Melvyn

I thoroughly enjoyed myself again this year although the change was quite visible.

Many of the questions put forward already, such as the under-age drinking idiots, additional capacity (but not facilities) and bringing back Rich Hall (please) were top of my list!

What I really want to know though is why were the compost loos not there this year?
THATS A VERY GOOD QUESTION FLUFF THAT I HAVE SORT OF GOT THE ANSWER TOO. ESSENTIALLY IT IS DIFFICULT (BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE I DON'T THINK) TO GET A LICENCE TO DISPOSE OF THE WASTE SO WE WANTED TO LOOK AT OTHER THINGS WHICH DIDNT REALLY MEET THE DEMANDS OF THE FESTIVAL. THE THINKING CAP IS BACK ON.
 

Screens in the Sunrise?

Deary me.

A question regarding wristbands:

What was the point of having seperate over-18 & under-18 wristbands? I assumed they were to assist with the smooth running of the bars in the arena as they bypassed the need to produce ID when buying drinks, however this was not the case. IT WAS CERTAINLY INTENDED TO BE THE CASE MR WATSON. Not once did I order alcohol without being asked to produce ID - even if I was re-using/returning plastic cups.THAT IS BOTH STAGGERING AND DISAPPOINTING Now obviously my boyish good looks are a factor, but it still seemed strange that such a fuss would be made about having ID when receiving the wristband.
I AGREE. I WILL TAKE IT UP WITH THE BAR OPERATORS.


On a similar issue, I saw several people wearing under-18 wristbands carrying pints of cider/lager. Which is sort of the opposite issue to mine... 
THEY BECAME TROPHY ITEMS FOR YOUNGER PEOPLE...............

 
 
 
 
Melvin,
 
Have you considered speciality music tents - jazz, noise, electronica, world etc? There is an argument for avoiding segregation - and we want to see the big acts from each genre in prominent positions in the major arenas - but this is an option to help make the festival more musically diverse.
  NO. I DON'T AGREE WITH THE ARGUMENT. I BELIEVE WE HAVE GREAT DIVERSITY OF ENTERTAINMENT OVERALL.
I remember that some Londonpete guy, from the F-IRE collective, expressed interest in a jazz-related area but his interest was, seemingly, ignored. One way or another, there’s no doubt that artists would be up for this.
  AS ABOVE. I REMAIN VERY HAPPY WITH THE DIVERSITY OF MUSIC WE HAVE FOR THE EVENT. SORRY
 
Otherwise, though you probably won't be able to answer, to what extent (amidst the clammy world of commerce) are you free to fulfil your own artistic vision for the festival?
I ALREADY DO. TOTALLY!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Few basic questions, please delete any duplicates:

1) Given the debacle over the Sunday slot this year, is it here to stay, YES and will there be any more effort made to clarify the situation next year? YES

2) Why was Viagogo a sponsor this year? There are numerous threads about this already.
BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO WILL GUARANTEE THAT IF SOMEONE BUYS A RESOLD TICKET THAT THEY GUARANTEE IT EXISTS. I OULD RATHER THEM DO THAT THAN HAVE A FREE FOR ALL WHERE PEOPLE ARE BEING LEAD TO BELIEVE THEY HAVE BOUGHT A RESALE TICKET THAT DOESNT EXIST,

3) Will the capacity be expanded yet again in 2011?
NO

4) If it is, what extra facilities will be available? There were some real issues this year, from running out of bread and milk to the queues to enter the arena. 
I AGREE WITH YOUR POINTS WHICH WILL BE ADDRESSED REGARDLESS OF THE STATIC CAPACITY POSITION

5) Do you think you can retain Latitude's unique existence, and continually expand the capacity?YES. DEFINITELY   There have been several points made about how a size increase is spreading the magic too thinly.  Here in particular http://forums.latitudefestival.co.uk/m102032.aspx
I KNOW BUT I DON'T ENTIRELY AGREE WITH THAt. IT REMAIN THE MOST MAGICAL FESTIVAL IN MY VIEW

6) Who is Latitude for, and how has this affected the bookings and growth of Latitude?
I CANNOT BE SELECTIVE ON WHO BUYS TICKETS AS YOU KNOW

Thank you Annie, I'm sorry I didn't have the courage to wander over to you this year.

hola
:: how many bands stayed throughout the festival, who? did they enjoy it?
QUITE A FEW BUT NOT CERTAIN OF THE TOTAL. OF COURSE THEY ENJOYED IT. THEY WANT TO COME BACK!

