Latitude 2011

[Gingerbond]

Latitude 2011 tickets on sale Dec 3rd or if your on Vodafone Dec 1st.

[diddly-dee]

I know it's a way off yet, but anyone had experience of going by National Express coach to Latitude? I see they run direct coaches from London and I was wondering if it's a bit of a bun-fight or is it relatively painless and hassle free?

[Flaminglippy]

Latitude 2011 tickets on sale Dec 3rd or if your on Vodafone Dec 1st.

Not sure they're gonna be let near anymore festivals after the IOW fiasco. First they leak Kasabian as the Sunday headliner on Twitter the night before the official announcement, then they say the Vodaphone tickets will be VIP with special camping, parking and viewing areas...which they then removed all mention of on the website after their allocation sold out as it was all bollocks!

[zahidf]

I know it's a way off yet, but anyone had experience of going by National Express coach to Latitude? I see they run direct coaches from London and I was wondering if it's a bit of a bun-fight or is it relatively painless and hassle free?

It's fine. right at the festival gates.

[A-Rob]

I'm really tempted to go, to this festival next year for the first time. But I will wait for some line up announcements before start making plans

[diddly-dee]

It's fine. right at the festival gates.

Nice one, thanks for this. That's swung it for me now, I'm going!!!

[Dave The Hedgehog]

I've been curious about this festival for the last 2 years now and I'm strongly considering going.

I'm looking for some information though. I know what sort of bands to expect (bit more indie than what people call 'indie') so the line-up probably won't be a problem for me, so what I'm interested in is if somebody - who has been before - can give me information on:

1. What type of people are traditionally in which campsite?

2. Are the toilets any better than other festivals or is it just a hole in the floor/unhealthy portaloos?

3. How many people actually went last year/what is the capacity?

4. What sort of time do people generally start arriving?

5. Which area/campsite is the most quiet at night and how far away is it from the main arena?

6. Considering it's generally a smaller and more intimate festival (from what I gather), is it worth it, considering you can get much more from larger festivals?

7. How much were the tickets last year?

[jimmyjimmy4080]

I've been curious about this festival for the last 2 years now and I'm strongly considering going.

I'm looking for some information though. I know what sort of bands to expect (bit more indie than what people call 'indie') so the line-up probably won't be a problem for me, so what I'm interested in is if somebody - who has been before - can give me information on:

1. What type of people are traditionally in which campsite?

2. Are the toilets any better than other festivals or is it just a hole in the floor/unhealthy portaloos?

3. How many people actually went last year/what is the capacity?

4. What sort of time do people generally start arriving?

5. Which area/campsite is the most quiet at night and how far away is it from the main arena?

6. Considering it's generally a smaller and more intimate festival (from what I gather), is it worth it, considering you can get much more from larger festivals?

7. How much were the tickets last year?

And the answer to the questions are...

1. Very middle class festival, I would say the majority are 30 somethings, and then very annoying teenage kids, who will generally push past you to see a gig, get bored after two songs then either push past you to get out or chat/send texts to their mates to say "OMG, like best gig ever"

2. Toilets are the best of any festival ive been to, some better than others.

3. Not sure, but theres plenty of open space.

4. Thursday I would say is was the day the majority arrive, but a lot of people come in on the Friday after work.

5. The site is not as big as other festivals so Camping is pretty good and theres lots of it.

6. Hmmmm, its not a patch on Glastonbury for value, but I would say its worth the fee.

7. Cant remember around £15o I think.

Home this helps

[Dave The Hedgehog]

Home this helps

Appreciate it.

The first answer left me a bit confused though. I'm talking more about what camp sites are known for being havens for idiots. Like at Leeds Festival, it would appear as if... actually, virtually every camp site has at least 15 or 20 tents full of borderline savants setting fires to things; but they tend to congregate around White, Yellow and Orange. Basically I'd just like to know where there is least trouble and how far away it is from the arena in terms of minutes.

