Latitude Festival is an annual music and arts festival set within the grounds of Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England.^[1]

The first edition of the festival took place in 2006 and has continued annually (apart from 2020 when it was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic).

The festival is run by Festival Republic (formerly the Mean Fiddler Group).^[2]

Latitude Festival 2006

Latitude Festival 2007

Latitude Festival 2008

The 2008 line up was announced on 19 March 2008 with Franz Ferdinand headlining on the Friday, Sigur Rós on the Saturday, and Interpol on the Sunday.

Latitude Festival 2009

The fourth edition took place on 16–19 July 2009. Acts that played include Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Thom Yorke, Grace Jones and Pet Shop Boys as the main headliners, alongside Editors, Doves, and Bat for Lashes. The headliners and ticket details were announced on the Latitude Festival official site on 23 March 2009, at 7pm and sold out near to the event. More acts were confirmed at around 12:00 pm on the following day. These acts had already been previously reported on BBC Radio 1, but denied by festival organisers. Also announced in the press were The Gossip. On 3 April 2009 the official Latitude website confirmed Magazine, Spiritualized and Newton Faulkner to be playing. In June, it was announced that Thom Yorke would play an exclusive solo set as the festival's special guest (a role taken by Joanna Newsom in 2008).

BBC Radio covered the four day event with live music, comedy, sessions and interviews featured in shows across Radio 2, Radio 4, 6 Music and BBC Suffolk.

The total attendance for the weekend was 25,000.

The poetry arena included performances from Andrew Motion, Brian Patten, Roger Lloyd-Pack (performing T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land), Jackie Kay, Simon Armitage and Jeffrey Lewis; The Comedy Arena featured Jo Brand, Ed Byrne, Mark Thomas, Sean Lock, Adam Hills, Sean Hughes and Dave Gorman; The Theatre Arena showcased Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Bush Theatre and Paines Plough; The Literary Arena presented Blake Morrison, Jonathan Coe, Mark Steel, Vivienne Westwood, Sir Peter Blake, Frank Skinner and Luke Haines.

Latitude Festival 2010

Latitude 2010 (the fifth edition) took place on 15, 16, 17 and 18 July 2010. Initial lineup announcements were made at 7pm on Tuesday 9 March 2010.^[3] Capacity for the event was increased substantially to 35,000.

Latitude Festival 2011

Latitude 2011 (the sixth edition) took place on 14–17 July 2011. The first line up announcements were revealed on 14 March 2011. The three Obelisk headliners were revealed as well as a number of other artists and acts appearing across all stages.

Latitude Festival 2012

Latitude 2012 (the seventh edition) took place on 12–15 July 2012. The first line up announcements were revealed on 5 March 2012. The three Obelisk headliners were revealed alongside the three Word Arena headliners, as well as a number of other artists and acts appearing across all stages. What was previously known as the 'Sunrise Arena' was changed to the 'i Arena'.

Other artists who performed over the weekend include George Fitzgerald, Mosca, Shy FX, Skittles, Tuesday Born, and Lang Lang.

Latitude Festival 2013

Latitude 2013 (the eighth edition) took place on 18–21 July. The first acts were revealed on 19 March 2013. What was previously known as the Word Arena had its official name changed to the BBC Radio 6 Music Stage. A brand new music stage was introduced for 2013, The Alcove Stage, which showcased upcoming acts with many of the artists coming from the local area.

Also performing or DJing over the weekend included Abi Uttley, Anushka, Benin City, Bipolar Sunshine, The Busy Twist, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Chloe Howl, Dems, Duologue, The Establishment, The Family Rain, Gamu, Hero Fisher, Kins, Lizzie Bellamy, Lorca, Maglia Rosa Group, Marques Toliver, Milo Greene, MT Wolf, Mungo's Hi Fi, Ossie, Romare, Roy Davis Jr., Ruen Brothers, Shox, Sivu, Superfood, Syd Arthur, Tuesday Born, Werkha, Zed Bias, and Josh Record.

