Live Review

Latitude Festival – Day 3 – Suffolk

• 24th Jul 2009

On Sunday we awake to a glimpse of sunshine and the sounds of Thom Yorke, rehearsing his solo set for the Obelisk stage drifting over from the arena, everyone is in a quiet lazy frame of mind for the last day of the festival, we pack up our gear and make it down to the Uncut stage just in time to catch a strong performance from iLIKETRAINS, they have been likened to both Sigur Ros and Interpol, with their sombre songs and melody’s however they reminded me more of early Suede with lead singer David Martin’s brooding vocals and darkly gothic lyrics.

Needing a little light relief and attempting to shelter from the increasingly heavy rainfall we made our way back to the comedy tent where we enjoyed the politically incorrect Australian born Brendon Burns who charmed rain socked audiences while trying to keep his more filthy jokes away from the mic (as his son was back stage), even going so far as filling the interval time with an unexpected encore.

We head over for some much needed sustenance and find ourselves listening to the Manchester Orchestra who hail from the states and are part of the indie rock generation making their way over to our shores, with a bounciness underlying a slightly heavier rock sound they pleased a rain soaked crowd and had people grooving away under cover of the Uncut stage. As the sun emerged from the crowd, giving us a chance to dry off a little we made our way over to the Sunrise arena in the woods to catch Catherine A.D. amongst the little groups of families trying to find shelter from the days rain is a crowd of people eagerly awaiting Catherine’s appearance, and they are not disappointed, with her haunting voice made all the more dramatic by moments of grandeur in the music.

Having heard a general buzz about The Irrepressibles who had been performing all over the festival throughout the weekend, we headed down to the lake to watch this weird and wonderful group of musician performers, they pull no punches with any aspect of their show, with wild costumes, beautiful and fantastical music and an element of faerie about them, they delight all who watch in the perfect setting on the lake, they were far and away one of the highlights of the weekend.

Time is pressing on so we make our way back to the Obelisk stage for the last half of the Editors set which is in full swing, they put on a strong and exciting show, with the crowd on their feet and jumping around and every member of the band as in to it as those watching, they were followed by the great Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, misunderstood by many and hailed by the others they seem to be a love them or hate them kind of group. Nick Cave’s mixture of dark and haunting and at times violent lyrics combined with a voice that seems to indicate impending doom sends chills down my spine and as I look around it seems many are similarly affected. As the night draws to a close the crowds start to disperse we make our way back to our car looking forward to a nice warm bath and a real cup of tea.