day 1 overview

As you enter the site (from the guest area – sorry for not ‘keeping it real’ folks, that’s just where I was put”) you come across the secluded ‘In The Woods’ arena, which doesn’t spark up until 11pm when it becomes home to some late night bleeping, but for now it’s onwards, past the abstract painter, the cosmic sheep, the deckchairs by the lake and over the bridge into the festival area.

Each stage has its on tent, bar the Lake Stage which is the only one outdoors. However, the two furthest away from each other would take just 5 minutes to switch between for your average walker, which means intricate planning is not required and allowing you to wander about, dipping into attractions you might otherwise have missed.

After easing myself in at the comedy tent, and the excellent Dan Antopolski it’s off the Sunrise tent for Iain Archer. His man is currently soundchecking, or so we think, as this turns out to be Archer himself launching into ‘Minus Ten’. Archer is a man of the technical age as he uses to guitars to create loops which he plays and sings over with his Thom Yorke lilt. Like all singer songwriters he needs that one hit, a ‘Babylon’ or (gulp) ‘You’re Beautiful’ to make his big breakthrough. He hasn’t got it yet, yet on this evidence the potential is there.

You sense that Friday is not the best day to have your slot. Most people seem to be arriving today and there are still some finishing touches being laid like running orders and strobe lighting warnings – although in fairness the latter is not that urgent at 2pm in the afternoon. It means that the crowds are patchy for the artists, and Archer’s crowd has halved by the time Peter Bjorn and John come on stage.

Mind you, it’s still 15 minutes before they start as they too are tasked with the indignity of doing their own soundcheck, but the crowd is not much better when they get going properly. It’s a shame, as Latitude misses a treat. On ‘Young Folks’ they have a whistled riff that would replace ‘bollocks’ as the night-time chant of choice were it not for the fact that

a) no-one was there to hear it
b) the Latitude punter is above that sort of nonsense.

Back to the comedy tent for a self satisfying rant at Daily Mail readers from Marcus Brigstocke, but as this is the only arena already running behind its schedule we catch Danielle Ward first. She tells us she has a Time Out award for comedy. The audience assumes she must know the editor as she is truly terrible. Brigstocke did have a rant at Mail readers and I did feel self satisfied whilst for diversity he slagged the Express too. Not that there is anything wrong with that, and this Political set is excellent, even if his mustard coloured corduroy suit was decidedly iffy.

“Ladies and Gentlemen... please welcome...The Pipettes!

It’s time for some serious polka-dotted fun. Like The Darkness and rawk, it’s hard to tell whether The Pipettes are a pastiche of the Phil Spector/Ronettes era they so lovingly recreate with added edge. And like The Darkness they might explode on the scene and disappear as quickly, but it will be fun while it lasts. ‘Pull Shapes’ is a glorious single and caps off a performance full of songs about boys, school and dancing, with synchronised routines honed in the girls bedrooms with hairbrushes.

Evan Dando’s Lemonheads have reformed and their songs sound as fresh as ever, despite the front man’s routine and disinterested delivery. His vocals still hit the mark and on hearing ‘Into Your Arms’ again I’m reminded that I must complete that list of top ten pop songs. It would be in the top 5 and ‘If I Could Talk I’d Tell You’ would be on the shortlist too.

The real treat for the night is The Zutons. Dave McCabe bounds onto the stage with a huge ‘Come ed!’ as they launch into ‘Why Don’t You Give Me Your Love’.

This could be the best party band on the planet. Crowd participation is requested at every opportunity and they now have a terrific repertoire of quality good time songs in the likes of ‘Zuton Fever’ and ‘Pressure Point’.

Of course ‘Valerie’ is the catchiest record of 2006 so far and gets the best reception. It’s a timeless song, one that would have your grandmother and 5 year old child singing along with equal gusto, and this crowd proves it. The perfect festival band.

There’s just a little time to snatch a moment with Scritti Politti, headlining the Uncut stage. He has a lower audience that The Pipettes did in the same place, and is headlining based on a reputation earned over 20 years ago. Green Garside has barely played live in that time due to anxiety. Maybe he was right, because there is little to enjoy in this brief sojourn into his set.

Due to an unusual staggering of finishing times on the various stages, Snow Patrol are potentially playing to the whole festival when they stride on and play ‘Chocolate’. But Gary Lightbody’s voice is less produced live – jerky and warbling – and it is to the songs detriment.

I find Snow Patrol difficult. I should like them as much as the crowd clearly do, welcoming every anthem with a huge raw. But I find their brand of indie formulaic and dull and before the end I’ve sneaked off to a DJ tent, attracted by the sound of ‘My Sharona’. Now that’s a tune.

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