“Is this the way they say the future’s meant to feel?”
The festival guide for Latitude 2008 is around 260 pages long and priced at eight English pounds. The weight and cost is not inconsiderable, but in retrospect it was a very wise investment. Over the course of the four days between Thursday 17th and Sunday 20th July, I used it as a beer mat, a food tray, a makeshift pillow and as a lavatory doorstop.
And of course, it was the means by which I navigated the many delights laid out before 30,000 attendees or more. I sat up in my little tent each night and, before snuggling up in my sleeping bag and closing my eyes, I’d use a pen to cobble together a makeshift timetable on the inside front cover. All of this done by torchlight, naturally.
So, what did I do? Plenty, dear reader, plenty. In no particular order, I saw literary talents like Jon Ronson, Antonia Quirke, A.L. Kennedy, Hanif Kureshi and Iain Banks. I heard music from the likes of Beth Orton, British Sea Power, The Go! Team, Martha Wainwright, Amadou and Mariam, Beth Rowley, The Guillemots, Elbow, Sigor Ros, Joanna Newsom, Blondie and Tindersticks.
I tried and failed to get into the comedy tent to see Bill Bailey, Ross Noble and Omid Djalili. I danced to cheesy music in the forest, I drank lots of cider, and I paid far more than was reasonable for a burger and chips. I cursed my phone for its pathetic reception, and relied on intuition and chance to find my friends each time we were separated. And oh yes, I caught a bit of sun when I wasn’t sheltering from the rain.
I’ve been back home for a few days now, and the festival feeling has finally worn off. I’ve caught up on my sleep, I’ve had a long bath and I’ve done all my laundry. But already I’m feeling a little nostalgic. The demographic of the attendees was broader than I expected, there were people of all ages and all walks of life enjoying themselves, and for a brief period of time my only preoccupations were which band or which author or which film I should go see next. It was a nice feeling.
Would I go to Latitude again next year? Most definitely.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 8:18 pm and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
