Between Thursday 14th and Sunday 17th July, Henham Park in Suffolk played host to Latitude Festival 2011. Lufbra Campus Radio’s Head of Music, Jenny Creighton gave us her views on the festival and picked out a few of her highlights:
I was a bit skeptical about Latitude Festival. The line-up was fairly unknown by most of the festival goers and the weather forecast wasn't promising. But its up-and-coming nature turned out to be part of its charm, with the likes of The Vaccines and Bombay Bicycle Club adding to the indie undertone of the festival.
Much of the weekend we'd run for shelter from the (at times horrific) weather where we'd find an amazing band which we'd have never heard otherwise. For me, East Park Reggae Collective was the festival's highlight. Few people knew them before the festival, but they're modern approach to reggae was catchy enough to stay in our heads for days.
Foals put on an outstanding set in The Word Arena if you can overlook being utterly crammed in by over-excited 15-year olds amongst the crowd. This was also the case for Crystal Fighters and a few other more well-known bands.
The festival favourite was the up-and-coming talent of Ed Sheeran, but unfortunately I was only able to catch the last of his set. The crowd went wild for him, performing a chilling rendition of 'Wayfairing Stranger' and his hit single 'The A-Team.'
According to Sheeran it was 'the biggest crowd I've ever played to'. He found himself performing to some of his most loyal fans; admitting that he 'grew up just ten minutes away from the festival grounds'.
All in all, a fantastic array of eclectic music, and I still have Reggae humming through my mind…