:: do you know why the sunrise collapsed? POOR GROUND PEGGING AND INITIAL INSTALLATION Were you ever worried that you may of had to shut it down completely or was it not that bad?
IT WASN'T THAT BAD EVER BUT WE ARE CHANGING THE WAY IT IS GROUNDED AND PEGGED THIS YEAR

:: The Feeling. Why?? Please dont agree to them coming back next year. cheers.
WE ALL HAVE OUR DISLIKES. THEY DO SEEM POPULAR BUT THEY ARE NOT COMING THIS YEAR.

:: Did you agree to Tom Jones only playing new stuff on the sunday seeing as he had already played them on the thursday??
YES. HE WAS PROMOTING HIS NEW ALBUM WHICH IS FANTASTIC AND I LOVE IT.

:: Is there any chance of the tapes of the Obelisk, Word and Comedy becoming available as each was filmed constatly throughout and all would make great viewing.
THE WERE RELAYED TO SCREENS RATHER THAN RECORDED. THE PERFORMANCES BELONG TO THE BANDS NOT ME SO I CANNOT RELEASE THEM

:: Do you already have people in mind for 2011 and are their any dead certs for next year??
YES AND YES BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL MARCH BEFORE I ANNOUNCE

:: Do you agree that the capacity the festival is at now is already stretching it and maybe Henham cant cope with yet another increase, any plans of a change of venue or to cut into the yellow camping and increase the arena??
IT IS AT CAPACITY FOR HOW IT WAS SET UP LAST YEAR. ITS NOT ABOUT HENHAM SO MUCH AS HOW IT AS LAID OUT. THERE WILL BE MORE SPACE NEXT YEAR.

 
cheers.

As a grey hair I would love to see and hear more experimental stuff - it was great to see N K's band on Thursday and it would be very good if some of the brilliant contemporary jazz/crossover bands could be accommodated at Latitude; plus some music from the majority world. This year was ok for the kids (mine  2x16 and 1x18 ) but there is a real hole in the progamme here .
THE MUSIC CHANGES EVERY YEAR AND  AM LOOKING AT A LITTLE CONTEMPORARY JAZZ BUT IT IS NOT REA:LLY THE TOP OF MY LIST FOR THE EVENT.



Amazing that you said the site was open until 5.00 pm  on Monday- but you forgot to say that we couldn't bring a car onto the site at 4.00 and that the kids were being pushed out at 1.00 pm.
WE WILL CLARIFY THAT A LITTLE MORE


Others have commented on the drunk posh kids; not sure what you can do about that - other than some serious promo material - these people are a real pain.
THERE IS LOTS OF DISCUSSION ON THIS AND I AM NOT SURE I HAVE THE ANSWER





y

In no particular order.....
 
Campervan parking was a problem again this year. We saw many cars allowed into the campervan area "because they wanted to be with their friends" This resulted in the Green park being full to capacity with people who had pre booked not getting in. Health & Safety was giving as the reason for the delay....... why? 
 
We were not happy with the campervan parking and will be taking steps to improve it in the future. One car or towing vehicle is permitted per caravan to remain with the caravan so this may account for the cars you saw. No other cars should have been allowed into the campervan areas. The green campervan area did fill up and a small number of campervans had to be parked in the blue campsite. We are increasing the size of the campervan area

Children.... do you know how many attend and are they in addition to the 35 thousand "adults" ? Don't get me wrong I think it is a family festival but there should be a limit to the free places. 
 They are within the agreed numbers redjumper but it has been very difficult to keep a track on how many actually attend because until now they have been free. For the very reasons you are raising the question and in order to be absolutely accurate with numbers and to try and prevent abuse of the free status I’d this year introduced a charge of £5 per child in order to address this issue. 

The bridge problem. This year people where allowed to stand on the bridge to watch the ballet. In previous years we have always been moved on to limit the load on the bridge. This year we were not moved on and there were problems, probably due to the increased capacity. 
 
