Friday 13/07/07 Day 1 @ Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Suffolk

Nestled on the sunshine coast near Southwold in Suffolk, Latitude is situated in splendid forestry and lakeside with a cosy closeness of proximity in stages. Now in its second year, Latitude is a fit contender to the big draw of corporate-sponsored festivals that have mushroomed in our green belts these last few years, featuring a musical programme spread over four stages of some cutting edge new and emergent talent alongside established acts such as Damien Rice and Arcade Fire, and a whole gamut of the the Arts represented for the Hay-on-Wye types with a programing strength which moves beyond the music and multi-media to bring a spoken word extravaganza with its Comedy Arena, Poetry Arena, Literary Arena, Music and Film Arena as well as Cabaret. Whilst drawing a multi-generational crowd with families and kids to boot, it does appear that in programming and attendance - this is slightly less than multi-cultural.

En route to music acts bypasses the fabulous 20 minute slots of many happening poets such as Dockers MC with her Rolf Harris tribute poem and Brixton girrrl street verse providing the chuckle hits. The Uncut arena features the festivals opening act Grace who are coming into blossom with their clutch of Coldplay/Muse musicality and early-U2 songs, high-pitched vocals and an altogether uninspiring act.

Fortunately, respite comes from the first band of the Obelisk Arena Main Stage where the indie-rock of The Kissaway Trail blaze some glory providing more sizzle than your Danish bacon with 'La La Song' and no need for navigation systems - "...the stars will guide us/ la la la la lar..." proves euphoric as with the riffing 'Tracy', and the Mercury Rev sound-alike 'Smother + Evil = Hurt' - these x5 chaps are on fire and loving every minute of it, the drummer giving The Muppets' Animal a run for his job, and we can overlook the x2 chaps wearing their kaftans for this is a band with a fabulous feelgood factor who would have held a late night audience with '61' and its spectral drums and mandolin, and the noirish 'Sometimes I'm Always Black' with its chugging guitars sharing their live joys - "...I can't handle this mission on my own...".

The Anglo-Icelandic act Fields provide some musical intrigue and draw a large crowd in the Uncut Arena with their sonic hybrids of early Joy Division and Stereolab, the bass heavy track 'Fiddles' lightened by female vocals but their sound overall somewhat airtight and suffocating in its sonic overload as they go about their My Bloody Valentine soundscaping.

Like being at a funeral, Monsieur Bill Bailey holds the Comedy Arena which sees a crowd swell well beyond its walls. The act with guitar and keys shows Bill's genius at improv - talking of the meaningless lyrics of The Killers - "...I've got soul but I'm not a soldier, may as well be I've got ham but I'm not a hamster" and reminding if anyone is from Channel Four - "you are moral pygmy scum of the earth". B.B. keeps music topical with analysis of hidden drug references in song such as - "Golden Brown is about a red squirrel", and delivers 'Three Times a Lady' in the language of love - German - "...Ich liebe die...". Addressing climate change in song proves hilarious "...the climate of love has changed in your heart", a Magna-techno - "what can we do about it, magma - bubbling into your eyes...", and a Bjork-styled pixie "the shelves are empty in Iceland, no findus, no pies...", and finishing with a tribute to Kraftwerk, cockney style "...ya/ das hokey kokey...rar rar rar...".