‘VARIOUS ARTISTS’ – ‘LATITUDE FESTIVAL’, HENHAM PARK, SUFFOLK 21-23.7.23
‘Latitude’ is one of the very best annual music and arts festivals in the whole of the country and has been enriching people’s minds since 2006.
Each year, in the middle of July, 45,000 people venture to the picturesque grounds of Henham Park, near Southwold in Suffolk, in order to catch the many music artists that are appearing, as well as a whole plethora of other goings-on, whether you are a toddler or someone who has been receiving your pension for a number of years, there will be something for you!
This report is for Sunday 23rd July. If you have not read the last two day’s ‘Latitude’ reviews (Friday 21st July and Saturday 22nd July), then maybe click HERE or HERE before reading the reviews found below.
SUNDAY 23rd JULY:
JAMES WITH OCRA22 SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (CONDUCTED BY JOE DUDDELL) & MANCHESTER INSPIRATIONAL VOICES GOSPEL CHOIR (OBELISK ARENA 12:00pm – 1:00pm) (half set)
We kicked off the final ‘Latitude’ day at the main Obelisk Arena. However, traffic to the festival was backed up a few miles, whereas it hadn’t been the past two days and so time was ticking and by the time we arrived on site we could hear on the wind at 12 noon that today’s openers, James, had started to perform their ‘Sit Down’ anthem. I was surprised exactly how far the sound was carrying. We quickened our pace, but as it’s such a large site that it took us several numbers to arrive near the front of the stage. ‘Dust Motes’, ‘The Lake’, ‘The Shining’ and ‘Tomorrow’ came and went.
Once in position near the front, we could see that Tim Booth and his chums were in full flow. Also on stage with them were Orca22, (a 22-piece orchestra) who were being conducted by Joe Duddell, as well as the Manchester Inspirational Voices Gospel Choir. To be perfectly honest, I’m not actually totally sure who exactly is in James these days – they formed in Manchester back in 1982 – as there are nine currently listed, but I can’t see all of these on stage today. Those nine being Jim Glennie, Tim Booth, Adrian Oxaal, David Baynton-Power, Saul Davies, Mark Hunter, Andy Diagram, Deborah Knox-Hewson and Chloe Alper.
Although this is in effect the lunchtime slot, James have certainly pulled in the crowds as the area is already rammed. What one tends to forget is exactly how many hit singles the outfit have actually had. I found this with The Lightning Seeds yesterday too. But around the turn of the decade, James had switched to becoming an albums band as opposed to a hit singles band. From 1986 to 2001 the band continually had hit after hit single, but then from 2008 onwards nothing charted. Whereas all of their studio albums from 1990 onwards have landed within the Top 20 albums chart and their brand new album ‘Be Opened By The Wonderful’ hit the No.3 spot last month.
Today’s crowd is family based by right across the age spectrum. Many were singing along to the likes of 1992’s ‘Born Of Frustration’ and 1994’s ‘Say Something’, which incidentally was shouted out as a request by a fan near the front and James accordingly obliged, and the fans waved their arms in the air. Eyes are very much drawn to 63 year old enigmatic frontman Tim Booth during a James performance and it’s as though the others hardly exist. He certainly knows how to get the punters in the palm of his hand, especially when coming down to the crowd barrier and having a wander, and also when he drew attention to the lines “There’s only one; Human race; Many faces; Everybody belongs here” from 2018’s ‘Many Faces’ track. He also likes to keep the musicians on their toes as well, as he informed us that the band likes to change the set every time that they play.
I noted that this was a signed performance, so that the deaf people in attendance could gain maximum benefit from the show. One thing was puzzling me though, and that was exactly how do this duo cope with on the spot changes to the set like there was when ‘Say Something’ was added and also when the organisers granted James extra time in order that they could play some more tunes. Tim consulted his bandmates, orchestra and sound crew and they first settled on adding ‘Medieval’ to proceedings, which was a hit with its “We are sound, we are sound, we are sound” lyrics and decent marching band style drumming. There was even a crowd acapella section in this. Then ‘Sometimes’ was added with its “Sometimes, when I look deep in your eyes, I swear I can see your soul” lyrics.
