In Suffolk, Latitude festival has established itself as a refined festival for families. You can expect to see people singing along to music in sign language, This year Latitude pulled all the stops with a heavyweight line-up with artists such the Bloc Party, Texas, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Alt J, Foals, Disclosure, Rudimental and Kraftwerk to name just a few. Indeed Latitude’s 2013 line-up was amongst the best this year and we felt like we needed to be part of it!
Day 2 of the festival was a little less sunny but packed with amazing artists to enjoy. We started our day calmly with a stunning set from Daughter. The band, the voice and the charisma that came off that stage felt like the most adequate start of our day. We loved how fragile and light the set was with just enough edge to not be subdued.
Elsewhere on the main stage we caught some of Jessie Ware’s set, who seemed very enthusiastic. The young artist was jumping about and engaging with the crowd effortlessly and sang some of her most famous tracks. Back on the BBC 6 tent we caught up with our favourite Manchester lot, Everything Everything who rocked the crowd with their powerful set of electro/indie/atmospheric rock. Old hits like MY KZ UR BF and Schoolin’ came down a treat but it was the newer tracks that got people going like Kemosabe and Torso of the Week.
The highlight of our day and possibly the festival was seeing the Yeah Yeah Yeahs perform in front of a big audience of young and old, who seemed to be completely in awe of Karen O. And why wouldn’t you be? Karen O is the stuff of rock legends, with so much charisma, so much stage presence and impeccable vocals this woman is the real deal. The hits kept on flowing with such ease, Zero, Heads Will Roll, new track Despair and so many more. We particularly enjoyed the explosive rendition of Sacrilege and Maps. It was amazing to watch 4 year olds really enjoy the gig (even more so than the adults) and with that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had warmed us up for Kraftwerk.
You would be lying if you said you didn’t want to catch Kraftwerk at Latitude, indeed the electronic music pioneers were the hot topic of the day. Everyone was talking about the German act and the anticipation kept on growing as the day went by. Geared with our 3D glasses we saved ourselves a nice spot by the Obelisk stage to enjoy this very special concert. Kraftwerk didn’t disappoint, not if you know what the band is all about. With gigantic 3D effects and a bright lightshow Kraftwerk’s beats were deep and their sound clean. Every time the song changed with it came new set of graphics and the crowd would cheer in delight. Hits like Robots and Das Model sounded a little revamped so to fit the current trend and the result seemed to work for the crowd who was well up for a cheeky dance.
The night went on In The Woods were everybody seemed to retreat to enjoy a bit of hard house by the iArena or some polka house at the Big Screen or simply sat down in the forest for an honest chat.
Day 2 finished and festival goers seemed to be pleased with the memories collected along the way.
