Following the recent announcements including headliners Two Door Cinema Club and Damon Albarn, Latitude have revealed many more names joining the incredible line-up, including Tame Impala, Bombay Bicycle Club and Scroobius Pip .
Tame Impala make their long-awaited appearance at the festival this year and Latitude is hugely excited to welcome them for an exclusive UK festival appearance. The band’s psychedelic hypno-groove melodic rock music is as much informed by The Beatles as it is beat poetry, Turkish prog and English folk. Both their albums Innerspeaker and Lonerism have won the Rolling Stone Australia Album of the Year Award and have gone Gold in their native Australia.
Following this week’s release of Bombay Bicycle Club’s hotly anticipated fourth album So Long, See You Tomorrow, we are hugely excited to announce that the Latitude favourites take their step up to the penultimate slot on the Obelisk Arena this year. With the new album currently sitting at Number One in the midweek charts, the band looks set for a monumental 2014 and Latitude is looking forward to sharing it with them.
Fresh from their induction into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame, ‘rock and soul’ duo Daryl Hall & John Oates will treat festival goers to a set drawing on more than 30 years of transatlantic chart hits in this, their exclusive UK festival appearance. From Sara Smile to Maneater and I Can’t Go For That, their distinctive combination of soulful vocals and cool orchestration has influenced everyone from Chromeo to Brandon Flowers.
Following Slowdive’s announcement that the band would reform 20 years after their last concert, Latitude is thrilled to be the only festival in England to see the band play live this summer. Festival goers will be able to experience their spacey, melodic and haunting dream pop sound, inspiring not only artists, but whole genres of music.
Returning to Latitude are Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit, composed of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg whose close vocal harmonies and woodsy, folk-influenced songwriting take influence from the likes of Fleet Foxes and Joanna Newsom. The duo triumphed at the Swedish Grammis Music Awards where they took home four awards for Artist Of The Year, Songwriter Of The Year, Best Pop, and Album Of The Year for their last album The Lion’s Roar. These sisters are not to be missed.
Scandinavian singer-songwriter Agnes Obel has drawn critical acclaim for two piano-led albums that refract the emotional honesty of PJ Harvey or Tori Amos through music reminiscent of composers Claude Debussy and Erik Satie. After sweeping the board at the Danish Music Awards in 2011, Obel is now taking her work to the international stage, with her appearance at Latitude one of a select handful of opportunities to hear her in the UK this summer.
Also joining the bill for Latitude is one of the UK’s most hotly anticipated new bands Jungle. Mere months after bursting into the public consciousness with their first single Platoon, they are building an ever-growing audience for their chilly electronic funk and were named on the longlist for the BBC Sound of 2014. Performing live as a seven-piece, their Latitude appearance will follow the release of their debut album.
Joining the bill is prolific singer-songwriter Damien Jurado, whose 11th album, Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son has just been released in the UK to critical acclaim and described by NME as the “road movie without an end”. Often referred to as the ‘Godfather of the Seattle folk boom’ and with a celebrity fan base that includes Moby, this could be the year the bruised grace of Jurado’s voice and songwriting reaches the audience it deserves. Catch him for an exclusive UK festival appearance at Latitude.
Latitude is also delighted to announce Julia Holter, in an exclusive UK festival appearance, a truly original voice among American singer-songwriters. After two albums inspired by Ancient Greek drama, Tragedy and Ekstasis, Holter took her song writing to a new level in 2013 with her third record Loud City Song. The record is a cycle of bewitching, highly textured and atmospheric songs that reinterpreted the musical Gigi which has attracted near rapturous praise from critics.
Also confirmed is multi-talented multi-instrumentalist, Valerie June, whose self-proclaimed “organic moonshine roots music”, is a boundary-breaking synthesis of Appalachian, blues, gospel, bluegrass and soul. She broke through into the public consciousness in 2013 with the release of her fourth album Pushin Against A Stone and after a storming set on the iArena in 2013, Latitude is excited to welcome her back.
Wales-based DJ and producer Koreless, another recent XL Recordings / Young Turks co-signing, is confirmed to appear at the festival, where his glitchy, ghostly music, influenced by the darker reaches of sci-fi will resonate through the festival.
We are excited to announce East India Youth performing at Latitude. Songsmith East India Youth’s musical talents complete a marriage of emotion, electronica and a unique sound. Described by Clash magazine as “neo-classical, with a really heavy digital sound to it” and with a new album out now, this is a must see.
The depth and feeling behind Kwabs’ rich baritone belies the youth of this 23 year-old Londoner. His dignified yet heartfelt brand electro-synthesised soul has already won him a spot on Radio 1Xtra’s Hot for 2014 list, as well as the admiration of artists including Jessie Ware, Emili Sande and Plan B. Fresh from a high profile collaboration with SOHN, released on Atlantic this week, Latitude will offer fans an opportunity to see one of UK music’s rising stars in action.
Representing the spirit of punk at this year’s festival will be two of Britain’s most interesting and outspoken new bands. Anarchist sextet Fat White Family first hit the headlines with an unrepentant response to Margaret Thatcher’s death last year, which they followed with a highly praised debut album of scabrous wit and energy Champagne Holocaust. Meanwhile, Leeds four piece Eagulls are set for big things and recently appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman show playing their song Possessed. Their self-titled debut will be released through Partisan Records in March, featuring the single Tough Love.
Latitude cannot wait to see the inimitable Kate Tempest in action with a band this year, in anticipation of her debut music album. From the age of 16 Kate Tempest took the poetry, rap and spoken word scene by storm. Describing one performance the New York Times said “both as writer and performer, Ms. Tempest stitches together words with such animate grace that language acquires an almost tactile quality”, Latitude festival goers can expect more of this deep lyricism and storytelling, with a link to her strong hip-hop background. Kate’s lyrical skills are phenomenal and her delivery comes from the soul, this will be one very exciting show for music lovers.
Latitude is ecstatic to welcome back the unmistakable face of the UK’s spoken word scene Scroobius Pip. His spoken word career took off when he released the top 40 single Thou Shalt Always Kill, a droll rap about modern dos and don’ts, with Dan Le Sac. Whether performing on street corners or spoken word stages, for queuing gig goers or reverential jazz audiences, Pip has become synonymous with a burgeoning post-millennial spoken word scene. Sure to pull one of the biggest crowds at the Poetry Arena, don’t miss one of the leading lights in Spoken Word.
World famous grand master of beatboxing Shlomo will be joined by his friends on stage for an unforgettable performance. Shlomo, who holds a Guinness world record for beatboxing has a mindblowing vocal talent for creating sounds, noise, music, beats, bass and breaks with just his mouth and a microphone. This one man band, teacher, soundsystem & soundtrack machine will take the Latitude crowd on a crazy vocal journey.
Leave what you think about beatboxing at the door, Reeps One is a vocal force. If you are unfamiliar with this walking, breathing sound system, he is the first to ever vocalise bass music in a way that has had producers and scientists alike scratching their heads in wonder. Two times winner of the UK Beatbox Championships, Reeps One’s performance at Latitude will be a jaw-dropping vocal force to be reckoned with.
Joining the line-up is PolarBear whose autobiographical rhymes come from the heart of hip-hop and poetry. His work is original, thought provoking, raw and often funny. With emotion driving his poetical delivery, twinned with the realism behind the stories, PolarBear is in the top league of spoken word poets.
National treasure and the voice of Radio 4’s Poetry Please, Roger McGough will be performing some of his own poetry at Latitude this year. President of the Poetry Society and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, McGough was one of the leading members of the Liverpool poets in the 60’s and has been awarded both the OBE and CBE for his services to poetry.
The national poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke joins Latitude’s spoken word line-up. Awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010, some of her recent books include A Recipe for Water, and a prose collection, At the Source and in 2012 her book of poetry Ice was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize.
Latitude is thrilled to announce one of Africa’s most famous authors, the award winning Nigerian writer and poet Ben Okri will be reading from his latest collection of poems Wild at this year’s festival. Ranging from war to love, from nature to the difficulty of truly seeing, Okri’s poems aim to show humanity in a new light and our modern world in all its richness and its agony. Okri, who won the Booker Prize in 1991 for The Famished Road, is a Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN, a member of the board of the Royal National Theatre, and was awarded an OBE in 2001. His first-hand experience of civil war in Nigeria is said to have inspired many of his works.
Hollie Mcnish is a UK Slam Poetry Champion and World Slam finalist. She has been commissioned to write poetry for Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, the WOW Festival, Channel 4’s Random Acts and the BBC Poetry Diaries.
We are hugely excited to announce that former Children’s Laureate and award winning poet, Michael Rosen best known for his Children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt will appear at the festival this year. Rosen has made some of the UK’s best loved children’s books and during his Laureateship, Rosen created the Roald Dahl Funny Prize for children’s fiction, with the aim of promoting laughter and humour as a feel-good factor when children read.
Half a million people have watched George The Poet perform his works on YouTube and Vimeo. A poet for the people, his poems mix social and political comment with humour and demonstrate his passion that poetry is a powerful tool to educate the masses. George delivers an unforgettable live performance, which consists of a hypnotic blend of poetry and rap. His insightful stories derive from his inner city background and are delivered with stealth.
Stand up poet Elvis McGonagall is an armchair revolutionary and recumbent rocker, scribbling verse whilst drinking malt whisky and listening to Johnny Cash. Elvis is a previous champion of World Slam, the compere of the notorious Blue Suede Sporran Club and appears regularly on BBC Radio 4.
Coming from a teacher vs. battle rap background, poet Mark Grist enters the stage with his own mesmerising fusion of spoken word and hip-hop. Grist’s tight performance is both amusing and captivating, using his rhyming skills and understanding of words to captivate the crowd.
Innovative live poetry company Page Match will be bringing Bang! Said The Gun, London’s top poetry club to Latitude this year, where they will pit poet against poet in a wrestling ring! Expect blood stained word wrestling bouts of head ripping, bone crunching, limb breaking poetry until the last poet stands. There can only be one winner. Let the rumble commence!
Described as “inventive, academically aware, fearless and hugely enjoyable” (The Telegraph) the award-winning British playwright and poet Luke Kennard will join us with an exciting new sequence of poems, specially created for Latitude. Join Luke as he follows the journey of the Cain, the world’s first bad guy, from Genesis through to the 21st Century.
Punk poet John Baine brings his sharp-tongued, high energy, social surrealist rebel poet alter-ego Attila The Stockbroker to Latitude this year. A former punk-folk musician, his themes are topical, his words hard-hitting, his politics unashamedly radical, but make festival crowds roar with laughter as well as seethe with anger.
Mining the Meaning (Re)reading the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike 30 Years On Three decades on from the biggest post-war dispute in British labour history, a range of poets, performers and artists ask how and why poetry written by miners can help us understand unspoken slices of our contentious history. Introduced by Dr Katy Shaw, the event will offer re-readings of the past to consider the social, cultural and political legacy of the strike and ask what connections can be drawn to the here-and-now in a post-Thatcher, post-Labour, pro-protest world.
The latest names to be announced join exclusive performances from Damon Albarn, who will be performing from his new solo album Everyday Robots in his first summer festival performance, and Two Door Cinema Club making their first festival headline appearance. Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp and Swedish indie-pop pioneer Robyn perform in a special joint-appearance as part of their Do It Again 2014 tour, the only opportunity in the UK to see the tour. Winner of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Roots Award, Billy Bragg and his band will be stopping off at Latitude for a UK festival exclusive performance and finally the colourful and psychedelic experimental Swedish band Goat, who have a magnificent live show, which can only be seen at Latitude this summer.
Following the success of last year’s Neuroscience vs. Sex theme, Latitude will tackle another idea that defines our times in 2014, as it studies Secrets, exploring the tricky relationship between the private and public worlds of individuals, communities and wider society. Secrets large and small, benign and malign will be explored across Latitude’s arts arenas as the festival takes a forensic but playful look at the way humans have attempted to keep things to themselves throughout their history and into modern times.
Situated by the lake, Latitude’s award-winning family offering includes the Children’s Arena, its own miniature festival, providing a stimulating and safe environment for children to play, learn and explore. For older children there is The Inbetweeners’ Teen Area where teens can let off steam monkeying around in the trees learning bushcraft skills, and find out through workshops what it’s like to work as a DJ, film director, radio presenter or author.
So much more than just a music festival, Latitude presents a festival experience like no other, carefully curated so that culture lovers can experience performances by leading artists from the worlds of theatre, dance, literature, film, comedy, cabaret, poetry, fashion, art as well as music, all over one weekend.
Latitude returns for its ninth edition, taking place from Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th July 2014 in the stunning grounds of Henham Park, Suffolk.
TICKET INFORMATION
Presale tickets for the 2014 event are available now at 2013 prices, allowing fans of Latitude to get their hands on early tickets before anyone else. Latitude has also launched a £50 deposit scheme to make it even easier to save your spot at Latitude 2014. Fans are able to secure a ticket for this year’s festival by putting down £50 now and paying the balance over three months at £46.83 each time (for an adult ticket which includes the booking fee). A transaction charge (postage & packaging) is applicable per booking (not per ticket) and in most cases payable with the last instalment.
Ticket Prices
Weekend adult tickets £182.50 face value + £8.00 booking fee per ticket
Accompanied Teen Ticket (13-15 years) £132.50 face value + £8.00 booking fee per ticket
Weekend Child Ticket (5-12 years) £5.00 (no booking fee)
Campervan Permit £40/£60/£80 (depending on size)
Terms & Conditions apply. For full details head to www.latitudefestival.co.uk
