive co-producer of the film, making for an ultimately faithful and feminine hand to guide the viewer behind a very privately guarded curtain. 

With 27 years condensed into 132 minutes, director Brett Morgen presents an ordered and systematic progression of self-destruction. Morgen treats us to never before seen footage (both on stage and at home), original artwork and sensitising animations to build a schizophrenic and frenzied feature. Feeling like an acid trip at times, this is an intimate and relentless watch.

The soundtrack, much of it Nirvana playing live, is interjected with orchestral and choral renditions of the likes of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', bringing stratospheric ominousness and spine-chillingly moments of darkness between the light. Loaded with grit, like a classic grunge guitar riff, and just as explosive, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, does what it says on the tin, and then some.

But one question still remains; “Did Kurt find the underground, or did the underground find him?”

15. Sadlers Well’s Presents: Titanium
Blasting through the tranquil scenery and sound of lapping water against the river bank, the Waterfront Stage erupts with bass tones, vibrating through every blade of surrounding grass. Crawling and clawing, from one side of the stage emerges a slight figure, apparelled head to toe in black, this is the beginning of the most explosive new dance fusion in a long time.

Before you can blink, the stage is swarmed by a new production from acclaimed choreographers Rojas and Rodriguez of Nuevo Ballet Espanol, Titanium. This nine-piece all male dance troop deliver assertive fluidity and determination in every stomp, blending the boundaries between traditional and contemporary flamenco, break dancing, gymnastics, and pushing the human body to the limits of endurance and stamina.

Accompanied by a live band who are as much a feature as the dancers, they create an electric and goose-bump inducing soundtrack with sumptuous and flirtatious violin and drum solos flowing moments of passion and power into that of vulnerability seamlessly. Working in three divided troops; three flamenco dancers, three hip hop dancers, and three break dancers, each battling the other for originality and style, goaded on by the eclectic and authentic live vocals.

Having enjoyed a rapturous welcome to the UK in May, the Latitude crowd raised the bar, meeting the end of the performance with a standing ovation and deafening applause. Titanium is infectious, the energy explosive. This is a euphoric and superb addition to the arts line up.

16. Comedy: Russell Kane
Latitude’s Comedy Arena, packed to the rafters, people spilling out of every opening and pouring into every opportunistic gap.

The last slot of the afternoon was taken by Russell Kane, followed by Elliot Steal, and compared by Zoe Lyons. Any one familiar with Kane’s shows - self confessed former nerd with extravagantly camp mannerisms, quirks and skips to and from either side of the Arena stage, will have expected to see just these classical Kanisms. They did.

Using his 45 minute set to talk to us in only his unmistakable style about to awkwardness of the stereotypical Brit, when for example, learning a language, drawing contrast between us and our European counterparts. This, along with his many other observations of us Brits, combined with his boyish charm and spritely energy made for hilarious watching under the baking hot sun and yellowing grass.

Keeping on point and Latitude central, his thoughts turned to sleep. Specifically, sleeping at festivals - Group A, the impossibility or Group B, the effortless easy of it, and of course, the out right annoyance that builders against others in your camp who don’t fall into the first Group A. As far as the eye could see, heads robbed up and down in furious agreement.

17. Station to Station
“It’s not a package, it’s not a system, it’s something that changes and evolves.”

Created by Doug Aitken, Station to Station is a 4000 mile train ride, of 62, one minute films. With neon go-faster-stripes on the side, the train coasts through the wild plains of America, atlantic to pacific with artists and contributors tell the story of the work, of the journey, of life.

Coming in short but precise bursts, this is a film not only documenting, but recording the process of happenings where anything can occur. In one carriage, flamenco dancers perform with the absence of a crowd but to by passing landscape. In another, Cold Cave record to vinyl. All of this is going on while the train is in transit, combining rolling footage and live action of artists.

With relentless sharp cuts, there’s no question that Station to Station is visually and conceptually dynamic, and complimented by an electro-funk soundtrack slowing and swelling in the blink of an eye.

Didactic yet accessible, this is must see.

Station to Station is showing at the Barbican Centre, accompanied by an exhibition of the same title, until 26 July.

18. Pick of the Pleasance Present: Pipeline Theatre: Spilikin, A Love Story
Could you love a humanoid robot?

Sally is a forgetful, foul-mouthed 60 or 70 something year-old woman who lives alone - until a humanoid robot moves in to keep her company. This story exists in the past and the present, drawing on Sally’s flash back memories played out through a split stage, shared with her 18-year-old self and 17-year-old Raymond, her future husband.

The two teenagers are an unlikely love match. Her, "arrogant and facetious”, a tear away who likes to think she could be the next Debbie Harry. Him, a "brainiac", into algorithms and algebra who prefers robots to humans; "robots are perfect, they never get ill”.

Their angsty awkwardness provides laugh out loud moments in an otherwise emotional tale. Music from Blondie intersects the scenes, at other times, trickling and crackling sounds create tension and intrigue. The script is purposefully and effectively repetitive, gradually and subtlety Sally’s story builds with moments of confusion, and word replacement takes the place of word remembrance as she becomes susceptible to human “design flaws”. Her interaction with the robot is aggressive and resistant initially, but jerkily subsides as emotional dependence sets in.

This fraught but fun story is gripping and provocative, not to be missed.

Spilikin, A Love Story will be resident in the Jack Dome at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 5-31 August.

19. Wellcome Trust Hub Present: Prof. Anil Seth, Sackler Centre: The New Science of Consciousness
Clamber uphill to a distant but cosy corner of the Faraway Forest and you’ll discover the Wellcome Trust Hub, hosting the calm and friendly faced Professor Anil Seth from the Sackler Centre, a leading institute for Consciousness Science. Bringing us long-standing theories and the latest neuroscience research, we are invited to delve deep into the inner workings of the brain- electrical impulses aside, and begin to deconstruct one of the most mysterious natural machines; the human brain.

With concepts seemingly so complex that the thought of it is enough to make your brain melt, Seth delivers a considerately paced and perplexing talk- thankful accompanied with colourful and visually varied on-screen aids. Seth offers fun and fascination.

In a nutshell, what can we take away from out time with Seth?

You receive information about the world through your senses- but that’s an overload to translate. How do you get around this? Your brain generates, guesses and fills in any gaps in information by inferring what could be there. In short, what you see when you look at something, anything, isn’t necessarily what that things looks like. Your brain understands and computes visual information in an impressionistic way, not in HD. There’s more.

You might think there is one central part of the brain that controls the rest of it, but no. There is no conductor at the front pointing and waving a stick to summon activity, instead is works like a jazz group, no central conductor yet it all works together in harmony.

And most importantly, not everything tastes like chicken. According the Seth’s taste buds, the brain tastes like tofu.

Below: The beautiful sights and people of Latitude 2015