Latitude 2011

[cdm22]

Was just about to post that myself

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-14182239

[paulomas]

had the BEST weekend. after glastonbury was a bit of a let down for me this year i was hoping for latitude to make up for it and it was so much fun!

[Steve Pearce]

No mud you say......!

TBH, i dont know Glasto mud (first festival and all), but there was a lot of mud around the Village area, between the campsites and the arena. Happily yes most of the water went away and there wernt many puddles but that left mud that was quite thick and stodgy, difficult to trudge through. The mud in the arena's though was fine, and they put down quite a lot of wood chippings etc to make it better.

All in though i really enjoyed it. Was pleasently surprised by the toilets, only once did i open the door of a superloo and change my mind, though tried that same cubicle about 2 hours later and found it had been completely cleaned. Didnt stink or anything.

Lineup was ace, comedy tent was a blast and all in all we had a great time and will most certainly be back. And not only that, i was expecting hours and hours of queueing, yet on Thursday we drove all the way to the A12 about 6 miles from the site until hitting traffic, but were in the carpark within 30 minutes. No queue for wristband. Never waited more than 20 seconds to get into the arena, longest queue was the supermarket (about 5 minutes) and going home we got in the car at 12:50, reached the Little Chef about 4 miles away but 2:15 (waited for food there for an hour mind (though it was worth the wait!)) and were home in Birmingham by 7. I expected to spend a lot longer than that!!!

[davidames100]

I have to say the mud caught me out a bit too - I was there 2 years ago and there was a storm on the Thursday night and more heavy rain on the Sunday but no problems with mud at all to speak off. This year I arrived on Saturday morning, when it'd been raining for maybe a couple of hours, and my car twice got stuck in the mud on the way into the car park and the whole weekend was hard work due to trudging through it all the time. Then my car got stuck again on the way out of the car park. I think maybe it caught the organisers by surprise as they didn't seem well equipped to deal with the problem.

In all other respects though the festival was great and well organised, and yes, the toilets were a relatively pleasant surprise!

[glasto-worker]

No mud you say......!

TBH, i dont know Glasto mud (first festival and all), but there was a lot of mud around the Village area, between the campsites and the arena. Happily yes most of the water went away and there wernt many puddles but that left mud that was quite thick and stodgy, difficult to trudge through.

Well if you thought the mud was heavy going then your best to avoid Glastonbury as you will discover there is a huge difference between the two .

its a bit like comparing the Serpentine to Loch Ness { Serpentine maximum depth 40 feet - Loch Ness maximum depth 755 feet }

I have not missed a Glastonbury in 32 years and have also attended every Latitude and while in places there was more mud than normal at Latitude its a tiny amount compared to Glastonbury { the mud is so thick there was many people who lost their boots at Glasto }

I have seen a AA 4WD Landrover stuck in the mud at Glastonbury and had to get a tractor to pull him out . The AA driver was well embarrassed.

-----------

The funniest thing I saw was a Vip Guest who was trying to drive a brand new Jag on the Sunday near the crew catering area - he was making a right mess of it - six of the crew helped him by pushing his car into a parking space but out stormed the driver and said ' this is the parking spot I was trying to get out of ' - it was his own fault as he never made it plain he was trying to drive out .

[Mackem]

Well if you thought the mud was heavy going then your best to avoid Glastonbury as you will discover there is a huge difference between the two .

its a bit like comparing the Serpentine to Loch Ness { Serpentine maximum depth 40 feet - Loch Ness maximum depth 755 feet }

I have not missed a Glastonbury in 32 years and have also attended every Latitude and while in places there was more mud than normal at Latitude its a tiny amount compared to Glastonbury { the mud is so thick there was many people who lost their boots at Glasto }

I can confirm this to be true! Compared to Glasto the mud here was a walk in the park. Oh, hang on, it was a walk in the park .....

