Concert News

LATITUDE CONFIRMS IT WILL BE THE FIRST MAJOR FESTIVAL TO TAKE PLACE THIS SUMMER

• 25th Jun 2021

Celebrating creativity, diversity and inspirational talent, Latitude Festival adds yet more names to the arts and music stages, transforming Henham Park into the ultimate playground of artistic expression. Taking place 22nd- 25th July 2021 in Suffolk, the festival is headlined by Wolf Alice,  Chemical Brothers, Bastille, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bill Bailey, Katherine Ryan, Jo Brand, Reginald D. Hunter and Simon Amstell.  Day and Weekend tickets are on sale here.

Following Boris Johnson’s announcement this week which extended lockdown by four weeks, cinch presents Latitude will become the first major festival to take place in the UK and in a powerful statement of intent, the festival continues to add world-class names to the bill.

Festival Director Melvin Benn said,  “It’s been a long week after the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday and while I was disappointed in the immediate aftermath of the statement, on reflection, I think it actually gives much more certainty of Latitude being able to happen than if he had loosened things on Monday because the country will have strangled the variant’s ability to spread to a greater degree through increased vaccination than if we had opened fully this coming Monday.

So, for much of the week I have been in conversation with the Government on Latitude in particular and I’m very confident after those talks that Latitude will be able to go ahead. There will be more detail on the specifics next week but with this in mind, we are thrilled to announce these fantastic artists today.

More details will follow but we’ll 100% keep you updated every step of the way. We’re very excited – it’s really happening!”

One of the UK’s greatest pop bands, Supergrass will open the main stage on Saturday as very special guests injecting  some much needed fun into the summer. The iconic britpop band reformed in 2019 to the delight of their fans and the joyous, life-affirming energy of their catalogue of hits including Richard III, Sun Hits The Sky, Pumping On Your Stereo, Moving and Grace are unbeatable. This Latitude slot comes off the back of their 25^th anniversary tour,  iconic set closer Alright is a must-see!

Across the weekend a host of cutting edge artists have also been added to the bill.  Following the release of their critically acclaimed album Black To The Future, Mercury-nominated quartet Sons of Kemet join cinch presents Latitude as the final BBC Sounds stage headliner. Known for their dynamic, high-energy live sets and hailed by many as the best live band in the UK right now, Latitude will be the band’s biggest headline show to date.  Villagers also join the bill ahead of their much anticipated fifth studio album Fever Dreams.

Must-see artists  include the much hyped singer-songwriter, rapper, visual artist and NiNE8 Collective member Lava La Rue who is behind the critically acclaimed 2019 EP Stitches and and The Golden Dregs (South London-based project and brainchild of singer-songwriter Benjamin Woods) who bring a touch country-pop from recent acclaimed album Hope Is For The Hopeless.  On every stage there is a host of rising talent who will go down a storm with the music-loving audience including Emily Burns, Ava Waves, Liz Lawrence, Charlotte Jane, Nayana IZ, The Goa Express, Fake Laugh and Black Honey

Prepare for a riotous summer weekend of laughter as even more comedy names join the cinch presents Latitude bill. Queen of ventriloquism, Nina Conti will perform twice at the festival, once when she takes to the Comedy Arena stage, and again in her role as Greta, for a live podcast recording  of Nina Conti & Shenoah Allen’s Richard & Greta.  Finalist of Britain’s Got Talent and star of BBC Radio 4’s Citizen of Nowhere_, Daliso Chaponda joins the Comedy line-up, alongside Edinburgh best newcomer nominee Helen Bauer, Chortle Student Comedy Award 2019 winner Erika Ehler, carnage-wielding, human disco ball, Katie Pritchard, surgically sharp Micky Overman and high-energy comedic duo Big Shop.

Across the weekend, cinch presents Latitude will host a rabble-rousing range of established wordsmiths and speakers with big ideas. Inspiring novelist Andrew O’Hagan will discuss his stunning new novel Mayflies while the ClassFest Showcase Tour will make a stop at Latitude, as Natasha Carthew talks to fellow writers including acclaimed poet André Naffis-Sahely about what it means to be a Working Class Writer. Returning for their regular slot, The Psychologist magazine will present Professor Stephen Reicher, who, having spent the pandemic as a member of both SAGE and Independent SAGE advising the government on their response, will discuss The Virus and Us, and Professor Greta Defeyter will discuss child food poverty.

Legendary couture designer Giles Deacon will speak at the festival  for the first time in The Ballroom. as part of a programme presented by Hospital Rooms, the arts and mental health charity that commissions extraordinary artworks for NHS mental health inpatient units across the UK. Winner of British Designer of the Year Award, GQ magazine’s Designer of the Year, and British Fashion Council’s Fashion Forward Award, Deacon is currently working with Hospital Rooms on a project in a psychiatric intensive care unit for men in East London.

The Listening Post, a whole stage dedicated to the diverse and creative art form of podcasts, announces a slate of shows recording live episodes at cinch presents Latitude,  including film critic Anna Smith’s Girls On Film, a review podcast from a female perspective, My Mate Bought A Toaster which explores comedians life stories through past purchase histories hosted by Tom Price, Kermode on Film, a podcast with film critic Mark Kermode which includes movie guests and questions from the audience and Say Why to Drugs, a definitive and authoritative guide to drugs and why we’re all hooked with Dr Suzi Gage.

Rich Wilson talks to funny & interesting people about their experiences with men’s mental health in Insane in the Men Brain, The Poetry Exchange Podcast shares conversations about a beloved poem and psychologist, author and star of The Great British Bake-Off Kimberley Wilson is on a mission to help us understand and protect our brains in her Stronger Minds podcast.

In a stand-out cinch presents Latitude moment, classically trained composer and electronic music pioneer Kate Simko will bring London Electronic Orchestra to the iconic Waterfront Stage, for a live dance collaboration with DistDancing.

Latitude Festival has long celebrated the visual arts across the site, and this year, the trees of the beautiful Faraway Forest will be integral to that celebration, as the home to two new installations. Ray of Light, by Steve Macleod, inspired by the light flare of the sun in the landscape, will spread throughout the Forest canopy, while down on the ground, this year sees SMCM present the Latitude Tree Appreciation Society founding meeting and cyanotype workshop.

Now, more than ever, is the time to reconnect with arts and music, reunite with family and friends and recharge with nature, making this year’s festival the most important edition in our 15-year history.