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Latitude 2008

Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th July 2008
Henham Park Estate, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 8AN, England MAP
adult weekend ticket £130 - SOLD OUT

Today brings with it a little rain in the form of some harsh downpours, but still the ground is fine to sit on after a couple of hours. The Wild Beasts are warming up the Uncut arena, but their weird brand of new age pop is not enough to keep me watching, in fact I leave quite quickly.



The only comedian I am able to make time for this weekend is Bill Bailey, though he has one of the biggest crowds in this area of the weekend. We can just about hear him outside until the main stage starts up again, then it's a wrestle with the wind direction carrying the music we don't want to hear right now. His funny mixings of samples of George W. Bush ('Wetlands') and his extraordinary guitar and keyboard skills is even more entertaining ('Folk Off'), as well as suggesting that our national anthem should be the Pink Panther tune!

dEUS play a cracking set, including the rocking 'The Architect' and 'Favourite Day' from new album 'Vantage Point', as well as showing a softer side with love song 'Smokers Reflect'. Definitely a highlight for the weekend. Following the Belgium blokes is 'song and dance man' Seasick Steve, who draws a large crowd for an afternoon slot. His stories, though having been told in the same way for a few years now, are still amusing, especially about the Diddley Bow and The Three Stringed Tranz Wonder. Joining him onstage are his faithful drummer, youngest son and Eli 'Paperboy' Reed. He also gets a girl up onstage to sing 'Walking Man' to "Because I need someone to look at when I sing it."



Sigur Ros, all 13 of them (tonight anyway), play an ethereal set. Bjork seems to be quite an influence on the fellow Icelandic citizens. Jónsi Birgisson's falsetto voice and style of guitar playing (he plays with a bow) are mesmerising, though it does become a little boring at times, with some songs 12 minutes long... At the end of their set lots of confetti is sprayed over the crowd, which I keep finding in my tent and every else for the next two days.

After Atilla The Stockbroker's more lively set in the Poetry tent ('Poison Pensioner' and 'Spirit of the Age' are stand out stand up poems) it's over to the Music and Film tent to catch a very late set by The Buzzcocks (2am start). The encore tunes of 'Orgasm Addict' and 'Ever Fallen In Love' go down well with those of us still awake, and who can fit in the small tent.