They bowed out with the Brian Eno produced corker ‘Laid’, which is one of my favourites, although I was a little surprised it didn’t get banned even more on its release back in 1993 on the account of the risqué lyrics…“This bed is on fire; With passionate love; The neighbours complain about the noises above; But she only comes when she’s on top”. Moving on, it’s fair to say that this has been a truly uplifting solid set to kick off the day, with Tim throwing many different shapes, no wonder he’s so slim. Every tune had the vibe of an anthem, whether it was or not. This has been our Sunday morning church service and a jolly good one it was too. The set finally concluded at 1:17pm, which was 17 minutes after it was originally due to finish, so well done to the ‘Latitude’ organisers for granting James the extra time.
James were last in Brighton on 25th April when they thrilled the punters in Brighton Dome (Review HERE). Not surprisingly there aren’t any forthcoming James concerts for Brighton, but the nearest will be taking place on Friday 11th August at Crystal Palace Bowl. Also on the bill will be Happy Monday with more to be announced. Purchase your tickets HERE.
James with Orca22 (conducted by Joe Duddell), & Manchester Inspirational Voices Gospel Choir setlist:
‘Sit Down’
‘Dust Motes’
‘The Lake’
‘The Shining’
‘Tomorrow’
‘Born Of Frustration’
‘Someone’s Got It In For Me’
‘All The Colours Of You’
‘Many Faces’
‘Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)’
‘Say Something’
‘Medieval’
‘Sometimes (Lester Piggott)’
‘Laid’
PICTURE THIS (OBELISK ARENA 1:30pm – 2:30pm)
We decided to stay put at the Obelisk Arena to see what Irish pop rock outfit Picture This had to offer. The band consists of Ryan Hennessy (vocals and acoustic guitar), Owen Cardiff (guitar and bv’s), Cliff Deane (bass and bv’s) and Jimmy Rainsford (drums) and they hail from the picturesque Athy in County Kildare and formed back in 2015. They last played live in Brighton on 12th October 2021, when they rocked on up at the Concorde 2.
I was keen to see how the ‘Latitude’ organisers and crews would reign back in the time having let James play for an extra 17 minutes. Thankfully Picture This took to the stage only 6 minutes late at 1:36pm, but after a dozen numbers, they finished bang on their 2:30pm allotted slot. Perfect!
It’s fair to state that back home Picture This are massive in Ireland having racked up 17 Top 50 singles in the Irish chart, with the highest being ‘One Night’ which peaked at No.4 in 2019. Their trio of albums achieved better than that with both 2017’s self titled album and 2019’s ‘Mdrn Lv’ both hitting the top spot, and 2021’s ‘Life In Colour’ stalling at No.2. On 29th September their ‘Parked Car Conversations’ long player will drop, as vocalist Ryan is keen to point out. It is however fair to say that thus far they have yet to conquer this side of the Irish Sea, with their last album peaking at No.51. But I guess that’s why they are here at ‘Latitude’ in order to gain new fans. As compared with James, the audience is much more sparse, but this is their only UK festival date this year, so British Picture This fans were in for a treat, many of these being young ladies, no doubt each with their own favourite band member.
Picture This are joined by a second guitarist for this performance, but I don’t believe we were given his name. Although Ryan is a bit of a tease, as when introducing his bandmates, he appeared to be bigging up one of them and then announced his own name. Clearly he’s a joker and his “friends” have thick skins in order not to be hurt by this. Although I could see piercing eyes staring from one of the guitarists as I was on the barrier at the front.
For myself, Picture This were a chart-friendly boy band that sounded like a million others. Clearly larger audiences will follow in the next year or so for this outfit, as they held together a tight pop friendly set. This is the sort of act that will turn up supporting the likes of Take That. The Irish charm was laid on, an example being when Ryan said we’re “Absolutely beautiful” and who am I to argue. The crowd were warming to the band and by the fifth number, ‘Get On My Love’, the tattooed singer (Ryan) called in the support of the crowd to sing the title and to clap their hands as the tune usually has a choir singing with them for this number, but they were back in Ireland.
They performed some of the tunes including ‘Oh My Love’, ‘Safely Home’ and another song from their forthcoming 15 track ‘Parked Car Conversations’ which has taken them three years to make. They bowed out with ‘Take My Hand’ and the girls certainly did their best screaming at the lads.
As we were informed by Ryan, Picture This are heading out on tour in October. There’s no Brighton date, but they are appearing at the Eventim Apollo on Saturday 28th October – Tickets HERE.