Glasto's mud is sticky - particularly as it's drying out - and it sucks you in making it exhausting to walk through. And dangerous on occasions - as everyone piled out of the Park entrance after Radiohead's set, the front runners got completely stuck with a mass of people pressurising from behind. Latitude was messy but it was wet mud and never sticky. I don't know if it's because it's parkland whereas Pilton's farmland - most likely it's just that the Glastonbury area is built on clay and Latitude is built on sandier soil, I guess.

[quack quack]

Simon Day??

Still recovering from sleep deprivation and walking through the mud has taking its toll on my legs, however, superb festival I saw some great bands Eels, Cribs, They might be Giants and OMD being particular hi-lights. To the real reason for my rare post, Please can somebody settle an arguement my wife and I are having re OMD, I swear it was Simon Day (Fast show) on the keyboards she says don't be daft! If it wasn't he could get a job being a lookalike!!

[Steve Pearce]

Oh ive no doubt glastonbury is worse, everyone says it is so. The arena mud and that around the arena entrance were fine, not a problem at all, just in the campsites. When it was soaking wet it was ok too, just went it dried out a bit. Anyway, heavy going is a bit of a misnomer because it wasnt that bad, sensible stepping made it much easier tbh.

Re above post: Only saw a bit of OMD, what with being on at the same time as Glasvegas, The Bees and Mazes, but it seemed pretty good. Saw the last 4 songs i think, where we first spotted Kermit.....

They Might Be Giants were a blast, i suspected they would be, they didnt dissappoint. Adam Rutherford in the literature tent was good, did a whole space shuttle montage. No Lucy Porter was a shame, on panel shows im not much a fan but she seems lovely on the radio on various shows, so we hoped to use the effectively free gig to check her out, apparently fell ill just before going on stage and was replaced very last minute by Joe Lycett. Other highlights for me were Suede (wanted to see Eels but wasnt going to miss that), the Scala & Kolacny rave, Paloma Faith, Cloud Control, Adam Buxton, Richard Herring, Jason Byrne and Phil Nichol!

[Frogger_Queen]

I can confirm this to be true! Compared to Glasto the mud here was a walk in the park. Oh, hang on, it was a walk in the park .....

Glasto's mud is sticky - particularly as it's drying out - and it sucks you in making it exhausting to walk through. And dangerous on occasions - as everyone piled out of the Park entrance after Radiohead's set, the front runners got completely stuck with a mass of people pressurising from behind. Latitude was messy but it was wet mud and never sticky. I don't know if it's because it's parkland whereas Pilton's farmland - most likely it's just that the Glastonbury area is built on clay and Latitude is built on sandier soil, I guess.

This.

Glastonbury mud is a completely different kettle of fish. Although it rained pretty damn heavily on Saturday, at no point did the mud ever become unmanageable, for me.

This was my first Latitude - despite living in Suffolk, I've never actually managed to get there! I blagged a ticket at 10.30pm on Wednesday night as some friends were performing, so I had to dress as an alien and do a bit of dancing in The Film and Music Tent on Sunday night in lieu of said ticket. GREAT FUN!

LOVED They Might Be Giants, wasn't expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised. OMD were brilliant, loved Caribou (missed him/them at Glasto) Paloma Faith was great, the Pump Up The Volume vs Horsemeat Disco was an aural treat, but Rubberbandits were a HUGE highlight for me.

Loo's were like no other festival toilets I've ever used, though I did use the backstage ones a fair bit too. LOTS of children, more than I've seen at any other festival too, and an awful lot of 12-14 year olds running around in groups unsupervised which I must say, surprised me. Also LOTS of camping chairs/blankets at the FRONT of the tents - I even saw one woman with a tiny baby, in a buggy, at the front of The Word tent, directly in front of the speakers.

I didn't feel the same friendly vibe as there is at Glasto, everyone seemed to be doing their own thing and not really getting involved with each other, but I had a blast, and did manage to get a couple of randomers to have a dance with me. All in all, a great weekend, some good stuff to see and listen to and I'd definitely go again.

[glasto-worker]

image is from Hektor { his family own the land } - the link is to http://www.norfolkskyview.flyer.co.uk/