I suppose if it's a very middle class festival of 30 somethings and teenagers, nobody will cause trouble and if the kids piss about then the chances are a swift chop to the throat will sort it.

[SweepingTheNation]

I suppose if it's a very middle class festival of 30 somethings and teenagers, nobody will cause trouble and if the kids piss about then the chances are a swift chop to the throat will sort it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-10676193

[Spliffman]

We went this year for the 1st time and do not intend on going back.

There was 5 of us 3 x mid-40s blokes and 2 x 14 yo girls (Daughters)just for your info.

The festival is set in a great setting, couldn't be better really and that's about the best of it.

Camp sites are fine we came through the gates and walked about 100m and pitched camp. About 10-15 mins bimble to the areana.

Seems the closer you get to the centre the younger the crowd gets.

Prices were on average higher than most festivals e.g. food £6.50-£8.00 for main meal, Same food at glasto was about 50p-£1 cheaper.

Booze, only 2 real ales on offer both pish! and £3.90pp. No real cider and shite lager.

I think that there were about 25k punters there. They haven't increased facilities from when it was 15k.

Sound bleed from stage to stage was the worst part of the festival for me though, very off putting it was!

There were a lot of posh kids there, but they caused us no bother.

Bogs are all long-drops. Not to bad but needed to be empitied more often and they need to cut down on the blue shite they put in to it. propper gaggin at times.

Water always went off for an hour or so in the morning, just when you need it..

Only 1 shop selling the things you need, 2 hour to get a pint of milk!

Apart from that it was great ;-)

[Dave The Hedgehog]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-10676193

How is that relevant? I could walk into my town centre on a Friday night and hear about somebody getting raped or murdered. I mean, it's shocking, yes, but it's not going to make me agoraphobic.

[sparkythetortoise]

How is that relevant? I could walk into my town centre on a Friday night and hear about somebody getting raped or murdered. I mean, it's shocking, yes, but it's not going to make me agoraphobic.

I can see what you are saying, but I think the reason the story was so surprising (apart from it being obviously horrible)was that prior to it Latitude had a reputation for being the most middle class, middle England, middle everything festival of the season. I don't have a problem with that BTW - all festivals are middle class really, I think - but it was thought a bit twee, and the last place for trouble.

Its USP is that it has very strong non music, especially the comedy which outclasses any other festival. They also have proper big name authors in the literary tent, making it like Hay on Wye, and the theatre has its moments.

Last year was the first one I didn't go to, and a lot of friends who did reported a markedly changed atmosphere, quite apart from the rape story. The received wisdom was that a change in the kind of bands booked encouraged a younger crowd which allied to its policy of attracting day visitors meant a lot of youngsters let off the leash for the first time, and not used to considering others at festivals.

Festival Republic's booking policy at this years Big Chill, I would say certainly did that there, and ruined a once great festival, so maybe there is some truth in it.

I would be really interested to hear from anyone who went last year and any other year before - has in changed, is it now full of pissed up teens, having been dropped off by Mummy in the 4x4, or were the comments just based on hearsay and faulty memory from grumpy old gits like me, jealous of the exuberance of youth? Would quite like to go back, but the bad vibes on Latitudes own forum are enough to make you think twice.

[Dave The Hedgehog]

I can see what you are saying...

Well, me and my girlfriend were camping last year around Latitude festival (down in Cornwall, incidentally) and we were listening to the radio in our tent. The news came on Radio 4 that there were 2 reports of rape at Latitude and we looked at each other shocked, and had almost the exact same head scratching reaction that you had. We always looked at Latitude as the most chilled out festival you could get tickets for and hearing that people had been raped - it was a kind of shock to the system really.

I think the main reason why me and my girlfriend want to go there next year is because we had an awful experience at Leeds Festival this year with people - not the bands; the people. We'd always considered going to Latitude festival based on the fact that it had the reputation of being like a mini-Glastonbury that didn't have the bloody hippies, and was a good place to soak up the whole scope of the art world without being too pretentious about it.