The problems were not to do with the increased capacity they were to do with the popularity of the waterfront stage with Swan Lake being the particular highlighted issue. For this reason I am introducing a second bridge to the festival this year which I hope will alleviate that problem.
The teenage problems should (and could) have been dealt with by security, if not , why do you have security? As a general rule I felt the security teams were too young and lacked supervision.  Could the men on the towers not see the problems? or can you not have a number known to all that people can ring to get your security guys there when needed?
First of the all the security are not too young. There is a legal requirement for their age and obviously I abide by that. In respect of the people on the towers they are in-fact fire stewards as opposed to security personnel. It is a small difference but one that is worth noting, however there was an issue with a number of teenagers behaving in a manner that isn’t acceptable at Latitude and there will be strong moves this year to A) persuade them from doing that again B) preventing them from doing that again and C) evicting them if they do that again.

You really need a bigger entrance to allow you security people to do their job and stop people taking cans in, it was very random this year.  Some were very thorough but courteous and some were looking bored 
 
Thank you. I sort of agree
I would like to add that I still enjoyed the festival but the music seemed as though you had booked one act and been forced to take two or three others from the same stable?  Don't know if that is true but please can we have a few more bands that have a back catalogue??  
I’m glad you enjoyed the festival redjumper, I did too, however your suggestion that we were forced to take acts could not be further from the truth. All of the performances, music, non music performance, DJ’s were chosen by myself, Jon, Tania or Sharon and believe me we wouldn’t live in a world where we were forced to take things.
Tom Jones great in the Obelisk but a disaster in the woods. Why the secret over him playing Sunday? it was announced in the woods on Thursday night but then kept a secret?? Either have a Sunday session or not, you need to make you mind up.
Well in fairness I need to decide for myself whether I want a Sunday slot or not and it clearly wasn’t a secret that he played on the Sunday in that as you say it was announced on the Thursday night that he was playing on the Sunday. Tom himself decided after the Thursday night In The Woods performance that he would like to do a bigger show on the main stage and could we accommodate. In that the Sunday lunch wasn’t booked it was easy to accommodate which is why we announced it on the Thursday night.

Consider having an announcer on stage between acts to update people of any changes to running orders etc. or a noticeboard at each arena with the days running order? 
 
I have considered that and I have mixed views about it.
 
 

<message edited by Jennufa on 11 January 2011 10:43>

Hello Melvin. Thanks for taking the time again to do a Q&A. I only have a few simple, but common questions:

1. Capacity issues. What will be the capacity for 2011 and if there are further capacity growth plans, are you able to disclose them?
IT WILL REMAIN AT 35k CHRONO. NO PLANS TO CHANGE THIS YEAR BUT I AM MAKING THE ARENA BIGGER



2. Latitude has always been a "family" festival. Is it your intention to keep it that way?
TOTALLY. ABSOLUTELY

3. Please could you insist that Annie carries a big neon "I am Annie" sign around with her or get her to wear a sandwich board so I can finally get to say hello and thank her for all her efforts in keeping us idiots in check. My attempts to locate this rarest of specimens failed again this year.
I ALREADY DID!! WAS SHE NOT WEARING IT? SHAME ON HER! I WILL MAKE SURE SHE HAS CERTAIN NOTED TIMES AT LOCATIONS IN FUTURE SO SHE CAN CHAT FACE TO FACE.


4. Please could you keep us informed about the criminal investigations regarding any arrests and prosecutions for the sexual assaults. It will be comforting to know these animals are behind bars and not prowling around in 2011.
THIS IS A COMPLICATED ONE. THERE WERE TWO ALLEGATIONS. THE SECOND ONE WAS DROPPED AS THE TWO PEOPLE HAD BECOME KNOWN TO EACH OTHER EARLIER IN THE DAY AND THE BOY HAD GONE TO THE GIRLS TENT WITH CONSENT AND ALTHOUGH THE POLICE DID ARREST THE CHAP (HE GAVE HIMSELF UP WHEN HE HEARD THE ALLEGATION AGAINST HIM) THEY RELEASED HIM ON BAIL CONDITIONS THAT DIDN'T EVEN INCLUDE A RESTRICTION ON HIM RETURNING TO THE FESTIVAL AS THEY DIDN'T CONSIDER HIM TO BE A THREAT. THE FIRST ALLEGATION IS 'STILL BEING INVESTIGATED' BUT THE TRUTH IS THE POLICE HAVE ZERO EVIDENCE OF WHERE IT HAPPENED ETC AND HAVE RUN INTO A BRICK WALL ON IT.


Thanks and keep up the sterling work.
MY PLEASURE. I LOVE IT! 

