Latitude 2018

[Amy Lawn]

It's probably against my better judgement to argue this, but I make no apologies for using the completely benign phrase "white boy indie band". There's no reason for anybody to be upset by it. 

[Cat Man]

Then lets agree to disagree and move on. The only thing that matters is I can tell there was no intent behind it.?

[Hawky]

Fantastic festival, again.

 

Guess I owe you an apology for my LG comments, turns out it was him ?

[Flaminglippy]

Overall very much enjoyed the weekend. Thought the crowd were polite rather than friendly though. Had the best conversations on the Friday when  I wore my 'Bearded Theory' t-shirt and had people come up who were there this year and we talked about that one instead. That said, didn't see or speak to a single dickhead in the 4 days so that's pretty impressive.

Great food choices

Loved the variety of stages and different areas. Real good mix and by and large thought the layout was good.

Drawbacks were the hike from the car park to family camping. Bleedin' knackered by the time I got the tent up. Plus the fact there were only 10 toilets the end we were camped at so it was a decent walk to the loos right at the other end.

The only thing that would put me off going again is the beer choice. 1 ale! WTF! And that wasn't even on in half the bars! Virtually every festival you go to nowadays has a decent range of ales. Having a choice of Carlsberg or sod all I chose sod all. If you can't offer a decent choice of drinks let people take their own in.    

[AUNTYGIN]

Agree 're Carlsberg and lack of choice. My hubby drinks cider and there was only one choice that we could see.

Other observations were :

Not enough toilets

The dust!! Staff in the woods were wearing masks so it must have been bad. Maybe the organisers could damp it down with water from the lake. 

Think I'm in a minority when I say we found the food really over priced and not very good. We were buying meal deals from the Co Op to save some money. 

We found the sound clashes very annoying. Surely could be easily sorted? Ruined Alt J for me. 

Good points : 

The staff were fantastic. Very friendly and efficient. 

The plastic glass deposit scheme. Brilliant idea. 

The site itself was lovely. 

Will we return? Probably not unless line up is more our cup of tea. 

PS managed to get gin and tonic in !!!!!!!!!! 

 

 

[Gaz_88]

1 hour ago, AUNTYGIN said:

Agree 're Carlsberg and lack of choice. My hubby drinks cider and there was only one choice that we could see.

Other observations were :

Not enough toilets

The dust!! Staff in the woods were wearing masks so it must have been bad. Maybe the organisers could damp it down with water from the lake. 

Think I'm in a minority when I say we found the food really over priced and not very good. We were buying meal deals from the Co Op to save some money. 

We found the sound clashes very annoying. Surely could be easily sorted? Ruined Alt J for me. 

Good points : 

The staff were fantastic. Very friendly and efficient. 

The plastic glass deposit scheme. Brilliant idea. 

The site itself was lovely. 

Will we return? Probably not unless line up is more our cup of tea. 

PS managed to get gin and tonic in !!!!!!!!!! 

 

 

I was working as a Steward and my two shifts with the public was both in Yellow, a possible reason for the toilet shortage was that family camping expanded quite a lot so could have taken toilets from other areas.

The pixies in the woods were keeping an eye out for stray fag butts and was on the move more than normal with water backpacks, I had the mask on when I was working in the performers camp which is beside the kids area parallel to family.

The food has improved a lot in the arena and my favourite was the steak strips and chips up near obolisk and the wood oven pizza. Compared to other festivals the price was similar but the quality was a lot better but I do get you about the price, best bargain was four ice cream for £1.70 from the Co-op

The lake stage i thought had improved greatly musically maybe to the cost of sunrise which could help with sound bleed if it went back to sunrise, I think Latitude's idea was that using 3 stages quite close to each other would help with walking times.

I was watching John Cooper Clark and he had to be turned up to counter Alt-J. I think the Obolisk is just at the top of the site so can be heard more from far away. The BBC tent cant really move as the sound would completely blast the lake stage if it was turned away from the Obolisk, they could shut some curtains but it would overheat quickly

[AUNTYGIN]

Very interesting to hear a stewards point of  view. Thanks to you all for doing a great job. 

Comedy acts we saw were also spoiled  by 'sound bleed' 

I paid £8 for a very small mediocre bowl of Mac and cheese. Couldn't get a pizza due to ridiculous queues. 

Yes I'm moaning alot but tickets weren't cheap and we expected a bit more. 

End of rant. 

 

[Smeble]

Arrived late Friday after the worst journey from Somerset imaginable. Loved the new food area with lots of seating, bars were slow and cider watered down, way too many people on Saturday, not enough toilets, saw some great comedy, the elvis dead was hilarious, Liam wasn’t shit, the killers killed it, said hello to Jason Issacs when I literally bumped into him on Saturday outside the speakeasy, SO MUCH DUST, loved the festival, will be back next year.

[Funkyfairy!]

