News

More Music, Comedy and Theatre Added to Latitude Line Up

• 5th Apr 2018

Latitude Festival is pleased to announce a host of new names added to the line up across the music and arts stages, joining headliners The Killers, Alt-J, Solange, Harry Hill, and Bridget Christie. The 13th edition of the festival takes place on Thursday 12th – Sunday 15th July 2018 in the stunning grounds of Henham Park, Suffolk. Tickets are available here.

Alex Cameron has been added to the Obelisk Arena fresh from supporting The Killers on tour, as is modern day one-man band Jeremy Loops, and Irish folk duo Hudson Taylor, plus the BBC Music Stage gets bigger as BRIT Award Nominated R&B songstress NAO and the ‘Miss You’ hitmaker Gabrielle Aplin are added to the bill. Manchester’s rising hip-hop queen IAMDDB will headline the Sunrise Arena off the back of her upcoming sold-out solo UK tour. Also performing on the Sunrise Arena are future soul star Connie Constance, Porches with a trio of synth-pop albums, South London’s Phobophobes, soul sensation Durand Jones & The Indications, post-disco punk threesome The Orielles, and Late Night DJ sets from Object Blue, and Willow.

Renowned for breaking new talent and nurturing artists from the very beginning, Latitude Festival is pleased to welcome additions to The Lake Stage, as curated by BBC Radio One’s Huw Stephens, which include ethereal indie rock goddess Bryde, DIY pop-grungers BLOXX, “g-folk” creator Hak Baker, the genre-bending Husky Loops, and more. The Alcove Stage’s hidden gem reputation is not to go unnoticed this year as art-pop trio Caro, producer and artist Malena Zavala, wonky-rockers Francobollo, Bullion-produced artist Westerman, Danish trio Nelson Can, Lion, Aadae, and locals Gaffa Tape Sandy join the lineup.

For the first time, comedy quiz show QI comes to the Latitude Festival Comedy Arena, where Sandi Toksvig and Alan Davies will present a unique all-bells-and-klaxons edition, specially researched for the Festival and featuring a celebrity panel drawn from the cream of Latitude talent.

Alan Davies said;
“Very much looking forward to The Klaxons of Latitude – probably my favourite Dr. Who characters.”

Sandi Toksvig said;
“The last time I presented QI Live (at the University of Kent), I was offered the job of permanent host. Can’t wait to see what they come up with this time…”

QI Captain Alan Davies will also perform solo, as will Black Books comedian Dylan Moran, festival favourite Marcus Brigstocke, a rare opportunity to see the characters behind the man in Nick Mohammed, double Edinburgh Comedy Award winner John Kearns, legendary satirist Mark Thomas, sketch team Pappy’s Flatshare Slamdown, winner of both So You Think You’re Funny and the BBC New Comedy Awards Tom Allen, one of the comedy industry’s fastest rising young stars Alex Edelman, multi-award winning comedian and broadcaster Matt Richardson, and Best New Comedian on the Fringe 2017 winner, 18-year-old Tom Lucy. Expect shenanigans in The Cabaret Theatre, with performance from Sheeps, Desiree Burch, Emma Sidi, Jake Lambert, Jen Brister, Ed Night, Jack Barry, Maisie Adam, Amy Annette, Joanne McNally, and Kinetic Comedy.

In The SpeakEasy, former Labour leader Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd will present their award-winning hit podcast Reasons to be Cheerful, fresh from winning Podcast of the Year at the Broadcasting Press Guild awards. Expect optimism, ideas, special guests, and stories of Ed’s failed interactions with inanimate objects (and Geoff’s interactions with animated ones). Jessie Ware’s chart-topping podcast Table Manners will also be live at Latitude, with Jessie and her mum Lennie swapping the kitchen table for The SpeakEasy stage, chatting to a special guest from the lineup. Latitude attendees can also join actor, writer, activist and presenter Sandi Toksvig for witty repartee and wondrous anecdotes with QI creator John Lloyd.

Geoff Lloyd said;
“Latitude is my favourite festival and I am really glad I don’t have to pay for my ticket.”

Ed Miliband said;
“Latitude is a great chance to bring positive, optimistic ideas about making the country better to an engaged audience. And Geoff said we had to do it so he didn’t have to pay for his ticket.”

Master wordsmiths also perform on The SpeakEasy across the weekend. Hip-hop and feminism are on a collision course in Testament’s show, WOKE. Amy León and her band perform Something Melancholy, the glorious Octavia Poetry Collective led by Rachel Long, come to Latitude for the first time, plus Jemima Foxtrot, dazzling Brigitte Aphrodite, Sarah Bennetto, viral sensations Harry and Chris and TS Eliot prize nominee Caroline Bird will all pack a lyrical punch.

The worlds of folk and classical music meet on Latitude’s Music and Film Arena stage as renowned folk singer Sam Lee performs his songs of lost love with the City of London Sinfonia, one of the UK’s leading chamber orchestras. Gizmo Varillas also joins the bill fresh from supporting Jack Savoretti on his European tour as well as his own sold-out show at Ronnie Scott’s. Talented young musicians from youth ensemble Britten Sinfonia Academy (BSA) and Oxfordshire project Waiting For Smith also perform.

Adam Buxton returns to Latitude with BUG X, a special show curated to celebrate 10 years of the big-screen music video showcase, BUG. Join him for this whistlestop tour through some of the highlights from the past decade: music videos, other clips and of course some delightfully unbalanced YouTube commentary. Internationally acclaimed artist Charming Baker also joins the bill, in conversation with Sky Arts’ Kate Bryan, judge of Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year. Charming appears at Latitude following his acclaimed show ‘ALL THIS IS YOURS’ at prestigious London gallery Jealous East, featuring Baker’s beautifully intricate graphite duckling drawings alongside his 30ft upside-down toy aeroplane sculpture.

Across the festival, the Latitude bill showcases theatre in its most exciting guises with an unrivalled range of major shows, ground-breaking pieces and the first glance at works in progress. Pecho Mama will perform half play, half live concept album Medea Electronica, Ovalhouse present Madi Maxwell-Libby’s debut show Massive Sense of Urgency, Bristol Ferment presents Hollering Woman Creek, Rachael Young embraces the cult of Grace Jones in Nightclubbing, Leeds Beckett present a multidisciplinary performance of Manifesto Move! and The Stephen Joseph Theatre present Build A Rocket by Chris York.

Attendees may even leave the festival a bit more zen with Latitude’s Wellness programme. The glittering, sparkling and glamorous Disco Yoga returns to Latitude in 2018 – Namastayin’ Alive, anyone? Nikki Slade, the UK’s No.1 western style Kirtan (chanting) practitioner will lead an open session on the Waterfront, sure to open your heart. And if that’s not inspiring enough Reggie Roberts, a 10-year-old performance maker from Colchester, brings his one to one 5-minute hug performance to Latitude.