Chrono


3. Please could you insist that Annie carries a big neon "I am Annie" sign around with her or get her to wear a sandwich board so I can finally get to say hello and thank her for all her efforts in keeping us idiots in check. My attempts to locate this rarest of specimens failed again this year.

 
i'd echo all of Chrono's questions, but this one in particular is critical.

is it possible to mooooove the chairs and tables in the film and music tent out or at least to the back.....they really do get in the way.....SORRY. THINK THIS IS UNLIKELY PLUS, with the quieter things in there the over spill noise issues kind of got in the way, the side doors seemed to be left open letting light and noise in...is this fire safety issues or could these be closed during the quieter performances??
NOT ONLY COULD THEY BE THEY SHOULD BE! 



PLUS

martin creed and his band where an amazing book. have you got any plans for bigger contempory artists getting in on the latitude fun times, maybe some full on showings of "video art" or big artists talks, you touched on it last year with jake and dinos chapman (well half of them)....i would specifically ask for grayson perry dressed as claire giving pottery lessons in the woods..............................YEASSSSS
  HA HA. NOTHING IF NOT SPECIFIC HAPPY FOX. I WILL SEE IF PERRY HAS A CLEAN DRESS FOR NEXT YEAR!! 


THANKS for a great weekend!
GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT

lfc09


hola
:: how many bands stayed throughout the festival, who? did they enjoy it?
:: do you know why the sunrise collapsed? Were you ever worried that you may of had to shut it down completely or was it not that bad?
:: The Feeling. Why?? Please dont agree to them coming back next year. cheers.
:: Did you agree to Tom Jones only playing new stuff on the sunday seeing as he had already played them on the thursday??
:: Is there any chance of the tapes of the Obelisk, Word and Comedy becoming available as each was filmed constatly throughout and all would make great viewing.
:: Do you already have people in mind for 2011 and are their any dead certs for next year??
:: Do you agree that the capacity the festival is at now is already stretching it and maybe Henham cant cope with yet another increase, any plans of a change of venue or to cut into the yellow camping and increase the arena??

cheers.

THESE ARE THE BEST QUESTIONS

Despite by the terrible events that are alleged to have taken place I enjoyed this year more than any other. THANKS VERY MUCH ARO. ME TOO AS IT HAPPENS.

 However, some suggestions:

1. Is it possible to cool the theatre and film tents please?  It gets super dooper hot in there.
IT SHOULD BE. I WILL LOOK INTO IT BUT I HOPE SO. 

2. I am a DJ, which is nice. COOL There are, in all honestly, not enough good ones about at Latitude.  I'll happily offer my services here and now, plus my fellow DJ friends, to put on a good night - get in touch. In the odd event you decide to turn down this most generous of offers, please can we have some better ones that do not play, cheesey weazey, or screaming arse quaking techo, or their dad's old scratched record collection cos they're, like, you know, 14 years old, called Tabitha and have an older brother who works for Sony.
HA HA HA. NOT SURE WHO YOU ARE REFERRING TO BE CHOICE AND OPINIONS ARE WONDERFUL TO HAVE. I WILL STILL GIVE YOU THE FIRST AND YOU WILL STILL HAVE THE SECOND I HOPE. 


3. Re the Karl Lagerfield looking dancing ladies (or whatever they were called - sorry ladies if you're reading this): more of the same please.  They were funny and made perfect sense at 1230 on Sunday morning.
OH GOOD.

4. I think a few staff that are a little better trained or more experienced (I guess I'm saying older), may not go amiss.  We had a couple bits of very poor advice from Information people which were just plain wrong to a basic question.
OK. THAT'S ANNIE'S DEPARTMENT AND SHE IS HEARING YOU.


5. If you continue at the capacity you have now, do you think you should introduce a new bridge?
YES. I AM GOING TO DO THAT.


6. Or move the Lake stage?
AND DO THAT TOO

Thanks.  Like I said, it was great. THANKS ARO

Hi,
 
Having been to the festival every year since it's inception, I can recall a comment after the first year that the festival was not expected to return a profit in the first five years.  The festival has sold out very time since the second year and surely has been a financially viable ever since.
  NOT ACTUALLY TRUE PETE THOUGH THE THEORY IS A GOOD ONE. 2010 was year 1 OF MAKING SOME MONEY BACK.

