Photo: Zachariah Marouche
This year marks Latitude's 11th edition and Mumford & Sons, The 1975 and Fleet Foxes headlined. But it was a couple of heritage acts and some newcomers further down the bill that stole the show for Gigwise.
IDLES, who seem to be one of the most hyped new bands in the country right now, make a deep impression. Meanwhile, Tinariwen deservedly get a nod for their hypnotic desert blues and Placebo should have headlined - few bands are as exciting live as the 'Nancy Boy' hitmakers. But they weren't the only bands to leave their indelible mark on the weekend. Read on to see who else made the grade in the stunning surroundings of Henham Park, Suffolk.
Goldfrapp
Following on from acclaimed appearances at this year’s Glastonbury Festival and the Somerset House Series, Goldfrapp are well and truly back after a four-year hiatus with new album Silver Eye. On stage at Latitude, Alison is the lady in red – red top, red PVC trousers and boots - and she struts about on stage telling the audience, "You’re cute" between songs. The two girls she has on synths hammer out melodies on their keyboards and her bass player eyeballs the audience like a bald burly rhythmical bouncer, protecting his ladies on stage. They smash through old classics at the start of the set such as 'Train' while also giving people the chance to hear songs from the new album ('Anymore', 'Ocean'). They finish up with 'Ooh La La' and 'Strict Machine' and by the time they’re done the crowd has doubled in size and is in proper Friday night partying mode.
Placebo
Celebrating 20 years together, Placebo take to a packed tent that's eagerly awaiting their appearance. They open with 'Pure Morning' before launching into firm favourites such as 'Special K' and 'Nancy Boy'. Last year's single 'Jesus’s Son' also makes an appearance. The encore, though. is really where it’s at – the band play 'Infra-Red' and then go straight into Kate Bush’s 'Running Up That Hill'. Audience members are grabbing each other, swaying in unison and singing along while elsewhere, several people seem to be having a quiet little happy sob. You can tell why they’ve survived the industry for the last 20 years - the live arena is where they really flourish. At this rate, they'll still be here for another two decades.
Glass Animals
2016 saw the global breakthrough of electronic indie artists Glass Animals. Thanks to singer Dave Bayley's soft sexy vocals, painfully honest lyrics, Edmund Irwin-Singer's subtle yet throbbing bass lines and Drew MacFarlane's big, catchy guitar riffs, they make songs to have naughty thoughts to. On stage they’ve got so much energy. They go straight ‘Life Itself’ and jump high enough to clear fences. Their fan base is young, and match their energy with energetic dancing and singing along to every song. In homage to the imagery they use in their marketing materials, many of them have also smuggled in pineapples and launch them at the stage, narrowly missing Bayley’s head several times. Songs such as 'Black Mambo', 'Youth' and 'Pools' also make an appearance. and the band finish with 'Pork Soda', still full of energy. You can see why their rise to fame has been so meteoric.
IDLES
Visceral, honest and vaguely terrifying, IDLES pack a post-punk punch that’s been missing from the British music scene for quite some time. Highlights of their set include slagging off the political elite, songs about growing up in a "shit hole" (Exeter) and lead singer Joe Talbot jumping into the crowd at the end of the set and inviting everyone to conga with him to the Sunrise arena. Along with bands such as Strange Bones, Fat White Family and Cabbage, IDLES seem to be part of a growing number of acts commenting through their music on the dire political circumstances that the UK currently finds itself in. Whether we’re regressing back to the punk politics of the 70s and 80s or forming new ideas based on our current circumstances, it’s refreshing to finally see political comment return to music.
Tinariwen
Dressed in full Tuareg attire, Malians Tinariwen played songs from their seventh album ‘Elwan’ which focus on the loss and devastation they feel about the current political situation in their homeland, Adrar des Ifoghas, a mountain range that straddles north eastern Mali and southern Algeria and which is, at present, a conflict zone. What comes across on stage is this sense of loss, presented as an almost hypnotic undertow in their music through the use of the traditional repetitive Tuareg melodies played on flute, fiddle and guitar, along with the percussive Tinde drum beat. With that sense of loss though, comes a feeling of hope; for a band whose music tackles some dark themes they are one of the most cheerful looking acts to grace the stage throughout the whole weekend.
Jaguar Skills
Following a full-on schedule of mainly guitar bands, dancing is high on the Saturday night's agenda. Stumbling into Jaguar Skills' DJ set, the audience is met with a guy who very definitely knew his way around a mixer. From 'Bills, Bills, Bills' by Destiny's Child into 'Stay Away' by Nirvana, into 'Voodoo People' by the Prodigy, into Paranoid by Black Sabbath and so much more, this was mash-up central. The fact that he keeps his face, name, age and hometown hidden from the public domain, marking him as a sort of Bansky of the DJ world, serves only to strengthen and highlight what he’s really good at – mixing some absolutely banging tunes. Whoever he is, Saturday night belongs to Jaguar Skills.
Lucy Rose
From all the stand-out performances that come from female artists over the weekend, Lucy Rose has to be one of them. Opening up the main stage on Saturday, she seems not only to have grown in band size - a drummer, bassist and lead guitarist join her on stage, along with her swapping between acoustic guitar and keyboard throughout the set - she also grown into a much more competent and confident performer. Compared to her earlier gigs when she sometimes appeared so nervous on stage you could visibly see her shaking, she's now much more comfortable in her own skin on stage. 'Middle Of The Bed' and 'Shiver' go down well with the surprisingly large audience that has gathered to see her at this early hour, as does 'Morei', a song from her new album which sees her moving towards a more bluesy and mature sound. Rose's travels around the world to places as far a field as South America and India have been well documented, and playing gigs in fans' living rooms and writing the new album have contributed to her new found confidence. It's certainly serving her well as a writer and performer.
