Punks, poets, and pink sheep assemble: Latitude is here, and the East of England’s jolliest knees-up is brimming with icons of British pop history, as well as countless new gems waiting to be discovered. As weekends go, it’s a soggy one, but with a vast array of music and culture to get stuck into, there’s to be no raining on Dork’s parade. Well, maybe a little.
Friday’s choc-full programme is a chance to get the step count up, bouncing from stage to stage to catch a bit of everything. Where better to start than with Do Nothing? Hot from releasing their debut album Snake Sideways earlier this month, the Nottingham bunch are on top form as they rattle the cobwebs off of the BBC Music tent. “I might cry!” frontman Chris half jokes as they triumphantly wrap up the weekend’s first great moment. New Zealanders The Beths bound along soon after, staking their claim as a perfect festival band with their zesty pop-rock cuts and charming humour - leader Liz Stokes notes that “It is quite a Latitude of people today… it’s a very wide stage” - before a hop over to the Obelisk Arena finds Aussie party-starters Confidence Man pumping up the jams like their lives depend on it. Metronomy usher in the sunset with a hit-packed performance, Joe Mount hinting that “this is our last UK festival… maybe for a while”, making it all the sweeter when the iconic opening synths of ‘The Look’ ring out over Henham Park.
And then… Pulp. Pulp! It’s the moment the packed-in-like-sardines crowd have been waiting for, so when a silhouetted Jarvis emerges in front of that enormous full moon, the energy hits electrostatic heights. The 90s heroes are on top form as they churn out hit after hit, servicing their iconic songs gloriously with a string section in tow. When they killed it in Finsbury Park t’other day, it was a moment for the die-hards. Tonight, in front of a largely family crowd, they seize the chance to perpetuate their legacy, inspiring kids who weren’t born when they were around the first time - some even when they last reformed in 2011. When ‘Common People’ reaches its ebullient climax, there’s no question that this is a performance for the Latitude hall of fame.
