Latitude Festival, Suffolk, Saturday 27th July 2024 - Day # 2 of 3

Day # two of Latitude 2024 had more of the same as day # one weather-wise: Scorchio! Probably a good number of tickets sold more than Friday, when Kasabian headlined.

Today it’s the turn of London Grammar topping the bill on the main stage and Orbital on the second stage.

The Suffolk site has a capacity of 45,000 for each of the three days of the celebrated music and arts festival run by Festival Republic.

It began in 2006 in Henman Park near Southwold, Suffolk where it has been based ever since – running for 17 years [2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic.]

London Grammar

London Grammar, the trio of Hannah, Don and Dot. Closing the main stage on day # two in style.

They will be on tour from November 2024, kicking off at London’s O2 Arena. Set to release their new album “Greatest Love” in September this year.

After the intro music, a pitch black stage with an orange glow was the cue for the guys to sing for their supper, with Hannah in good voice on “Hey Now”, followed by “California “Soil’,”‘How Does It Feel”, and “Nightcall”.

For the song “House”, with white and green strobe lighting, Hannah says this song is for the kids staying up late to watch them perform. Then we get “Hell To The Liars”. There were a few momentary sound glitches, but not seeming to affect the performance or the crowd’s enthusiasm. Coming back strong with fan favourite “Wasting My Younger Years”.

Some family groups started to leave before the encore as the night had turned cold, but this was an impressive headline set by an often under-appreciated outfit.

Keane

Keane really are a decent band and you forget how many hits they had, and how good as songwriters they are. Still at it after almost 30 years and sounding as strong as they did back in the day. Formed in East Sussex in 1995, they took a hiatus in 2014 to 2018, and have been doing their thing ever since.

Their one hour main stage slot at ten to eight 19:50 – 20:50 brought with it some welcome cooler air and cloud cover from the scorching sun.

Opening with “Can’t Stop Now”, singer Tom Chaplin says they are honoured to play at Latitude as the sun goes down; “at what has become one of the festival greats”.

Asking the crowd to clap, dance and sing their hearts out, which was duly obeyed. Second song “Silenced By The Night” was followed by “Bend And Break”, “Nothing In My Way’, ‘The Way I Feel’, ‘You Are Young”, “Everybody’s Changing”, “Is It Any Wonder?”, “This Is The Last Time” and their smash hit, “Somewhere Only You Know”.

Keane: One of the best acts of the festival, for sure…

CMAT

Best act of the day…

CMAT is Irish singer and songwriter Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson. Her second album “Crazymad, for Me” was released in October 2023 and has been nominated for 2024’s Mercury Prize. It is a sterling piece of work and her live set is unique.

You could say she is unpredictable, cannot be pigeon-holed or labelled, and some say she’s “bonkers” after they see her live show. A CMAT gig is great fun and from a very talented artist. Eccentric, but talented and different.

The band arrive first with the matching ensemble of black and white tee shirts and neckerchiefs [Ciara calls them her sea men band!] and then Ciara comes on stage to roars, wearing a big red dress and green jewels-encrusted teeth.

She has the energy of 100 Duracell battery bunnies, bending, stretching, running, using every inch of the stage and even hopping off stage to climb the barrier and disappear into the crowd while singing “No More Virgos”, as the crowd jump along with her.

She did say on stage she loves to party, and that is obvious and quite infectious for the fans; her performance full of fun and “drama” and the fans react accordingly

Her props include a full length mirror and reflective silver stairs on which she dramatically collapses across to perform “Whatever’s Inconvenient”, from “Crazymad, for Me”.

She gave fans all the favourites such as “Aw, Shoot!” and “I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby”.

Before closing her set with the final song “Stay For Something”, Ciara verbally pondered if it was going to be too little clothes, before losing her skirt and performing in leopard print pants.

CMAT was spotted alongside band mates in the huge crowd enjoying Rick Astley’s set – and happily having selfies with fans who recognised her.

