Latitude 2009

Famed for writing some of the best punk pop singles of all time, Buzzcocks, the band who D.I.Y. packaged and sold Manchester's burgeoning late ‘70s music scene to the world, head to Latitude this year, handpicked by Mark Lamarr to headline a live version of his Radio 2 show, God's Jukebox.

I remember seeing dEUS at their UK 'comeback' show at London's ICA around the time of the excellent 'Pocket Revolution' album, the band's four year hiatus having not dented the furious, urgent, wonderfully fuzzy live experience that Belgium's biggest musical export can create. Tom Barman and Klaas Janzoons' group are certainly one of the more exciting 'underground' bands to be playing on Latitude's main stage this year.

Not to be confused with the late ‘60s German Krautrock group of the same name, Anglophile New Yorkers Interpol will close Latitude Festival 2008 with a barrage of their Television and Joy Division indebted, guitar-driven storytelling songs.

The other day in the Uncut office, we were examining an old copy of the Creation comp, “Doing It For The Kids”, from 1988. It provided a reminder of what “indie” used to be: often skewed, a little fey, self-consciously adversarial to the rock mainstream. But nestling among the excellent tracks was a song which heralded a new wave of ultra-ambitious indie bands, keen to aim for a bigger stage.

Seasick Steve, the good time bluesman and one-time railcar hobo, returns to Latitude with his Mississippi grooves on Saturday. One of the highlights of last year’s festival, Seasick Steve packed out the Uncut Arena on a sunny afternoon and this year he’s been bumped up the bill to the Obelisk stage...

A fascinating one, this. For some of us, Michael Nyman provided a sort of entry point into the world of modern classical music, thanks to his scores for those inscrutable Peter Greenaway films through the ‘80s and early ‘90s.

Looking through the extensive musical bill for Latitude, there aren't many artists making a return from last year's line-up. But on Saturday on the Uncut Stage, Kendal's extraordinary Wild Beasts will be making a much-deserved second visit to Henham Park.

A couple of regular Uncut.co.uk readers posted messages on our Wild Mercury Sound blog this week to sing the praises of Elbow’s Meltdown gig at the Royal Festival Hall. According to this review on the Observer blog, the show featured a giant organ, a choir of Guy Garvey lookalikes and children with trumpets.

It’s hard to remember the last time the venerable Archdrude played a major British festival – I have a faint memory of some brilliant, mildly alarming show one Reading afternoon in the mid ‘90s. But it’s testimony to Latitude’s cultured charms that Julian Cope – author, ancient historian, Gnostic adventurer and, lest we forget, a tremendous rock star – will be playing the Uncut Arena on Friday July 17.

Round these parts there’s a feeling (generated mostly, it must be admitted, from my desk) that Joanna Newsom’s second album, “Ys”, is one of the very best albums released this decade. It was with immense pleasure, then, that we discovered Newsom would be playing a special Sunday lunchtime set at Latitude.