Picture This setlist:
‘Red Lights’
‘Things Are Different’
‘Unconditional’
‘When We Were Young’
‘Get On My Love’
‘Oh My Love’
‘Outlove Me’
‘Addict Of Magic’
‘Safely Home’
‘You & I’
‘Song To Myself’
‘Take My Hand’
CAITY BASER (BBC SOUNDS STAGE 2:35pm – 3:20pm)
I now had 5 minutes to swiftly make my way across to the BBC Sounds Stage big top next, but that was easy as it was located next door to the Obelisk Arena. I had chosen to see TikTok and Spotify sensation Caity Baser, who had I believe, originally been booked to play at 1:55pm, but thankfully the time had been put back. Caity Baser hails from Southampton but now is Brighton based. Her last headline show in Brighton was at the Concorde 2 on 7th April this year (Review HERE).
Now I must flag up that Caity’s music should arguably fall outside of my taste remit, but on both occasions (this being the second) that I have seen Caity performing live, she brings a big smile to my face. She is full of wit and bubbly with it. A Caity Baser show oozes fun, fun, fun from the very off. Today’s first quip was that she’s from Southampton “but don’t go there as it’s a shithole!”. That’s her job as Head of Tourism for Southampton gone then! Talking of jobs, she said that she had worked a single shift at The Co-op and during the following day she cried and left and wrote a song about it. Talk about turning a negative into a positive!
21-year old Caity is supremely confident with an infectious personality and started posting videos to TikTok during the first UK lockdown, following an epiphany that she did not care what other people thought of her music. Clearly the hordes of teen followers did like it as in August 2020, she released ‘Average Student’, a song about feeling lost in life, which acquired 1,000,000 views on TikTok. Her material is penned about her life (and her and her friends’ experiences) that the younger generation can identify with.
Having first seen Caity back in April, I had partly assumed that today’s set would be a total re-run of that, but I have to say that although today’s set included all of the songs from back then, as well as a newbie ‘Dance Around It’, they were all in a totally different order. Once again, vocalist Caity, was joined by Ollie Thacker on drums and drum pads (and possibly programming), plus Natsuma on guitar. As the first bars of her March 2022 single ‘Friendly Sex’ rang out, my ears almost rattled! That’ll teach me to stand on the crowd barrier in front of the speakers! Surprisingly, this was the loudest set that I witnessed at ‘Latitude’, who’d of thought! The song is clearly a fan favourite, with in excess of 6 million Spotify views and today’s mainly teen crowd lapped up everything they were given. Their approval was confirmed back at Caity by the waving arms from side to side as well as the many screams.
After ‘Haters’, we had ‘2020s’, which is one of the many bouncy numbers that everyone enjoyed. With the photographers vacating the pit, for song four, ‘Feel More Okay’, Caity clambered off the stage and sang to us atop one of the racks of speakers. She would often visit this spot throughout her set. To be honest, there wasn’t much of the stage area that wasn’t covered by Caity. Song five was ‘STD’, which Caity informs us was written about her ex who had 3 other girlfriends when she was 16. This number benefits from a decent reggae style beat like Lily Allen’s ‘Smile’ and is my choice track of the set.
The final half dozen numbers were ‘Leave Me Alone’, ‘Say It Like That’, ‘X & Y’ , ‘Dance Around It’, ‘Kiss You’ and ‘Pretty Boys’. During this period Caity made me roar with laughter when she actually admitted that she was one of her Spotify top listeners last year! Caity is pure joy to watch. By 3:15pm they were done. In August she will be off to the Reading Festival to conquer that crowd at the BBC 1 Dance Stage on the Saturday – Ticket options HERE.
Caity Baser setlist:
‘Friendly Sex’
‘Haters’
‘2020s’
‘Feel More Okay’
‘STD’
‘Leave Me Alone’
‘Say It Like That’
‘X & Y’
‘Dance Around It’
‘Kiss You’
‘Pretty Boys’
GWENNO (BBC SOUNDS STAGE 3:50pm – 4:50pm)
Thankfully the ‘Latitude’ planners had done me another favour as I was staying put in the BBC Sounds Stage for the next couple of acts, the first of these being a total change of style with Gwenno, who last performed in Brighton on 19th September 2022, when she was playing at the Komedia. Today’s 11 track set commenced on time at 3:50pm and ran until 4:47pm. Cardiff born Gwenno wasn’t alone on stage, but joined by a trio on bass, drums and programming, Rhys Edwards (who plays on the latest album) on guitar. Gwenno as you would expect was on lead vocals, as well as side facing keyboards and also had a tambourine.
