In a crowded festival season Latitude Festival stands out from the rest, it really doesn’t do mediocre, whether you are talking Music, Comedy, Theatre, Dance, Cabaret, Poetry, Spoken Word, Children’s Activities, or just its location the splendid Henham Park.

Walking through the forest you will see artists at work, creating one painting per day, stages hidden away, with a handful of people watching sitting on comfortable sofas and chairs. The Solas Area with its various spa’s and relaxation areas, small stages and cheap food vendors. In the enchanting woods we find people walking around with colanders on their heads, impromptu dance and theatre.

Photo by Dan Medhurst

The main area is a mass of humanity with various venues, food vendors and bars. The lake is host to the Waterfront Stage which plays host to ballet and music during the day, while at night there are light shows and Un Mondo Pieno Di Sogni procession, while the woods resonate to the sounds of DJ’s, together with projected images.

Photo by Victor Frankowski

During the weekend I must have seen more than 40 artists, but here are my ten musical highlights:

I was surprised when Alt-J were announced as Obelisk Stage, would they be able to manage the expectations, my concerns were unfounded as they looked to the manor born. It was clear that they were honoured to be headlining the festival, having played the event on two previous occasions, indeed Joe Newman repeatedly told the gathered masses he was “overwhelmed” by the response. 

As a live band they manage to reproduce the complex multi layered sound of their recorded work, particular highlights were ‘Dissolve Me’, ‘An Awesome Wave’, ‘Tessellate’ and ‘Matilda’ which triggered an almighty sing along. The encore included a cover of Bill Withers ‘Lovely Day’ which their style perfectly encapsulated.

Photo by Sam Neil

Saturday afternoon saw Caribou take to the Obelisk Arena, all decked in white the band were crammed around Dan Snaith into a small area at the centre of the stage as if they were monophobics. However their psychedelic electropop sound filled the arena, with people busting some impressive shapes plus some very gentle mosh pits.

Photo by Sam Neill

Friday evening saw Django Django performing on the 6 Music Stage, fresh from releasing their second album ‘Born Under Saturn’, the band seem to have more energy than the last time I saw them. They start with the established opening of ‘Introduction’ and ‘Hail Bop’ which instantly get the crowd on side, there is a block of new material including ‘Shake and Tremble’ and ‘Reflections’ both have the trademark drums being in the foreground. ‘Default’ receives the biggest cheer of the day, however as soon as it finishes a significant number of people leave the arena for Alt J. Those of us who stayed were treated to rousing renditions of ‘WOR’ and ‘Silver Roys’ a great way to end a set.

Photo by Jen O'Neill

The first time I first saw Drenge two years ago and was astonished how two kids could create such a powerful wall of noise. During the intervening years the Loveless brother’s performances have not only grown in maturity, but they have bucked the trend of successful duos and recruited Rob Graham, bassist and school friend.

As a three piece the sound has more depth and doesn’t appear so frenetic, this is personified in the opening track ‘Running Wild’ a great slow grungy track. Throughout their set the band perform tracks from both their albums, all tracks are cheered to the rafters together with mosh pits and crowd surfing. The highlight of the set is their final number ‘Lets Pretend’ creating a wonderful soundscape that reaches a crescendo of frenetic drumming, aggressive riffs and a thudding bassline.

So why aren’t these guys topping bills, guess it’s all down to connections, as they certainly have the talent.

Friday afternoon saw Fem Kuti and The Positive Force performing on the Obilisk Stage, a vision of yellow and blue, as with so much African music, their performance brought a huge smile to everyone’s face. Their unique blend of jazz, funk and African folk made it impossible to shake your thing, the saxophonist held a note for more than a minute to huge cheers from a good size crowd.

Photo by Sam Neill

The i Arena must be one of the most picturesque stages in Britain, with the forest as a backdrop, it was here we watched in awe of Jack Garrett. He performed tracks form his recently released ‘Syn esthesiac’ EP. His soulful electronica melodies and powerful voice kept the crowd mesmerised and he was another artist that appeared overwhelmed by the sheer number of people crammed into the arena and surrounding woods. ‘The love you’re given’ was as striking as his beard! 

Nothing sums up summer better than, sunshine, cider and Jose Gonzalez and so it was on the Obilisk Stage on Saturday afternoon. The stage set was minimalistic just a backdrop with mountain’s and planets. This was the ultimate chillout performance of the weekend, the combination of vocals and guitar was mildly hypnotic. Not a man scared to take on a challenge he did a unique version of Newton Faulkner track ‘Teardrop’, the finale was the beautiful ‘Heartbeat’, time for another cider and some sun cream.

Photo by Dan Medhurst

I am embarrassed to say that this was the first time I have seen Nitan Sawhney, there always seemed to be a barrier in getting to his gigs, thankfully Latitude has righted that wrong. On a gloriously sunny Friday afternoon on the Obilisk stage was the ideal setting for guitar impresario.

‘Dead Man’ has that wonderful east meets west feel so common in his music, with both classical and bluesy guitar together with cellos being played in a style synonymous with Indian music, with lyrics in both English and Hindi.

To ensure audience participation it was time for some Hindi lessons, quite simple 1, 2,3, this was all that was required to join the chorus of ‘The Conference’, or not as the case maybe. The song consists of percussion and verbal jousting between Nitan and percussionist, which may not sound too exciting but the musicality and speed makes it a magical moment.

Photo by Sam Neill

Savages took the 6 Music stage by storm, the post punk four piece set was a mix of tracks from the ‘Silence Yourself’ album and new material. Opening with ‘I Am Here ‘ which is reminiscent of Bauhaus at their very best, with its haunting introduction, before the effects laden guitar of Gemma Thompson, driving bass and thunderous drumming and vocals which cover all emotions, a great way to get the crowd on side. It’s evident that the new material has been tested in front of audiences for a while, as the sound is crisp especially on the ‘Adore’.

The finale of their set is ‘Fuckers’ with Jehnny Beth repeatedly singing “Don’t Let The Fuckers Get You Down” the track has a wonderful hypnotic violence about it, with driving bass, screaming guitar and frenetic aggressive drumming.

I got the distinct impression that the band enjoyed their performance as much as the crowd.

Tom Robinson and Band kicked off Saturday’s proceedings on the 6 Music Stage, which was surprisingly full considering most people were getting over the excess of the previous night. As the band walked on stage Tom Robinson appeared genuinely shocked at the number of people in the arena and the warmth of the reception. While he may not be the angry young man of the 70’s, he clearly still has a conscience, which is evident in his new material, ‘Doing The Job That God Put Me Here For’ is about a US pilots response when asked how he felt when bombing a civilian population. While ‘Risky Business‘ is a track about bankers greed and the lack of remorse for the impact of their decisions.

The set had a healthy splattering of classics from the seventies including ‘Sing if Your Glad to be Gay’, alas as relevant today as it was when first released. For ‘Martin’ the chorus was significantly less raucous as back in the day but this is Latitude after all. The band left the stage following a rousing rendition of ‘2468 Motorway’, before returning to the stage for shock encore of ‘War Baby’ (OK we all knew it was coming). 

Latitude 2015 was glorious weekend, with something to see around every corner to stimulate the body and soul. Latitude is so much more than about the music, although you do have the chance to see your old favourites alongside all the up-coming acts of today.

There was even some extra curriculum activity in the kiddie’s area giving 350 primary school children a chance to join in the fun.

The festival caters for all ages and was perfectly summed up by a five year old boy behind us as we left the festival. His comment “Next year, we’re camping at Latitude and that’s a fact”. Sums it all up really.

Review By: Mick Game