Photo: Danny Payne
Day two of Latitude followed thunderstrms with perforances by the likes of Conor Oberst, Agnes Obel and First Aid Kit - before Bombay Bicycle Club, Royksopp and Robyn and Damon Albarn end the evening's entertainment tonight (Saturday 19 July).
Following a thunderstorm of biblical proportions that ravaged the Latitude site in the early hours of the morning, a rather bleary-eyed festival going public emerged from their tents to see what day two of Suffolk’s finest festival had to offer.
The bar was set high from the outset, as excellent Los Angeles natives Dawes opened the 6 Music stage with a set that fused the anthemic choruses of Bruce Springsteen and the lyrical narrative storytelling of the Hold Steady to great aplomb. Having released three records Dawes treated Latitude to a new song 'Things Happen', which saw Taylor Goldsmith demonstrate his virtuoso lead guitar skills. Keep reading to hear more from Dawes, who also cropped up later in the day.
It was then time for a quick sojourn over to the iArena nestled in the woods behind the lake where Gigwise witnessed the all-female electronic quartet Teen play a brief set, of making liberal use of synth and other electronic gadgetry. “We’re not going to talk because we don’t have very long”, Teeny Lieberson, the band’s lead vocalist, tells the audience clearly aware of the limitations that such an early slot presented the band, who’s celestial vocal harmonies combined on more than one occasion.
A swirling medley of electric guitar riffs and pedal steel kicked off American maverick singer songwriter Cass McCombs’ set, which followed Teen immediately after Teen. Despite a relatively long pause partway through the set to tune-up and repair a broken guitar string McCombs delivered a well-received set, the highlights of which included the melancholy Angel Blood and the spine-tingling set closer County Line.
With such a strong line-up of musical artists across the main stages, it’s easy to forget that Latitude has never had to rely exclusively on the strength of its musical line-up to appeal to the masses. Rather it has always sold itself on the diverse plethora of performances on show. Away from the music, anarchic comedian Nick Helm delivered a devastating half hour barrage of one-liners, foul language and puerile aggression during his stint on the Poetry Stage. To the uninitiated it may have seemed something akin to a car crash performance but those who have seen Helm know that this confrontational, belligerent nature is all part of an act that makes him one of the few unique comedians operating today.
It was up to Bright Eyes lynchpin Conor Oberst to continue the Americana theme that pervaded Saturday’s, and indeed the whole weekend’s line-up, as he took to the 6 Music stage playing a set lifting heavily from his most recent solo album Upside Down Mountain. The aforementioned Dawes fulfilled their festival duties as Oberst’s backing band and where just as impressive as they had been earlier today. Oberst, clearly grateful for their backing, admitted that he was “lucky to have these guys” when referring to Dawes. After a typically full-blooded, angst-ridden performance it was a sentiment that was reflected back at Oberst by the Latitude faithful.
Latitude day two concludes tonight wet sets from Bombay Bicycle Club, Robyn And Royksopp and Damon Albarn. Check back at Gigwise for the latest news, reviews, photos and more from Latitude 2014.
Below: Photos of the best bits of Latitude 2014 so far