I had either totally forgotten or more likely didn’t realise, but Gwenno was actually a member of the Brighton formed outfit The Pipettes – Thanks DJ Gremlin for the reminder. The band called it a day back in 2011 and Gwenno embarked on her solo career, but actually also toured as a synth player for Elton John back in 2012. Since then Gwenno has been very much a product of her heritage and upbringing, in the fact that when growing up, her father spoke Cornish and her mother spoke Welsh, as a consequence Gwenno is fluent in both languages. She has thus far released three critically-acclaimed albums as a solo artist: Welsh Music Prize winner ‘Y Dydd Olaf’ (2014); ‘Le Kov’ (2018), her first album in Cornish; and ‘Tresor’ (2022), which is also in Cornish and was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, this being the first time in 25 years that a non-English language record has been nominated.
At ‘Latitude’ I endeavoured to broaden my music outlook and make a point of seeing acts that I wouldn’t normally choose, Gwenno being one of these. Not all of my choices were as rewarding as this Gwenno set as you will later see. It was, however, surprising to note that although the big top was rammed for Caity Baiser, for Gwenno it was a different affair, and audience. Maybe Gwenno’s Brythonic language songs were too alien for the younger punters? (The Brythonic languages, from Welsh brython, “Briton”, are spoken in Britain and consist of Welsh, Cornish, and Breton).
First up this afternoon were the repetitive ‘Koweth Ker’, followed by ‘Anima’ and then the more upbeat ‘Tir Ha Mor’, which I believe Gwenno said means ‘Land And Sea’. After this trio of tunes, there’s certainly no doubt that Gwenno has a great voice. There’s almost a mystical air about her appearance (long emerald green dress) and the subject matter of her songs. Geographically from the northern tip of Wales down to the southern tip of Breton in France, (which is a straight line), there is a combined historical mysticism of those lands and to me Gwenno taps into this. Independence of those lands being key to her raison d’etre. Later in the set for ‘N.Y.C.A.W.’ we are told that there’s a saying in Wales, “Nid Yw Cymru Ar Werth”, the English translation being “Wales is not for sale!”. This is in reference to others buying second, third etc holiday homes in Wales and thus pushing the prices up. The backdrop at the rear of the stage then listed places not for sale, which included “Brighton is not for sale”.
On similar lines to this was song four, ‘Le Kov’, which is about being stranded on an island with a fascist government and where there is a sunken city under the sea called La Kov. We return back to the real world with a tune called ‘Jynn-Amontya’, which we are told simply means “computer” in Cornish. Gwenno’s vocals on this tune really reminded me of Björk, and the guitarist pinched his fingers across his instrument in an unusual playing style. The lead tune (‘An Stevel Nowydh’) from the last album ‘Tresor’, was played next and this was a real dreamy affair which had a Saint Etienne feel to it.
Another four tunes were played and then it was time to bow out with ‘Chwyldro’ (Welsh for ‘Revolution’). This was for me by far the best song of the set, it was hypnotic and left me wishing that all of her material had sounded just like that. It was also the only tune played that sits on her debut album, one which I certainly must acquaint myself with.
Gwenno setlist:
‘Koweth Ker’
‘Anima’
‘Tir Ha Mor’
‘Le Kov’
‘Jynn-Amontya’
‘An Stevel Nowydh’
‘Kan Me’
‘N.Y.C.A.W.’
‘Men An Toll’
‘Eus Keus?’
‘Chwyldro’
CREEP SHOW (BBC SOUNDS STAGE 5:20pm – 6:20pm)
I was staying put in the BBC Sounds Stage for the Bella Union supergroup that is Creep Show. It was only a short time ago that Creep Show were entertaining punters in Brighton. They were performing at the greatly underutilized Attenborough Centre For The Creative Arts (ACCA) back on 16th June (Review HERE). Today was to be my third encounter with this collaborative project from Michigan boy John Grant (lead vocals, keys, laptop) and the dark analogue electro trio known as Wrangler, which features Ben “Benge” Edwards (electronic drumpads, laptop), Phil Winter (keys) and Stephen Mallinder (lead vocals, keys, laptop), who as everyone knows along with Chris Watson and Richard H Kirk were Cabaret Voltaire.