Is it purely the cost of booking bands that drove the desire for an increase in capacity and why do you think suddenly there was such a large influx of 'Tango'ed' kids this time round. i.e. any chance they are the self same kids that have been coming with their parent's for the past 4 years and have now gotten older and been let off the leash?
  I THINK THERE MAY BE A LITTLE OF THE LATTER PETE BUT IN REALITY I THINK THE WORD HAD SPREAD AND WITH FLORENCE AND VAMPIRE WEEKEND IT WAS A LITTLE MORE ATTTRACTIVE TO THE YOUNGER CROWD. DON'T THINK THAT IS A PERMANANT THING THOUGH.

Thanks
Pete
 

Right more importantly.

Thanks Melvin for a great weekend as usual. THANKS WAYNE

What are your plans regarding the bridge across the lake if any? At times it was impossible to pass. I love the fact that you can watch the waterfront stage from it and also watch the water feature on the other side. But it does make it very busy at peak times to cross. Half the people crossing dont look where they are going!! Any ideas??
AN ADDITIONAL ONE FURTHER UP THE LAKE WAYNE. MOVING THE 2ND STAGE AND LAKE STAGE TO ACCOMMODATE IT. I THINK IT WILL WORk.

Melvin,

can you please completely ignore lfc09?  

Myself and about 5,000 other people loved The Feeling and if lfc09 was anywhere near it given his/her obvious dislike then he/she is a total idiot as well as obviously being a selfish git.

In fact, just to spite him, can we have The Feeling headlining the obelisk next year?????? You know that it would be one massive party!

btw I loved the arenas, didn't love the campsites so much this year - do you think the criticism is justified?
I THINK TO A CERTAIN EXTENT GEOFELGIE YES. I WOULD HAVE THE SAME VIEW I THINK.

The sound (particularly in The Word) was massively improved this year - did you have new people doing it? New equipment?
YES. NEW COMPANY AND NEW EQUIPMENT. THANK YOU.

Thanks Melvin - Latitude 2010 was a brilliant weekend, as it has been each year. Great times. We'll be sure to book up 'early-birds' for 2011.
THANKS FIVEUKE. I HOPE YOU GOT YOUR TICKETS

>> The arena venues were more accessible and enjoyable than in previous years, however from all the feedback it's now pretty obvious that the supporting services infrastructure is no longer sufficient to cater for the expanded volume of people coming to Latitude.  I WOULDN’T GO THAT FAR. Do you agree that it's now time for a good deal of change and fresh investment?SOME. NOT ‘A GOOD DEAL OF’ THOUGH  FIVEUKE Will you now commit to all facilities and staffing levels on all fronts being renovated, revamped, re-thought, retrained and expanded over the next 11 months or so? Do you concur that it's now essential to look anew at all facilities on sites and in the arena with fresh eyes and vision if the same capacity is going to be accommodated next year? 
YES I DO AGREE THAT

I'm certain that this new planning and the reinvigoration of the Festival infrastructure and the teams behind its delivery will all be taken into account for a new-look 2011 that recaptures the early values of Latitude for a newer and bigger audience. YOUR CERTAINTY WILL BE DELIVERED I BELIEVE The same old stuff won't simply be mothballed and wheeled out again. New and importantly *more* facilities all round will appease most people's concerns from 2010, especially if more trouble is taken concurrently to train up all the people that help us over the weekend.  I AGREE



Once again, thanks so much for organising this very special event in my home county. It's a highlight of the year for so many people who live here (and who travel to Suffolk for the occasion).
THANK YOU

geofelgie


Melvin,

can you please completely ignore lfc09?  

Myself and about 5,000 other people loved The Feeling and if lfc09 was anywhere near it given his/her obvious dislike then he/she is a total idiot as well as obviously being a selfish git.

In fact, just to spite him, can we have The Feeling headlining the obelisk next year?????? You know that it would be one massive party!

 


I echo this. I am neither a woman or gay(no offence) but I can tell you The Feeling ROCKED the place. It was one massive party in there!


At least get them as special guests to the headliners on the Obelisk next year. They seem to put virtually everyone in a good mood.

"Could the men on the towers not see the problems?"


Could you suggest to security that they reduce the length of shifts on the towers? I actually saw security on a tower asleep, twice. Later found out the guy had been up there 12 Hours (if he told me the truth!). Woke him cos  fire in camp site was getting bigger.


Maybe they should split the shifts on the towers then boredom wouldn't set in and they would be more alert?
I THINK THIS IS A GOOD IDEA. 12 HOURS IN THAT ROLE DOESNT WORK.