Another reason we want to go next year is because we want to go to it before it becomes... well, daunted with the same problems that face Leeds now: full of fans of popular culture who treat the music as incidental background noise while they arse around updating their Facebook status' and generally being inconsiderate pricks to others that go to enjoy themselves and soak up the atmosphere of a great (if sedate) festival. We're like people that want to go to Cuba before the Americans get their hands on it, if that makes sense.

It's a difficult one to analyse. Major festivals (with the exception of maybe Glastonbury) aren't really aimed at everybody now, and the fact they aren't is a little disconcerting to those of a 'born before 1987' disposition who still want to enjoy certain aspects of life before they get too old to care. I've found people who are much older tend to have a lot more negative things to say about festivals too - that's not because they've lost or forgotten anything; it's because they've matured and developed an understanding of their surroundings to know when to care for something, or at least be considerate towards it. Kids don't have that same understanding which is why, by and large, the unmonitored few who arse around, use the festival an excuse to be pricks.

I think if you go into a festival with bad pre-conceptions of how it's going to be; "all them drugs and hoodies"; the ITV news scaremongering approach - then there's really not much point going to a festival to begin with, and you should apply some of your adult wisdom to judge it accordingly. Obviously you can't predict when there's going to be trouble but if there is, I don't think anybody dictates that you should tolerate it.

Edited November 28, 2010 by Dave The Hedgehog

[Spliffman]

Well, me and my girlfriend were camping last year around Latitude festival (down in Cornwall, incidentally) and we were listening to the radio in our tent. The news came on Radio 4 that there were 2 reports of rape at Latitude and we looked at each other shocked, and had almost the exact same head scratching reaction that you had. We always looked at Latitude as the most chilled out festival you could get tickets for and hearing that people had been raped - it was a kind of shock to the system really.

I think the main reason why me and my girlfriend want to go there next year is because we had an awful experience at Leeds Festival this year with people - not the bands; the people. We'd always considered going to Latitude festival based on the fact that it had the reputation of being like a mini-Glastonbury that didn't have the bloody hippies, and was a good place to soak up the whole scope of the art world without being too pretentious about it.

Another reason we want to go next year is because we want to go to it before it becomes... well, daunted with the same problems that face Leeds now: full of fans of popular culture who treat the music as incidental background noise while they arse around updating their Facebook status' and generally being inconsiderate pricks to others that go to enjoy themselves and soak up the atmosphere of a great (if sedate) festival. We're like people that want to go to Cuba before the Americans get their hands on it, if that makes sense.

It's a difficult one to analyse. Major festivals (with the exception of maybe Glastonbury) aren't really aimed at everybody now, and the fact they aren't is a little disconcerting to those of a 'born before 1987' disposition who still want to enjoy certain aspects of life before they get too old to care. I've found people who are much older tend to have a lot more negative things to say about festivals too - that's not because they've lost or forgotten anything; it's because they've matured and developed an understanding of their surroundings to know when to care for something, or at least be considerate towards it. Kids don't have that same understanding which is why, by and large, the unmonitored few who arse around, use the festival an excuse to be pricks.

I think if you go into a festival with bad pre-conceptions of how it's going to be; "all them drugs and hoodies"; the ITV news scaremongering approach - then there's really not much point going to a festival to begin with, and you should apply some of your adult wisdom to judge it accordingly. Obviously you can't predict when there's going to be trouble but if there is, I don't think anybody dictates that you should tolerate it.

We did all the research before we bought tickets for Latitude, and it ticked all the right boxes for us.

There seemed to be everything we could possibly want from a festival. Music,dance,comedy etc. But! We discovered Latitude a couple of years too late..

It has evolved from the chic easy going chilled little festival, that it was. To just another Festival Republic money making corporate exercise...