Suffice to say I’m rather partial to Cabaret Voltaire, having purchased their groundbreaking ‘Nag Nag Nag’ and ‘Silent Command’ singles from Attrix records on Sydney Street in Brighton back in the day. ‘The Cabs’ industrial sound over time morphed into an acid house dance style, a prime example being ‘Sensoria’ and it is that sound that is the basis to some of the Creep Show material. You can almost tell who wrote which songs on their albums.
The ‘Latitude’ set of 11 compositions is exactly the same as their Brighton concert last month, so it does seem a little pointless re-reviewing the same songs in the same order as the link above, but somehow this performance came in at 3 minutes shorter. Today’s set commenced at 5:20pm and concluded at 6:16pm. They opened with ‘Endangered Species’ and went on to the Kraftwerk ‘Trans Europe Express’ sounding ‘The Bellows’, with John Grant making nice use of the vocoder.
Mallinder leads the vocals for the slightly disturbing ‘Matinee’ which concludes with the line “For a little taste of shit”. From there Grant states “we’re going to talk about some modern parenting”, for the song ‘Modern Parenting’, which opens with the lines “Las Vegas and Atlantic City; Got together and they had a baby” and closes with “Did you ever stop think what you gonna do”, which is quoted a dozen times or more. Clearly like Cabaret Voltaire material, the Creep Show subject matter is also out on a tangent as well.
Although the quartet were playing the same songs in the exact same order, I noticed that Grant was out the front a number of times, whereas on the two previous times, they had stood Kraftwerk style in an exact line. Once again, their sound was nice’n’crisp and the backing films added to the overall immersive experience. ‘Bungalow’ came and went and was followed by the heavier ‘Moneyback’, which also features repeated lyrics, this time being “You want your money back?; I didn’t think so”.
My choice Creep Show track of the set arrived next in the form of the Acid House laden ‘Wise’. But just as they livened up the set, the guys took the beat right back down again with ‘Steak Diane’, which you can read about HERE. ‘Yahtzee!’ was choice 9 and the slower chugging joint vocalled (Grant and Mallinder) ‘Yawning Abyss’ was the penultimate track. They signed off with a similarly slow chugging ‘Pink Squirrel’ with its Herbie Hancock style vocoder. It once again had been an enjoyable set.
Creep Show setlist:
‘Endangered Species’
‘The Bellows’
‘Matinee’
‘Modern Parenting’
‘Bungalow’
‘Moneyback’
‘Wise’
‘Steak Diane’
‘Yahtzee!’
‘Yawning Abyss’
‘Pink Squirrel’
MICHAEL ALDAG (THE ALCOVE 6:50pm – 7:30pm)
I now had a slight quandary as to what to see next. My sensible brain was telling me to stay put at the front barrier in the BBC Sounds Stage as even before Creep Show started, the front of the big top was starting to fill up with Siouxsie fans, and that was 5 hours before she was due on stage! The next act here was film star Kiefer Sutherland and although it would have been nice to say that I had seen him in the flesh, I’m not really a fan of his music. Appearing on the nearby Obelisk Arena were The Proclaimers, so I decided to “walk 500 miles” in the opposite direction on account of my adversity to them. Therefore, the hands up winner fell on the side of youth in the form of likeable Scouse Michael Aldag, who was performing quite a way away at The Alcove in the woods. Michael Aldag was last in Brighton back on 7th April this year, when he was supporting Caity Baser (Review HERE).
I had a whole 30 minutes to make my way to the next performance. I timed it really well as once again secured a spot right on the barrier. I noted many confused young faces as they were entering the tent, as to what the old geezer with the grey hair is doing at the front, he must be in the wrong place, he must be looking for The Proclaimers! Little did they know that I would be reviewing the 33 minute 9 track show, one that I had witnessed and enjoyed only a quarter of a year ago. Although this evening’s performance was to be 8 minutes longer than my first encounter and thus had more songs.
