Photo: WENN
Santigold and Wild Beasts warmed up the main stage in style ahead of Alt-J's headline set at Latitude Festival tonight (17 July).
Santigold, dressed in a picnic table checked tracksuit with a fried egg on toast emblazoned on her chest, had the charisma and confidence to open with some of her biggest hits - safe in the knowledge that her magnetic presence alone would prevent the crowd from leaving.
Rather than dripping gradually away, in fact, the crowd grew steadily in size as the Philadelphia electronic musician previewed several tracks fron her forthcoming third album - the follow-up to 2012's Master Of My Make-Believe.
Less as an attempt to bribe the crowd to stay than as a revival technique (the level of dancing, so far, had been unprecedented) Santigold recruited her dancers, dressed head to toe in yellow with the name of several breakfast foods written on their person, to hand out doughnuts to those lucky enough to be in the front row.
That wasn't all that was in store for Santigold's biggest fans though (or, perhaps, those who had set up camp in wait for Alt-J later this evening) - she picked out several of the most enthusiastic to join her onstage for a mass dance. Eventually, as the crowd became more and more zealous, she conceded, "Anyone who can make it up can come on stage." The stage ended up packed beyond recognition.
Later in the evening, Wild Beasts leaned heavily on their fourth album, Present Tense, for their set at the Obelisk Arena. Though some of the tracks - 'Wanderlust' in particular, with its poignant, bitter refrain of 'Don't confuse me with someone who gives a fuck' - resonated with the large crowd that had gathered, the rest of the set fell strangely flat.
"This is our sixth time at Latitude," they said part way through the set. But rather than injecting it with a sense of occasion, there was a vague sense of ennui surrounding the band's latest appearance here. The sound balance felt skewed in favour of the bass and against Hayden Thorpe's lead vocals, and the band's frequently closed eyes illicited a sense of fatigue rather than of poignancy.
Latitude Festival continues tonight with a headline set from Alt-J, as well as performances from Caribou and Jon Hopkins. Check back with Gigwise later for reviews, news and photos.
