Toddling over from The Breeders’ shambolic but utterly brilliant set, I check in on Okkervil River, who seem to be practically filling up the Uncut Arena. This is obviously a band who inspire a lot of love. Unsurprising, of course, looking at their clothes. All the band are dressed to the hilt in tailored suits, white shirts and braces like a transatlantic Pogues. What’s not to love?
We are, of course, victims to the capricious whims of fate – particularly in relation to the wind and the tricksy way it displaces sound at festivals. You might, for instance, find yourself bewitched by some contemporary ballet going on down by the lake, only for the mournful hymns of a lone cellist who’s soundtracking the dance to be rudely drowned out by some shouty indie band on a nearby stage.
Our man in the battered cowboy hat, Terry Staunton, has been out earwigging on festival goers conversations. Here's his latest report from the frontline of Latitude...
It is so quiet in the big field by Latitude’s main stage that you can hear the flags that surround the arena fluttering in the breeze. This is Joanna Newsom’s first solo show in an age, she’s palpably, gigglingly nervous, and she’s playing a bunch of new songs. Pretty brave.
A first trip round the site this morning. There's a huge queue waiting to see Hanif Kureishi. Someone is performing a play under a tree to a audience of four sleeping men. And, apparently, one of the most powerful men in Britain is here at Latitude.
So it's official, then. The song of choice for nocturnal dancing shenanigans is Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now", which I've heard something like six times at various locations over the last two nights. Last night, it was at the Lake Stage, courtesy of My Ex Boyfriends' Records, and then in the Sunrise Arena, being played by the chaps at Feeling Gloomy. I assume Sean Rowley also played it, over at Guilty Pleasures, but to be honest I didn't make it that far out into the site last night. And anyway, there was a Bugsy Malone theme at Guilty Pleasures, and I clean forgot to bring my spats with me.
Once again, it falls to me to provide the first list of the day, folks. A trememndous day here yesterday, which involved Nicholas Parsons, a brass band and a really interesting millipede. Oh, and some groups. Here we go. . .
To the Music And Film Arena, for The Fairey Band, a traditional brass band who appear to have been sucked into a conceptual art project by Jeremy Deller. The gist is that the band play acid house tunes, with euphoniums and tubas filling in the bass frequencies.