Michael has already gained quite a number of teen fans and he stated that he “really appreciated the crowd coming out on a Sunday afternoon to see a scrawny ginger haired kid like me”. As per my previous encounter at the Concorde 2, vocalist Michael was joined by Harry Howell on guitar and Ellie East on drums and drumpads, although last time Ellie was standing behind her kit that looked impressive, this time she adopted the normal seating position. She also set off the backing track, which I guess was all the keyboard stuff. They kicked off at 6:50pm with ‘Apathy’, the most striking line of which is “How do I still hate myself when I’m a narcissist?”.
Michael then informed us that this was his first time at ‘Latitude’ and then they launched into ‘Stress’ with the choice line “Nоw thеrе’s linеs in my fасе аnd I’ll lооk 38 by thе timе I’m 22”. Oh what I’d give to be 38! He then introduced ‘Bleak’ and off they went. The tune states “I wish I wаs mоrе thаn whаt I аm I swеаr”, well I tell you what if he keeps plugging away then his dream will come true. Michael informed us that tune four, ‘Promenade’ was about a walk he had on a promenade and his girlfriend broke up with him. It appears that Michael’s body of work is penned about the trials and tribulations of growing up and finding your way in the world.
We learn that tune 5, ‘IAW’ is about sending texts and has the classic line “I’m just аn intеrnеt аttеntiоn whоrе”. I’m not totally sure what IAW means, but it might be “I Agree With”? Michael’s teenage drama continues with….‘Teenage Drama’, which features the line “And I usеd tо bе swееt now I’m tоxic”. Slice 7 is ‘Cheating’, which starts “I saw hеr stаnding асrоss thе аstrоturf; Couldn’t bеliеvе thаt уоu hаd got there first”…So I think I know where this pop ditty is heading! Obviously from ‘Cheating’ we move onto ‘Girlfriends’, which is an absolute corker of an earworm and well worth just being here in order to listen to this. The crowd loved it and gave it the best reaction so far. If you haven’t heard it and pop is your thing, then give it a listen, and you will find yourself singing days afterwards! Those of you that have heard it, sing along now..“Miа, Tiа, Lеаh, аnd Izаbеllе; I саn’t, I саn’t hеlp mysеlf”. They end the set with ‘Polaroid’, where Michael dons his Gibson guitar and then sings about “соrdurоy”. They departed at 7:23pm having conquered!
Michael Aldag has teamed up with The National Lottery and Music Venue Trust for a #UnitedByMusic summer tour. He is heading to Brighton on Sunday 27th August and will be playing at The Hope & Ruin – Grab your tickets HERE….“Miа, Tiа, Lеаh, аnd Izаbеllе; I саn’t, I саn’t hеlp mysеlf”.
Michael Aldag setlist:
‘Apathy’
‘Stress’
‘Bleak’
‘Promenade’
‘IAW’
‘Teenage Drama’
‘Cheating’
‘Girlfriends’
‘Polaroid’
BLACK MIDI (BBC SOUNDS STAGE 8:20pm – 9:20pm)
As Siouxsie will be appearing at the BBC Sounds Stage at 10pm, I thought it wise to head on back to where I had recently been and check out the delights of Black Midi (stylised black midi), who I have yet to see, despite the encouragement to do so by a few Brighton gig goers. Black Midi were last in Brighton on 24th November 2021. They performed at Chalk, prior to that, their venue of choice was the Concorde 2, where they played on 10th February 2020 (Review HERE).
Black Midi consists of Geordie Greep (vocals, guitar), Cameron Picton (vocals, bass, guitar), and Morgan Simpson (drums), and tonight they are joined by a fourth guy who is also playing guitar. The outfit has been going since 2017 and they got it together in London. It is said that the band’s name is derived from the Japanese electronic music genre black MIDI, but it must be stated that their music bears absolutely no comparison to this whatsoever!
This evening their dozen tune set commenced a little late at 8:24pm and concluded on the allotted time of 9:20pm. Sadly, I had lost my position on the barrier, but somehow managed to get to the front with only one person in front of me. Black Midi opened with ‘Welcome To Hell’ and you know what, they weren’t wrong! It has been quoted here and there that the band’s sound is an amalgam of varying styles from progressive rock, post punk, math rock and avant jazz. I honestly didn’t hear all of those styles this evening. To me they were initially offering tunes that ranged from hardcore fast style punk like the Dead Kennedys to almost a disco ‘Pssyche’ (Killing Joke) vibe, which is all wrapped up into one, but not in a good way.