I hope that it will down-size back to how it was 2 years ago, but in reality I think that the "Americans have already got their hands on Latitude" and

things will never be the same again :-(

Edited November 28, 2010 by Spliffman

[hardy]

I interviewed We are Scientists yesterday and they said that they would be doing festivals next year that they had not done before one of them which was Latitude

[Dave The Hedgehog]

It has evolved from the chic easy going chilled little festival, that it was. To just another Festival Republic money making corporate exercise...

So is your beef with Latitude strictly based on commercial and ethical grounds?

[Spliffman]

So is your beef with Latitude strictly based on commercial and ethical grounds?

No, not at all. But when you keep increasing the numbers of punters

and nowt else then that's where the little niggles start to grate a

bit..

Don't get me wrong, Latitude is not a bad festival. It's just not

the festival that it claims to be. It's grown too big too quickly.

Like I said it was our first Latitude this year and we read all the

reviews and did our homework and to be quite honest it did not live up

to our pre-concieved ideas.

Great location, great bands etc. just not enough to make it special.

I think we thought that we were going to get a mini version of

Glastonbury, you know all the variety but none of the crowds. But we

didn't.

Please don't let me put you off going though, these are only my

personal thoughts. Your exspectations may differ to mine........

Edited November 30, 2010 by Spliffman

[Dave The Hedgehog]

No, not at all.

I think what might be the best option is to ask around on the official forums and also pay attention to the Latitude website itself to see if there is much in the way of development.

Thanks for the advice all the same.

[Spliffman]

I think what might be the best option is to ask around on the official forums and also pay attention to the Latitude website itself to see if there is much in the way of development.

Thanks for the advice all the same.

I have and still do. There are quite a few with the same opinion as myself though.

I hope if you go, you have a top weekend. Like I say it's not a bad festival. Just not for me. Not last time anyway..

Plenty more festivals still to try ;-)

P.S. Please let me know how it goes, if you do go to Latitude next year. I would like to hear all about it.. ;-)

Edited December 1, 2010 by Spliffman

[Stoo_C]

We've been the last three years and have enjoyed all of them.

First two years we camped up fairly close to the car park entrances and walked the ten / fifteen minutes into the main site each day (we're late thirties / early forties so the appeal of walking further than necessary with all the camping gear has severely worn off). We had plenty of room and it was nice and peaceful late at night. There does seem to be a younger and therefore rowdier crowd camped closer to the main site.

I saw a lot of comments on the official forums after last year saying the camp sites were louder, messier and full of younger more badly behaved punters last year. Unfortunately I cannot comment as I stumped up extra for a 'Belle Tent' as a surprise for my girlfriend.

Undoubtedly picking Florence and Vampire Weekend as two of the main stage headliners attracted more of the 'first holiday without mummy and daddy' crowd and this did affect the general atmosphere a bit. There was still the usual mix of excellence in the Literature and Poetry tents and the new comedy arena was a big improvement on previous years.

A big plus point, if you don't like mud, is Latitude has cracking drainage so rarely resembles the Somme.

Hopefully they'll resist upping the capacity again as it was noticeably busier last year but to be honest not uncomfortably so (apart from the near riots to see Tom Jones on the Thursday night) and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to take in some new and / or interesting music on the smaller stages and a mix of literature, poetry and theatre. We'll probably be going for the fourth year in a row if we don't get a trip out to Japan sorted.

[Gingerbond]

Tickets booked!

[Matticus]

can anybody see suede headlining this?

[Octave Doctor]

My first Latitude last year as a Glastonbury veteran and Big Chiller/ Beautiful Dayer etc. My impression was overall very good - loved the stages in the woods and on the lake - felt very much like a Guardian readers paradise. Again no data to support this - but seemed like a public school or two had given all the kids the week off and sent them all there on a field trip.

[Gingerbond]

can anybody see suede headlining this?

Thats a good shout. I also wouldn't be surprised if Pulp headline , Jarvis is a big fan of the festival and is usually there as a paying customer.