On ‎7‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 8:52 PM, FestivalNewbie7 said:

Mixed review of Latitude, bearing in mind this was our Glasto substitute for the year. The good:

Extremely fast parking, quick getting in, setting up, and camping in the red field, very close to everything. Hardly any rubbish in the arenas (I guess due to cup reuse and bottle exchange). No real queues for anything. Food stalls excellent. Favourite acts were Rachel Parris (comedy), QI, Jeremy Loops and Oh My God! It's The Church. Loved the pop/indie after hours dance areas! Felt very safe and didn't see any problems. Would've been a great festival to take drugs as no searching whatsoever! Alas, alcohol is our drug of choice and it's a bit more difficult to slip a bottle of wine down your bra.

The not so good:

Might just be me (32 year old female, no kids) but it felt like the festival was primarily groups of image conscious 16-18 year olds, and "2.4 children" families. At some points it felt like I'd gatecrashed a wedding, which isn't a bad thing, but everyone was in large groups and we felt like the couple who didn't know anyone! At Glasto we went as a couple but it didn't matter, it felt like one big happy family but here, whilst everyone was pleasant enough, no-one really wanted to talk to people outside their party. Or maybe they just didn't want to talk to us :S as newbies, we also found the fact the stages/areas completely mixed up the genres of music they showcased a bit confusing. Plus, major sound clash from the big stages. 

I think I'd return, but maybe in 15 years with kids - I think I'm just not the target market for Latitude right now. Maybe Bestival or Shambala next year

I hope everyone enjoyed their festival

I will post my review later, as a first time Latituder, however just wanted to say how good was Oh My God! Its the church - one of my highlights and you could have joined us.... 4 of us and all wondering why people were slightly 'closed off' to random conversation- I'm not in their target market for sure, defo not 16-18 and have no kids

 

Did you swim in the lake - that was my turning point from OK to really enjoyable !

[Fatherjohnwhisky]

 

Love this festival every year am always surprised by how the lineup works even if it seemed underwhelming. Particularly liked Solange, I thought it was a clever booking. 

Here’s a review I found in case of interest

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.ft.com/content/23d5449e-88d4-11e8-b18d-0181731a0340

[fluff164]

My 11th Latitude 

Plus points: New comedy arena and food was better. The late night DJs and acts were top marks

Minus points: They need more water points and campsite toilets need renewal

 

All in all, its not EOTR, it’s not Glastonbury, it’s not Boomtown. It is what it is. Yes it’s full of luvlies doing the festival thing, yes it’s an arena set up, but for me, it’s an opportunity for me to relax, chill, take in something different and appreciate one of the best festival venues out there without worrying about twats throwing piss or overcrowded campsites.

I do Glastonbury each year and other festivals too. I enjoy Latitude as much as the others because I know what to expect. The line up will never compete with some others as the arts side takes up a lot of the budget, but over the years they have given chances to certain acts to top the bill and for that I’ll always appreciate it.

It is what it is

Edited July 18, 2018 by fluff164

[eFestivals]

the photographer that efestivals sent to Latitude has some unidentified pics. Do you know who this act is, please?

[kingcrawler]

Pretty sure that’s the singer in Parquet Courts.

[eFestivals]

8 minutes ago, kingcrawler said:

Pretty sure that’s the singer in Parquet Courts.

thanks.

After googling other pics for them I think you're right - tho he looks very different on the majority of other pics (different haircut). The pics of other band members seem to be right for that.

But just to double-check, is anyone else able to confirm? I don't want to put them up under the wrong name.

[Klausy]

Yep that’s Andrew Savage from Parquet Courts.

[eFestivals]

thank you folks

 

[eFestivals]

the full gallery is now online, here:-

https://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/latitude/2018/galleries.shtml

[suttttttt]

21 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

thanks.

After googling other pics for them I think you're right - tho he looks very different on the majority of other pics (different haircut). The pics of other band members seem to be right for that.

But just to double-check, is anyone else able to confirm? I don't want to put them up under the wrong name.

Can confirm this is Parquet Courts, I watched their set

[Flaminglippy]

5 hours ago, suttttttt said:

Can confirm this is Parquet Courts, I watched their set

Very good they were too! 

[suttttttt]

15 minutes ago, Flaminglippy said:

Very good they were too! 

Probably my highlight of the whole weekend! Especially loved the Oasis stick they were dishing out. Will definitely try and catch them on their tour later this year.

[Flaminglippy]

1 minute ago, suttttttt said:

Probably my highlight of the whole weekend! Especially loved the Oasis stick they were dishing out. Will definitely try and catch them on their tour later this year.

Yeah...when they dedicated a song to 'everybody's favourite member of Oasis, Noel' pretty much confirmed Liam was the secret guest later! 

[tobydlb]

when do tickets usually go on sale?

 

[jamesrfisher]

On 7/31/2018 at 6:26 PM, tobydlb said:

when do tickets usually go on sale?

 

Last year they went on sale end of July, they usually do round about now but not always!

[tobydlb]

3 hours ago, jamesrfisher said:

Last year they went on sale end of July, they usually do round about now but not always!

cheers, how much are they usually

[jamesrfisher]

I paid £197.50 per ticket plus booking fees last year but not sure if that was early bird price or not, purchased in December on the deposit scheme and as i recall this was due to finish on early bird tickets on 31st December.