Latitude Festival 2014

Latitude 2014 (the ninth edition) took place on 17–20 July. The first acts were revealed on 11 December 2013. The first headliner announced for the festival was going to be Two Door Cinema Club, but after singer Alex Trimble fell ill, Lily Allen headlined the Friday night. On 20 January Damon Albarn was announced as the festival's second headliner via Twitter. The third headliners announced were The Black Keys. Other acts who performed across the festival included Röyksopp, Robyn, Haim, Billy Bragg, Bombay Bicycle Club, Tame Impala, Slowdive, Hall & Oates, First Aid Kit, Booker T. Jones, Anna Calvi, Phosphorescent, Nils Frahm, Goat, Cass McCombs, Willis Earl Beal, Marika Hackman, San Fermin, Son Lux and Josephine Foster.^[6]

Headliners from the i Arena included:

James Holden (Live)
Young Fathers
Future Islands
Nils Frahm

Headliners from the Lake stage included:

Bondax
Cate Le Bon
Catfish and the Bottlemen
Luke Sital-Singh

Latitude Festival 2015

Latitude 2015 took place on Thursday 16 - Sunday 19 July. The initial lineup was announced on 10 March and included headliners alt-J, Portishead, and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

Latitude Festival 2016

Latitude 2016 took place on Thursday 14 - Sunday 17 July. The initial lineup was announced on 3 March and included headliners The Maccabees, The National and New Order. The National became the first band to headline the festival twice.

Latitude Festival 2017

Latitude 2017 took place on Thursday 13 - Sunday 16 July. It included a Gentlemen of the Road takeover curated by Mumford & Sons on the Saturday.

Latitude Festival 2018

Latitude 2018 took place on 12–15 July. The lineup was announced on 12 February 2018 with Solange, The Killers and alt-J as headliners. There was also a surprise set from Liam Gallagher on the Saturday in the BBC Music Arena.

Latitude Festival 2019

Latitude 2019 took place from 18 to 21 July. The first part of the lineup was announced on 24 January. The Friday was headlined by George Ezra and Sunday by Lana Del Rey. Snow Patrol were initially announced to headline the Saturday but pulled out due to injury and were replaced by Stereophonics. Other acts on the bill included Underworld, Loyle Carner, CHVRCHES, Neneh Cherry, Sigrid, Primal Scream, Everything Everything, Slaves, Marina and MØ.

Latitude Festival 2020

The 2020 edition was planned to have taken place from Thursday 16 - Sunday 19 July 2020. It was due to have been headlined by Haim, Liam Gallagher and The Chemical Brothers.^[7] On 27 April the 2020 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[8][9]

Latitude Festival 2021

Following the 2020 cancellation, the festivals 15th edition took place from 22 to 25 July 2021. It went ahead as a government backed test event for holding live events during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Friday was headlined by Wolf Alice, Saturday by The Chemical Brothers and Sunday co-headlined by Bastille and Bombay Bicycle Club. Other acts on the lineup included Kaiser Chiefs, Supergrass, Mabel, Rick Astley and Hot Chip. There were however some acts who had to withdraw from the festival due to Covid cases such as Fontaines DC, Arlo Parks, Alfie Templeman and Billie Marten ^[10]

Latitude Festival 2022

The festivals 16th edition took place from 21 to 24 July 2022. Lewis Capaldi was headliner on the Friday, Foals on the Saturday and Snow Patrol on the Sunday.^[11][12]

Latitude Festival 2023

Organisers have confirmed the 17th edition took place from the 20 to 23 July 2023. The three headliners were confirmed as Pulp, Paolo Nutini and George Ezra Yard Act, Young Fathers and Siouxsie headlined the BBC Sounds Stage.^[13]

Latitude Festival 2024

The 18th edition will be held 25th-28th July 2024. Duran Duran are the first confirmed headliners.

See also

• List of music festivals in the United Kingdom

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Latitude Festival.

• BBC Latitude 2021 review
• Interviews with stars at Latitude Festival 2008 including Bill Bailey and Franz Ferdinand on ITV Local Anglia
• Latitude Festival official site Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• BBC Latitude coverage - Live tracks and radio shows from the festival
• Henham Park official site
• Mean Fiddler official site
• eFestivals festival coverage
• Warnfestival Latitude site
• Skiddle Latitude festival guide
• Latitude Festival highlights 2008, BAFTA events
• Latitude Festival highlights 2009, BAFTA events

52°20′20″N 1°35′52″E / 52.3388°N 1.5977°E / 52.3388; 1.5977