The longer I watched them, they gave me hints of when I saw the Circle Jerks last year in the Empress Ballroom at ‘Rebellion’ in Blackpool, where the beats kept changing from frantically fast, to slow to almost stopping and back again. The longer Black Midi played, the worse their racket got and the more into avant freestyle jazz it became. They were undoubtedly by far the worst act that I witnessed at ‘Latitude’, and yes I know I was only there so as to be early for Siouxsie, but I would even suggest that they might even be one of the 10 worst bands I have ever seen!
Black Midi aren’t heading to Brighton this year, but you can catch them appearing at ‘All Points East’ in Victoria Park, London on Friday 25th August. Lineup details and tickets are available HERE.
Black Midi setlist:
‘Welcome To Hell’
‘Speedway’
‘Sugar/Tzu’
‘Lumps’
‘Still’
‘Eat Men Eat’
‘Dethroned’
‘Slow’
‘Talking Heads’
‘Near DT, MI’
‘John L’
‘953’
SIOUXSIE (BBC SOUNDS STAGE 10:00pm – 11:00pm)
To my knowledge, Siouxsie, as a solo performer has not played live in Brighton, but she did play here a half dozen times with Siouxsie & The Banshees from 1977 to 1985. Amazing as it may seem, I never did see ‘The Banshees’ play live. They had already played twice in Brighton before I had even begun gigging, which was late 1978. They had played the New Regent (Xtreems) which was located opposite where PRYZM now is, and also they played up at Brighton Polytechnic, where I was to study 6 months later. They did play the Brighton Centre no less than 4 times. I had gone off them by the time their 1984 and 1985 shows came around, and didn’t attend their Saturday 1st August 1981 show as the following day was my mothers birthday, and I wasn’t around for that, on the account of seeing Depeche Mode at Jenkinsons…TWICE! 5pm show and 8pm show. But I really have no idea why I didn’t go to their 10th October 1979 show.
I was absolutely stunned when Siouxsie announced that after a 10 year live hiatus, that she would be playing live again and ‘Latitude’ was the first to be announced. My partner, Jordan Mooney (RIP) and Siouxsie were both there at the very beginnings of punk and knew each other very well. They were both there to see the birth of the Sex Pistols and both would become iconic strong females in their own right. Over four decades after Siouxsie burst onto the scene at the birth of British punk rock, Sioux remains a defiant musical maverick. Her unique and uncompromising style continues to shape and inspire alternative culture. The list of musical pioneers she has made an impact on is truly astounding.
Siouxsie’s first ever time on stage saw her perform a truly chaotic and twisted version of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ at the 100 Club Punk Festival in 1976. What followed was an astounding career that heralded a succession of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Creatures and Siouxsie records so groundbreaking and glorious that it is hard to imagine groups being able to emulate their sense of gleeful experimentation and their total chart success right now. As the hits and records kept coming it very soon became apparent that her influence was even greater than just her remarkable music, the Siouxsie look, a beguiling mixture of aggression, power and strange fragility, became as iconic as that of Ziggy Stardust. As the years rolled on from that fateful stage debut her ever changing looks have all remained iconic to this day.
The last live performances by Siouxsie were in mid June 2013, when she took to the stage at London’s Royal Festival Hall as part of Yoko Ono’s ‘Meltdown’, performing an unprecedented two sold out shows as a guest of the curator. Siouxsie, never one for being predictable, surprised the 5000 attendees with an unannounced complete and full rendition of Siouxsie and the Banshees 1980’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ album alongside a myriad of hits from ‘Face To Face’ to ‘Here Comes That Day’. The first concert back this time around sadly wasn’t this evening, but in Belgium on 3rd May. Tonight has turned out to be her tenth of the current batch.
At 10:01pm the lights go down and the soundsystem blasts out Camille Saint‐Saëns’ ‘The Carnival Of The Animals (Le Carnaval Des Animaux) – Movement VII Aquarium’. The scene was being set and although I was now about the twelfth person back from the barrier, I was luckily exactly in line with Siouxsie’s mic. The equipment I could see on stage were a couple of laptops, a drumkit, electronics and also drum pads, a single tom tom, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, and another guitar which was to be used by Siouxsie later on in the set. I must now say that we were so tightly packed in now, that it was almost impossible to move your arms and feet. Annoyingly a guy to my right was wearing a bloody rucksack that kept bashing me and I felt a jab into my arm and it was an insect bite, probably a mosquito, so things weren’t going as well as I had imagined that they would.
