Latitude Festival 2013

♪ - Richard Ashcroft 'Music is Power’

From Thursday 18^th July to Sunday 21^st July 2013, Henham Park in Suffolk, England, played host to Latitude, a music and arts festival. I was lucky enough to get a day ticket for Saturday 20^th July as a birthday gift and was very excited about going. This wasn’t the first time I had attended the festival as back in 2008 I went for the whole weekend with friends and had an amazing time. The atmosphere of the festival is very relaxed, happy and magical. It really is a festival for everyone of all ages and interests. Along with a range of music stages and tents, there are also literature, comedy and poetry tents, a dance stage and a range of other arts.

The site of the festival is beautiful and there are magical forests full of different forms of art and twinkly lights. The scale of the site is not as big as some other festivals, such as Glastonbury, but this means that it is easier to get from one stage to another and therefore you get to see more, rather than spending time travelling across the festival. On site there is a lake which offers free punting trips, fountains with images projected on to them and next to the lake are the candyfloss sheep (real sheep with candyfloss coloured wool.) The festival strives to be very eco-friendly by encouraging festival goers to recycle their rubbish, using eco cups that are to be returned after you have finished your drinks, rather than disposable plastic cups, and encouraging car sharing or using public transport to get to the festival to reduce car emissions.

         

   

During the Saturday that we were at the festival there was so much to see and do. We started off by watching Gaz Coombes (formerly of Supergrass) whose voice I could have listened to all day. Hearing his voice on recorded tracks, although great, does not do him justice. We then went to the comedy tent (which was bursting with people) to hear the hilarious Dylan Moran. Later in the day we went into the woods and listened to the enchanting voice of Matt Corby, of whom I am a big fan. In the evening we decided to give the headlining act Kraftwerk a miss and went to see Richard Ashcroft instead - this was the highlight of the day for me. Richard came on with just a guitar and everyone in the crowd sang along at the top of their voices as he played some old solo songs, some newer tunes and some classics from his years with The Verve.

I had such a great time at Latitude and am hoping to get tickets to go again next year, maybe even for the whole weekend.

Have any of you been to a festival this year? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments below. 
Thanks for reading!

Lala

   x

Latitude website: http://www.latitudefestival.com/
Richard Ashcroft performing 'Lucky Man' live at Latitude 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYAoepgtJAY