Have spent many years going to the more mainstream festivals, but have recently found less and less to enjoy on the main stages and spent my time tucked away in the smaller tents (not a big issue for the last few years of British summers). Went to Latitude in 2007 only because I couldn't get tickets for Glastonbury and that nice Mr Eavis sent me an e-mail suggesting I try Mr Benns event. I loved it for the following reasons:

• Loads of relatively unheard of bands ( I bought a bout a dozen cds on the back of it)
• Plenty of space, campsites and arena
• No big queues
• Diverse range of arts
• Very friendly atmosphere

On the downside there was rather a lack of organisation, bars opening late, security issues, comedy tent too small, etc.
 
Couldnt get back in 08 and 09 but went again this year. Having read other comments, yes it was a lot more crowded, the atmosphere wasn't so good and some of the aspects of the organisation hadn't improved eg events starting at 11am and not letting the crowd in until 10.55! But for me these weren't the real issues, the balance of bands/artists just didn't click. Yes I know everybodys got their own tastes, but there was definitely a shift away from what I thought Latitude was about. Melvin needs to give it a rethink for next year, how to get the atmos of the Sunrise Arena into other areas. Bring on more of The Lost Levels, Lissie and O Children.

This was our 2nd year at Latitude. We started coming because we were fed up of the crowds at Glastonbury (which we'd been to for many, many years) and the mindless behaviour at other festivals like Reading.
 
Praise:

• Had a great time, thanks!
• The loos weren't too bad until Sunday when the smell of ammonia was enough to make your eyes water.
• Great to have loo paper provided.
• Pretty good access to water (but see below, too).
• Putting Tom Jones on on Sunday - assuming it wasn't planned all along. Nice to know you realised you'd made a mistake.
• Thanks for providing the sofas & chairs....  Nice thought!

Gripes:

• Just like everyone else has said, the number of people. Last year was fine. I'd pay more just to have the space.
• The water supplies in the campsites being diverted in the mornings - we still need to wash our hands!
• Total lack of places to buy hot drinks and snacks in the red camping area. Not everyone brings a primus etc.
• If you're going to have so many people there then maybe you shouldn't allow camp fires (we'd be disappointed, but safety has to come first).
• Not enough bins in the middle of the arena where so many people were eating.

A comment for the future:   Please DO NOT go down the photo ticket path like Glastonbury. Some of us have jobs where we might not be able to come at the last minute or, as happened to a friend, a family death occured days beforehand. Glastonbury used to use a non-profit making site to sell tickets on, but once you've stuck a photo on it there's nothing to be done. If I've paid for it why shouldn't I be allowed to pass it on if I can't use it? (I'm not saying sell it to make a vast profit - that makes me cross, too). Or set up your own exchange site/waiting list. Using photos will not sort out the problem of teenagers - many of them look older than they really are, anyway.
 
 
 
 

Okay, after I've slept on it, I can make a decent non-angry post.

Suggestions:
-Please bring back the compost toilets. They were a great addition, comfortable, clean, and always well-stocked with toilet paper. They were our favourites the past few years and we were genuinely gutted when we realised they weren't up in the woods where they usually are.
-Get some decent DJs after the acts finish. Those that were on seemed to run out of decent material and started just playing filler after about 1am. Such a shame that it still seems impossible to find somewhere to go for a good dance after dark.
-Increase security and have them well-trained. Of the two that I saw in the camp site this year, one was rude and intimidating, and the other just plain unhelpful. While you of course need security to be a solid authority, it's not necessary for them to treat every festival-goer under 25 like a criminal. This is the second year I've had this problem with Latitude.
-Either decrease or at least maintain the capacity. The site was at breaking point this year, and while I had no huge issues with queueing, there were too many people for comfort, both in the arena and in Yellow camping.
-Book well-established artists as headliners, as opposed to "rising stars".  This is not a suggestion that comes purely from personal preference, but I feel that Latitude's main draw with regards to music is that is focuses on quality and credibility before trend, and between Florence and Vampire Weekend, some of that was lost this year.
-Don't turn into just another festival. Ensure that the music acts you book are likely to attract fans who will be just as appreciative of the other arts stages available. Maintain the sense of personality and soul that made me come to Latitude in the first place. 

Praises
-I thought the variety of bands playing was great, even if there were a few too many singer-songwriters. There was always something to go and see, and all of the stages were close enough together that nothing took too long to get to.
-The toilets in the campsite were pretty well-maintained, I didn't think they were half as bad as previous years, even with the increased numbers. 
-The new parking system was good and prevented the bottleneck that happened a few years ago. We managed to get in and out of the campsite without really having to queue at all.
-The comedy stage, with the two larger sides, was an excellent move. Such an great improvement.
-The Argyll food stand. Venison sausage roll and baked beans for £3 was an absolute bargain. Overall, it wasn't too hard to find decent food.
-Red camping looked like a lovely place to camp compared to Yellow. If I was to come back next year, I'd probably stay there, as there were more older festival-goers and a much friendlier atmosphere.

 I felt that Latitude has lost a little bit of the magic that made it a stand-out festival. Overall though, I had a nice weekend, thanks to the acts performing and the company I was with.

Suggestion.
What I love about Latitude is discovering new music, - usually by wandering in on some great band at the Sunrise Stage.
How about a CD stall, - or allowing bands to sell their music. Not everyone remembers or can be bothered to look bands up when they get home.

4th time at Latitude, missed the first but been each year since. Enjoyable as ever, but a few comments to make:
 
Frustrations
 
Sound quality in the Word Arena - what on earth was going on with the bass??? The XX were spoilt by too much bass, as were the Coral. Levels coming from the Bass Drum were dreadful - why was this not fixed after the first act? They could be heard at the Obelisk during Mumford and Sons set. Each year the word (or equivilent) tent is fantastic, the atmosphere is great but this year i couldn't watch anything because the bass levels were so poor. OK if there's a drum and bass act on, but not for the acts playing there. Really disappointed.
 
Events Programme - I like reading about each act in the large festival guide, but there should also be a simple guide for each stage, each day. Small laminated line up attached to a lanyard would be great. For the money we pay i would expect to get this free with the tickets.
 
More Bins - More people = more rubbish - simple
 
Larger tents - again, if there are more people the capacity of the venues needs to be increased. Glad to see they have finally took notice and increased the comedy tent.
 
Some of the acts can loose their charm performing on the main stage - Laura Marling. Fantastic talent but would have been better on a more intimate stage.
Rodrigo Y Gabriela - great act, but saw them 2/3 years ago in the Word test equivilent and they were my festival highlight. The atmosphere they generate was lost on the main stage.
 
 
Praises
Stayed in the family camping area for the 1st time - very comfortable. Toilets were fantastic (for a festival)
 
Driving in and out of the site was easy - much less queing than previous years
 
Range of acts and things to do as good as ever - actually had too much to see and not enough time to relax. Possibly could be over 4 days?
 
 
All in all great festival. Really disappointed by the sound quality of the Word Arena though, hopefully they'll sort it for next year!

First time for me.

BAD:  TOO MANY PEOPLE, the number of folks trying to get to most things gave it an AIR OF DESPERATION that I was not expecting from previous years' reviews. The Comedy and Literature tents need to be bigger (Poetry you can keep, it's a dead artform in it's current -last 100 years- state).

GOOD: I really enjoyed watching CEVANNE, felt like a secret gig due to the paucity of attendance at the Lakeside, then I found out she's a local who got in on a 'scheme' (thank you schemers).

Liked the small foodsters at The Word end of things, bargains and better quality.

The BEER was great too. The ale that is, Pure and Scarecrow, forgotten the name of the brewery, but it was just right, proper summer booze.

Nice 'clowns' - I know they'd be wrong at Reading - but those multicolored dancing nutters really added to the fun.

Lake Stage praise: much better bands this year.

Lake Stage gripe: the sound was pretty awful - couldn't hear the snare drum at all.
 
I thought the sound in The Word arena was pretty much perfect. A little too bassy at times, but really powerful, crisp and clear aside from that.

Oh, and yes to the Argyll food stand (next to Loch Fyne). Really lovely stuff, nice people too.

Right then.

Good Times:

Although I didn't really think there was a stand-out headliner like there has been the last few years, the quality of the music really was excellent. The National in particular were just stunning, as was Jonsi, and since it's taken me 5 years to get round to seeing Archie Bronson Outfit live it was nice for a teenhood dream to be fulfilled...

Film & Music had some great stuff in it - Steve Mason, God's Jukebox (in particular Jim Jones Revue) and the blues/gospel night on Thursday stood out the most.

The Comedy Stage was much better this year. Not once could I not get in there at all, and since it's moved you can actually see and hear now.


Bad Times:

The problems with overcrowding, teenage brats and the overpowering smell of raw sewage have been covered already so I won't elaborate.

Constantly waiting for things to open was ridiculous, particularly waiting for the campsite open on Thursday. On the way home I heard a brief snippet of Radio 4 talking about Cameron's 'Big Society' and we couldn't help thinking that if he really wanted to win the hearts of the British people all he has to do is abolish the Health And Safety Executive.

Most of the stages most of the time were running about 10 or 15 minutes late, which made clashes a bit annoying - I was waiting for one thing to start knowing I could be watching another thing.

The walk from the cars to the campsite never gets any easier.

This is something that realistically can't be fixed, but the ground in Yellow camping is much too hard. There's only an inch or two of soil before you usually hit rock. As a result most of my tentpegs were in at very obtuse angles and kept coming out (not helped by drunk kids tripping over guy ropes all the time) - on Thursday night I had to go out at 3 times during the night with a hammer to fix my tent.


Suggestions:

Again, everything to do with letting less kids in has been covered already so I won't dwell on that.

Sound in the Word Arena needs to be more consistent. At times it was just right (especially for Jonsi) but Grizzly Bear were just unnecessarily loud, and The XX's bass was audible from pretty much everywhere.

Will they please play some good music after the bands are finished? How many Belle And Sebastian fans do you honestly think like dubstep?

The law about not allowing water into the arena seems a bit Draconian. I got sick of wasting water by tipping it away then having to leave the campsite 5 minutes earlier for everything so I could fill my water up on the way to whatever I wanted to see. I understand that gin and vodka are the same colour as water but I'm sure there's something that can be done about it.

Cold soft drinks/mixers at the bars maybe? I endured a few too many warm JD and Cokes for my liking.

My 4^th Latitude, and all in all, a fantastic time was had. But if capacity continues to increase, I may well knock it on the head.
 
Praises:
This year’s programme was amazing. We really were spoilt for choice and had clashes aplenty, both in music and non-music (and that’s while not even bothering with 2 of the Obelisk headliners!). Kudos to the bookers for the sheer variety.
Screens in the Word tent were a welcome addition (can’t say the same about the ludicrous bass volume levels – we had to move back during Grizzly Bear, despite wearing earplugs. Just. Stupidly. Loud.)
The reconfigured comedy tent was a massive improvement and felt much better in terms of sightlines. For the first time in 4 years, I managed to get inside this tent. Win!
The bigger theatre tent. I didn’t go in it, but I gather it’s a vast improvement on the small round tent of old, and at least the loss of the BBC tent has made way for a real improvement. (What worries me is that now these tents are both improved, capacity will increase yet again next year and we’re back to square one.)
The hay bales outside the Poetry tent. A little thing, but a nice touch.
 
Suggestions:
Cap current capacity or reduce it to 2009 levels, which were ideal. This was the first year I missed a lot of performances, realizing I wouldn’t get through the crowds in time. I was constantly feeling I had to rush and save myself a spot/join a queue ages before a performance was due to start.
Increase facilities to match the increased capacity (e.g. bins!).
Toliet doors with locks that work is basic, and easily remedied.
Lanyards would be good, listing ALL stages (not just the main ones).
Post the finalized official clashfinder on the forum before the Thursday morning of the festival (at least I think that’s when it went up). Most people are already en route by then.
Scrap the age restriction on the film tent, and open both entrances (and give that place some air). The door arrangements were a bit baffling.
Let campers in the arena earlier, or schedule the first shows of the day to begin later. Too much unnecessary herding, which just irked people in that heat.
Don’t confiscate water on the way in. It’s downright dangerous.
Better signposting/lighting of the car parks/exits.
More varied use of the In The Woods stage after 11pm. If you’re not into glo-sticks, it’s basically a no-go zone. Eurgh.
Do something about the bridge, or how the traffic across it is managed. The overcrowding was bad this year.
More deckchairs by the lake (or some of those hay bales), but I realize I’m being picky here. ;-) 
Bring back the caterers from 2008/2009 in the Guest area.
Get a fruit stand – please.
Sell The Guardian!