Siouxsie takes to the stage to massive cheers and screams. She is looking mystically resplendent in her silver take on a Little Red Riding Hood’s cape. They kicked off with ‘Night Shift’ / ‘Voices (On The Air)’, which is followed by the ‘Arabian Knights’ classic. Well that’s one down that I really wanted to hear. ‘Here Comes That Day’ and ‘Kiss Them For Me’ follow in quick succession. The Beatles cover ‘Dear Prudence’ is given an outing and as you would expect goes down a dream. I can report that Siouxsie still has her fantastic and distinctive voice. The young girl on the other side of me is literally beside herself as she watches her icon in action. You must not forget that both Siouxsie and Jordan have been role models for women for a whole generation now and that they were trailblazers fighting against society’s preconceived ideas of what women should do and how to behave. They were both decades ahead of the game and thought patterns of the masses.
The clock is rolling on and we get ‘Face To Face’ and ‘Land’s End’, before we arrive at what should be ‘Spellbound’. But sadly the electronics aren’t working and after about a minute Siouxsie demands that the lads in the band play it manually. During this enforced quietness, George Ezra can be heard from the Obelisk Arena, to which Siouxsie jests something like “what is that, get rid of it”. Nonetheless, at the end of ‘Spellbound’ it still receives massive adulation from many fans. ‘Sin In My Heart’ is up next and this sees Siouxsie take to the guitar. Time is running out and not many of my Banshees favourites have been played yet. That is partly rectified by the arrival of the next trio of hits: ‘Christine’, (“Christinе – thе strаwbеrry girl; Christinе – bаnаnа split lаdy”), ‘Happy House’ (“This is thе hаppy hоusе; Wе’rе hаppy here in the hаppy hоusе”) and their best ever tune ‘Hong Kong Garden’ (“Chicken Chow Mein and Chop Suey; Hong Kong Garden takeaway”). I’m not sure what happened to the intro of ‘Hong Kong Garden’ tonight, but there was no xylophone. Even the young girl next to me who was talking to another girl before the set said that ‘Hong Kong Garden’ was her favourite Banshees track and yet she initially didn’t even recognise it. Maybe this too was in the lost electronics failure from earlier. An interesting fact here, is that the first recorded version for the John Peel show actually used a toy glockenspiel called a pixiphone.
It’s my belief that ‘Hong Kong Garden’ should have been the final number and judging by the audience response, I’m not alone, but instead they play ‘Into A Swan’ and at the end of this number the clock has rolled on past the allotted 11pm slot. It’s 11:05pm and that’s our lot. Arguably 64 minutes for a headline act isn’t really enough, but the final acts on the other days on this stage were also kept to the hour mark. Before arriving at ‘Latitude’ I was most excited about seeing Siouxsie more than any of the other acts. However, her choice of some of the tracks didn’t totally suit me. There was no ‘Israel’, ‘Icon’, ‘Red Light’, or ‘Halloween’. I guess you can’t have it all, but it was a real thrill to witness her in action!
Siouxsie setlist:
(Intro tape) ‘The Carnival Of The Animals (Le Carnaval Des Animaux) – Movement VII Aquarium’ (Camille Saint‐Saëns composition)
‘Night Shift’ / ‘Voices (On The Air)’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Arabian Knights’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Here Comes That Day’
‘Kiss Them For Me’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Dear Prudence’ (The Beatles cover)
‘Face To Face’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Land’s End’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Spellbound’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Sin In My Heart’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Christine’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Happy House’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Hong Kong Garden’ (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
‘Into A Swan’
So in conclusion, ‘Latitude’ was an absolutely fabulous festival. There was a true family feel to the event and this was reflected in the festival goers temperaments. None of the Brighton & Hove News Music Team witnessed a single altercation despite there being 45,000 people in attendance! Very impressive!
‘Latitude’ will make its annual return on 18th to 21st July 2024. I’m already chomping at the bit to find out which music acts will be performing! Ticket options for 2024’s ‘Latitude’ can be found HERE.
The ‘Latitude’ live performances for Friday 21st July can be located HERE.
The ‘Latitude’ live performances for Saturday 22nd July can be located HERE.
Also playing live at ‘Latitude’ today were the following:
