HI JON SOME QUESTION
 
  1  When booking bands for latitude this year 2010 did you look back over the forum posts of 2009 and see all the moaning about the older bands and decided to book more  radio1 type bands.
Jon's reply:
Hi,I actually didn’t,its important to read the posts,but not to be dictated by them.
 
2when booking the  obelisk headlines do you have set amount you can spend on them.
Jon's reply:
No,I have a budget for the festival and decide where to spend.
 
3  Do you think there is a band this year that will come from the lake stage or sunrise that will headline the word arena, as THE XX have.   It may well be the VILLAGES ?
Jon's reply:
I don’t know in truth,Villagers are certainly one to watch,as are Everything Everything….I think The XX produced such an amazing album.

Hi Jon,

I may be going against the grain of some posts I've read elsewhere but last year you put on several 'older' acts (Pretenders, Squeeze, Grace Jones, PSB, St Etienne, Magazine, Tricky et al) that gave us old folks a reference point or two when we couldn't find a bolt hole. This year as far as I can tell there was only James. OK I guess Jones the Voice should be included too but he wasn't playing a typical festival TJ set now was he?

A sprinkling of acts of the calibre of Richard Thompson would be good, 'traditional', quality but not over-popular.
Jon's reply:
Yes,I think 2009 I must have had a trip down memory lane!..In truth a balance is what we are looking for,the demographic ranges so much that we do need to cater for the 40 and 50 somethings.

To back up what previous posts have said, in recent years there have been a sprinkle of 'vintage' acts such as Magazine, Squeeze, Pretenders, Blondie etc, what was the reason for not doing this this year? 

Annie forbade repetition, but Maddix has asked the major questions really. Rather than repeating, I'd like to reiterate the missed opportunity to be more challenging and diverse musically. Please give that careful consideration.
 
It's difficult to know the parameters of your remit, Jon, and what to what extent you're free to pursue your vision for the festival. I'd be interested to know how far you're constrained by seniors and your full role.
 
Could you tell us a little about your musical background, and if you are involved in other events at present, or have been previously (which I’m sure you have)?
 
Finally, what is the full reasoning behind the policy of elevating single-album or relatively obscure artists to headliner status, and do you accept that (admirable as it is) it has sometimes negated from quality?
 
Otherwise, please give Maddix85's questions close attention. I would have asked those.
 
Thanks very much for taking the time to talk to us inbreds – some of whom come from the North.
 

Moochoo, I've posted a link below to the interview with Jon that I lifted the quote about pushing Latitude more leftfield after its 5th year from. It gives a bit of info about his background there also so might provide a useful insight for you...
 
http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/news/s-said-Dunn/article-209388-detail/article.html

Hello.

1. Have there been any act over the past five years you were desperate to put in the line-up but were just to expensive?
Jon's reply:
There are always acts that go on to play the major major festivals that we just cant afford..I think you would be able to guess who they were by their size,

2. Have there been any relatively big acts who you have asked and they've said no they don't want to do Latitude?
Jon's reply:
Yes,this happens from time to time of course,most times it happens because they are just too big for the festival!

3. Putting Crystal Castles as "special guests" on the Saturday just one below the headliner IMO was poor judgement. They have a following, granted, but they are just not what I'd expect from an Obelisk Arena special guest. Was this planned, or was it just the only slot left for them?
Jon's reply:
The topic of Crystal Castles at Latitude was very hot..They were there for a reason,that reason being they are a great great act,I liked the way they separated people,music is all about opinions and this they did!

4. Mumford and Sons drew a huge crowd and I was surprised at how low down on the running order they were. Again, did their meteoric rise in popularity since their booking take you by surprise or was their position in the running order planned that way?
Jon's reply:
A bit of both here in truth,I knew they were gaining momentaum but the speed did surprise me slightly,at the same time its good to have a big crowd in front of the main stage at that time of  day.

5. Regarding the Latitude habit of "dribble" announcing the acts in the build up to the festival. Is this really necessary? You leave MANY devout forum members foaming at the mouth every year!
Jon's reply:
Ha,sorry..Truth is it can be a very slow process in booking the right act into the right slot and then getting the full sign off on it from artist,managers and agents..Saying that I do hope to ‘speed’ everything up this year!

6. Please agree with Melvin that the Sunday lunchtime slot is to be permanent. Also, would it be too outrageous to suggest that a musical comedy act could do this slot occasionally like Tim Minchin, Bill Bailey or Flight Of The Conchords?
Jon's reply:
I agree that the Sunday slot is important to the whole make up of the festival…Good idea on musical comedy,love the Conchords!


Thank you.   

Hello

Will you be inviting back those that didn't get to play the Sunrise Arena (Delta Maid etc), due to the partial unexpected slump in one part of the roof's structure on the Friday, I think it was?

Thanks
Jon's reply:
What actually happened with Delta was she got stuck in traffic and missed her slot sadly,at the same time the tent collapsed as if it knew there was to be a break of 40 mins or so..Mad coincidence.

Are you able to share your thoughts on who you are considering for next year? I know it's difficult but I promise not to hold you to anything you say. Go on give us a little tickle you know you want to.

National would be nice again.

Thanks for putting on so much good stuff every year, both big-name and little-known. I would ask though, given that Latitude is supposed to be a broad church, why are some genres still largely excluded? Rap, jazz and world music have already been mentioned, but I'd also definitely add electronica and metal, which only ever get token (if any) representation.

Could the music stages start earlier each day? This would help ease overcrowding in the main part of the arena around lunchtime and allow even more (cheap-to-book) lesser-known bands to get their chance to impress.

Do you think that the tastes of people on this forum represent those of the majority of the Latitude crowd? (Judging by the anti-Florence comments and the multiple calls for bands like Sonic Youth to headline, good though Sonic Youth are, I'm thinking that they probably don't.)

Do you book the late-night DJs? If not, who is responsible? It always seems to boil down to a choice between proper dancey stuff in the woods (which is good) or wedding-reception-style cheese everywhere else (too much of this). How about some danceable indie rock or something as well?

Hi Jon,

When it comes to headliners, once you've booked the first does this effect your approach towards the other two, i.e. would you automatically rule bands out if you consider them too similar in style to who you have already booked?

Also, Crystal Castles; why?  That's actually a general question to everyone.

Jon's reply:
This is a very good question,and very true..I do try and make sure that headliners differ from day to day,best way is to only really offer on three headliners and take it slow,otherwise you end up in trouble!
 
Crystal Castles – lots of debate,I wanted them on the bill,they are a great live act with a devoted fanbase.

Sieben (aka) Matt Howden from Sheffield for one of the smaller stages.  He plays violin and sings, using loops to build up an incredible folktrance sound.

I second someone's earlier suggestion of Robert Wyatt.

Garmarna - a Swedish folk/ambient/rock band with a superb female singer.

I agree with Smokeghost's suggestion for some metal.  I'm not talking Iron Maiden obviously, but I'd love something like Electric Wizard, the stoner doom (!) band from Dorset, or The Warlocks (U.S.A band). 

Dare I say Hawkwind? ;-) 

hi JON
as a latitude regular whose 40, over the last few you have had bands like JAMES, HOUSE OF LOVE , SQUEEZE etc i hope you can keep booking the odd older band to keep us indie britpoppers happy ie  Shed Seven , Embrace , Suede , Manics etc  . But in general keep up the good work and try not to think that just because some of the regular forums guys who ask for the same bands to headline LATITUDE is a general consensus that we all want obscure headliners, as at a festival what we want is to have a good singalong and a dance to songs that most of us know, keep up the good work JON looking forward immensly to next years line up

I acccept I'm in the minority, but just to put a little balance. I'm 50, and slightly mobility challenged and like some, my tolerance of discomfort and lairiness had declined with age. I enjoyed the previous civility of the festival, but not the overkill on morose music. This was my 4th Lat, and musically by far the best.
 
I do happen to like indiepop, and there has not been enough so far for me. VW were a great headliner, and why people should blame a non-chavvy band for causing chavvy behaviour I know not. God forbid we have someone who is currently selling more than 50 records.
 
Nearly every one of my current favourite bands played this year (no Chapel Club unfortunately - a must for next year) and I was thrilled to see Everything Everything, who were by far the best for me. The musical direction has been right, but no further. I second the call for the return of the retro's (though not too many, please). Sparks would be great, for example.
 
To book music on the basis of the type of people it will attract over it's merit and quality would be madness. 

This thread is now closed.  No more questions please.  I will be sending these to Jon and will post his replies when I get them.

thanks for all your questions and comments.

Good idea annie. There's actually only about 5 different questions in the entire thread.

alfisti
 
Sparks would be great, for example.

Too right they would.

9; Any reason The Fall weren't booked this year? They're playing everywhere this summer, and have released the album of the year. OPPORTUNITY MISSED. 


 Jon's reply: I didn’t want to book the Fall,probably because they did play everywhere this year.

Yes good question Mr.M and a bit of a prevaricating answer...true the group did play a lot of festivals this year, but only a couple in this country...i had a theory that they were black listed by F.R. but they did do that big one in Irish Republic, so there really seems to be no excuse apart from The Fall being too critically cool and so much better than anything else anywhere ever...
not that i am biased or anything

I'd not noticed these had been answered.

INTERESTING.

maddix85


1; In an interview you did a couple of years ago, you stated that "I think after five years we'll push it a bit more, make it more leftfield". Is this still the case, as we are now at the five year stage and if anything this years lineup was the most mainstream and unimaginative yet.
Jon's reply:
I feel that yes,I would like to have more cutting edge acts within the bill next year,at the same time it depends on how you see things..The XX?

If the xx is as far leftfield as he's willing to push it then **** Latitude next year

I get the feeling from his answers that Jon Dunn has fairly dull taste in music.