My only suggestion for next year is that I would prefer if there was fewer bands that got longer setlists and more time to soundcheck etc. You only really need 5 or 6 bands a day on the Obelisk and Word, and maybe a couple more on Lake and Sunrise. Hour long sets for people Dirty Projectors and Jamie Lidell would've been mighty.

There was a fruit stand right in the middle of the arena.  Beefy melons  temple of love and gratitude.

Yep and I saw at a few different stalls apples & bananas on sale.

r



Will they please play some good music after the bands are finished? How many Belle And Sebastian fans do you honestly think like dubstep?

Hello!

If I'd known there was going to be some dubstep, I probably would've bought a ticket quicker.

Praise:
One of the Chinese food stalls was serving the MOST MASSIVE portions of vegetable curry and rice I've ever seen. And for £5.50, well worth it. Overall, I didn't find the food too bad pricewise.
The toilets near our tent were kept in really good condition considering how many people were using them. According to a friend, they were like heaven compared to the ones at T in the Park.
Line-up. I was never ever without something to see. I came from Scotland for Latitude based on the line-up, especially the Comedy Arena, which was brilliant!
The Supermarket. I went 4 times, and I only had to queue once. And even then, the queue moved in about 5 minutes.

Suggestions:
Proper seating around the edges of the Comedy Arena maybe? I had a sore back by the end of every day, and I'm a relatively fit and healthy teenager!
Screens more like the screens at the Word stage at the Comedy Arena, the images were a bit fuzzy.

But overall, I am one very satisfied customer. It was this or T in the Park, cost about the same including transport, and I'm confident I made the right decision!

It was my first Latitude.
 
Great things - really friendly and helpful stewards in the family campsite, helped us to our car when we were not well. No queues to get into or out of festival. Clean toilets in family camping and nice, quiet residents! Great programme, and enough to go round (they ran out at Camp Bestival last year, very annoying). Wonderful countryside setting, great stage settings, loved the magical bar in the woods, the lakeside stage, the sheep, great variety of less established bands, fantastic ROH2 booking, ballet, Sadlers Wells, Soho Theatre - all the arts basically. I came for the arts stuff. Great kids area, brilliant and fun work shops, great greenpeace cafe, a lifesaver.
 
Not great things - Worth sorting the signs out to get in...non-sensical. Family Camping was signed, signed, signed...then suddenly not signed. Where do we go? Parking ran out in family camping. Your headline music line-up is not a drawer for me. Too old? Florence, Mumford, Vampire Weekend etc not remotely interesting although it would have been nice to know that Tom Jones was playing again on Sunday, as missed it on Thursday. REALLY TERRIBLE sound from Word Arena. Such a shame! Awful bass levels ruined the XX, made it completely unlistenable from outside the tent. You could often hear all the bands anyway at the same time. Things would be much clearer if you put up a sign in front of each tent etc saying what is on when. Dont understand why you dont do that.
 
Tiddly Things - can we have hand sanitiser in the Family Camping toilets? At performances like sadlers wells, opera house, can you make it clear by a sign at the event that either chairs are allowed, or they are not? I totally understand why you might have a sit-down only policy, no chairs or standing, but you will find that people who attend these things are reasonably well-behaved, they will do it, but you should tell them before, and not during, the performance.
 
Really great festival, hope to come next year, if Denis will let me.

r

Will they please play some good music after the bands are finished? How many Belle And Sebastian fans do you honestly think like dubstep?

Hurrah, another one for the 'good music after the bands finish' campaign.

Please, please, please can we have somewhere where we can listen/dance to decent music that reflects the bands that are playing!!

Free Lion Bars would have been good.

haha. wasn't a very good episode though.