Seasick Steve

If you have never seen Seasick Steve, do so, asap. He is a true one-off. His albums are cracking too, and his live shows sizzle. An ace guitarist on his home-made from ‘junk’ instruments – accompanied by his sidekick Crazy Dan [Magnusson] on drums since 2008.

Just the two of them on stage and they consistently hold the attention of huge audiences all over the world from first note to last note. Led Zepp bassist John Paul Jones was so blown away by seeing Steve on TV back in 2006 before he became well known, he came out of retirement to play with him for a bit between 2011 and 2013.

His set at Latitude was fabulously bluesy and rocky, and pulled a big crowd of all ages. Go see him; check out his records. They don’t make them like Seasick any more…..

Steven Gene Wold, aka Steven Gene Leach is Seasick Steve to the music world.

From California and now 73-years-old. He has released 14 albums…

Seasick Steve’s discography:

Cheap (2004)
Dog House Music (2006)
I Started Out with Nothin and I Still Got Most of It Left (2008)
Man from Another Time (2009)
Songs for Elizabeth (2010)
You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks (2011)
Hubcap Music (2013)
Sonic Soul Surfer (2015)
Keepin’ the Horse Between Me and the Ground (2016)
Can U Cook? (2018)
Love and Peace (2020)
Blues in Mono (2020)
Only on Vinyl (2022)
A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees (2024)

Rick Astley

The legend that is Rick Astley, in his second lease of life as a pop star and loving every minute. Massive crowd and great to see the age range from little kids with “We Love Rick” tee shirts on to mums, dads and grand parents. Our Rick is a man for all ages….His Glastonbury set in June last year (2023) live on TV was phenomenal – and he gets better.

Today on the main stage in the Obelisk Arena, the sun was scorching and the fans and Rick, and the band broke into a sweat for sure. The star of the show in a two-piece suit when I bet he longed for a t-shirt and shorts!

The bass drum on the drum kit giving a clue as to the title of his latest album, “Are We There Yet”, which was released in June 2023. The set started with heavy guitar and drums setting the scene.

Rick kicked of with “Never Gonna Stop”, which at two years off of 60, is a sentiment the man means. He asks if any of the crowd were even born before 1988 before the intro struck up to his hit, “Together Forever”. His voice sounds no different in 2024 as it did back in the days he graced the cover of all the pop magazines and was never off the TV.

For “Cry For Help” he asks for 100% swaying from the crowd and gets it. Nice cover of Sam Fender’s “17 And Going Under”. He talks about how after the pandemic shutdown, the very first gig that he played was “Latitude” and how he had shed tears to be back on stage, pleased it was bringing back memories being there now.

There was a showstopping moment in his Glastonbury set, when Rick sat on the drum stool and revealed when he was a kid all he wanted to do was be the drummer for AC/DC and now he is in his late 50s, he is a “closet rocker”. Adding, he thinks it is time to stop doing this one in his shows as it is getting too much at his age.

Loud cheers when he takes to the drums at Latitude and the band plays a cover of AC/DC’s classic, “Highway To Hell”. He is a very decent drummer too.

The set closed with, of course…..the timeless “Never Gonna Give You Up”, which just about every man, woman and child sang along to; sounding as fab today as it did back in 1987, some 37 years since it was a smash hit.

Rick’s set, one of the highlights of Latitude 2024 and no matter how old you are or what type of music you are into, a spoon full of Rick Astley and you will forget your woes and feel much better. He should be available on the NHS!

ORBITAL

Orbital headlining the second stage on Saturday clashed with the start time of main stage bill toppers London Grammar. But both acts pulled in a big crowd.

The big top of stage two was rammed and the perfect venue for some loud electronic sounds and the lighting effects. A huge crowd outside the tent lapping it up too, and everyone probably treating it as a warm up for those continuing the party into early hours with the late night schedule finishing at 3am.

Dr John Cooper Clarke

The Bard Of Manchester, punk poet Dr John Cooper Clarke attracted a huge number of people to the Listening Post tent, and the venue was so full, many, many, many people were outside trying to hear him.

But the music from Keane on the main stage and the dance beats from the ‘Disco Shed’ made it impossible, and maybe that issue needs looking at for next year.