Latitude Festival 2010.

Hey!
So, that first line of the last post has been hanging there for too long now. Relentlessly prodding me in the ribs saying "I thought you were going to write about Latitude, you big, hairy, internet liar". It's super annoying because he has this really sneery unpleasant voice and bony fingers.

So I said ENOUGH!

Latitude Festival 2010 - A retrospective.



Yeah, it was great. It always is, of course. It's just a top-quality festival. If you've never been, you should go at your earliest convenience. This year was my 4th time in a row. As I said in my End Of The Road post last year, it may be due to me getting old, but I really appreciate a smaller, more relaxed festival with a greater variety of things to do. Seriously, while walking around, in addiction to the requisite bands you'd expect (more on them in a minute) I also saw multicoloured sheep, a travelling insect circus, ballerinas dancing on water, comedians being upstaged by a 10 year old in the front row, a short film about a talking dog and a bunch of weirdos dressed as various animals.



Ah yes, that was us. Yeah, someone had the idea of everybody bringing an animal costume. Now, thanks to my good friend Charlotte of Dinohoodie.com, I was already well equipped to be a bear. However we also had an Elephant, a Lion and a Tiger, a Wolf and oh yes... another BEAR! At first this surplus of bears lead to Strife but soon after we Joined Forces to better terrorise our fellow festival goers.

But enough animal tomfoolery, what of the bands?! Well, I'm glad you asked.

Amongst the ranks were the ones I knew I would enjoy: The National, Jim Jones Revue, The Kissaway Trail, Belle And Sebastian, Black Mountain. Then there were the ones I wanted to check out: The Horrors, Wild Beasts, Yeasayer, Richard Hawley, The Antlers. Lastly there were the ones I'd never heard of who turned out to be amazing: Grizzly Bear, Jónsi, Race Horses, John Grant.

Oh yeah, and then there was Tom Jones (or ToJo as all the cool kids call him):



Yeah.

So, I don't know how many of those videos you watched but I hope it was all of them because they're all fantastic. That was my weekend. It was amazing. Which is even more incredible since it started so badly on the first night. First, I got chocolate sauce dripped on my head, which made my hair all sticky. This made me sad. Observe:



Then, perhaps more alarmingly than my hair being soiled, I lost my wallet with all my cash for the weekend in it. Gutted doesn't even come close. But it is testament to Latitude that I still had such a great time and hey, I got my wallet back at the end of the festival. All the money was gone but at least I got my 51p coin and my finnish trivial pursuit card back! Oh and my credit cards and driver's license.

Oh, one last thing. I met someone who reads this blog who isn't doing so because I nag them! I have spread to the friends of friends layer. My meteoric rise to fame begins!

Anyway, that is my review of Latitude 2010. I strongly recommend you check it out for yourself next year.

This post is brought to you by boxed red wine. Lovely, lovely wine.



All the pics in this post were taken by Kat (elephant costume), by the by. Team Latitude '10 comprised her, Andy, Chris, Chris, Kelly, Steve and Me!

End Of The Road 2009.

Evening all. Rather than furnish you with some of the usual plinx fare, I'm going to tell you a little bit about the festival I have recently returned from.



In short, it was brilliant. Everything I want from a festival, essentially. When you hear about some of the things it featured, you may think this is a sign of me getting old, and you'd probably be right.

But is it wrong to prefer libraries in the woods over oxygen bars? To prefer double decker buses serving tea over the carling tent? To prefer trees draped in thousands of fairy lights over portaloos on fire? Most importantly, is it wrong to prefer 5,000 awesome, fun-loving, gentle hippy types and a few peacocks over 80,000 mashed teenagers?

I don't think so, and if that makes me old. Well, so be it.



Because along with all the more gentile stuff, there is one hell of a good time to be had. Drinking decent pints and hot & spicy cider, dancing to tunes provided by guest DJs like Jarvis Cocker & Richard Hawley, laughing it up in the comedy pavillion, and the bands... Oh the bands.

For a start, they're everywhere! On the main Garden Stage, in the Big Top with it's spangly interior, on the local stage, or the tipi tent or just staging impromptu parties anywhere they can. The Woodland Disco. The Outdoor Room. It. Was. Incredible.

And just LOOK at the Line Up. Isn't it just crammed with all your favourite bands? Well no, it isn't.
At least, not before you arrive. Depending on how savvy you are, you'll know a few, but the real joy is in the discoveries. I'd never heard of The Dodos or The Low Anthem or Ohbijou or Josh T. Pearson or the Leisure Society or Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards. But now I have, and life feels that little bit better.



Look, I could bang on about it for ages, but you'll never know the real truth until you experience it yourself. So if you like the sound of a festival with a real tinge of magic to it, come to End of the Road. tickets are on sale for an Early Bird Price right now. Trust me, you won't regret it!

(all of the photos in this post were taken by the snap-happy Jane, who along with Chris, Nicola, Phil & Scott experienced all this wonder with me!)