First Latitude - thoughts!

[Stu H]

Hey all.

Got back yesterday (long old journey from Scotland!).

I'm a long-time Glasto go-er so trying not to 'measure' everything against that in any way!

Overall, I just thought it was staggering to be back at a festival having even thought 3 weeks previous it was unlikely to go ahead. I thought logistically it probably went as best as can be expected, so it's difficult to grumble at anything really. To pull off even a reasonable line up given the travel issues, during a 'pingdemic' seemed to be a bit of a miracle.

 

Pros: many! It just felt great to be be back in fields with everyone. I didn't see a single piece of aggro or silliness all weekend, everyone was lovely and the atmosphere felt great. Having a near-cashless event worked well for me. Thought the campsite (family) was spacious, toilets were generally clean, showers worked mainly ok (long queues at times, but happens everywhere). Loved the site in general, easy to get around, especially with a double buggy!
Sound wise, stages were excellent and some awesome performances. Enjoyed the Trailer Park part of the site.
Food was generally good - pizzas and naan stuff were great, only real letdown was fish and chips (overpriced, chaotic ordering and collecting).
 

 

Cons: (don't read too much into these, it was a very unique set of circumstances this was all held under!)
I felt like I queued all weekend! Food places were exceptionally busy, as were the bars later at night. But again, with isolating staff or other issues, not a lot could be done.
The Kids Area was a wee bit of a let-down, I thought there'd be a little more for them to do, but on the whole, totally fine and they had a great time.
The testing side of things was a bit wacky. I basically had to take another test in my car on the Sat morning retrieving some boots (anticipating rain, doh!). No real problem with that as a thing, only I then couldn't get on 4G to register the result!!! Thankfully we're unlikely to every have to go through this again, so not a 'Festival' problem. But it did lead me to panic a bit for 30 mins as my kids were still in the site with their mother!

Only real downside; leaving the festival. Something happened on the A12, but the exit from family car parks was nothing short of chaos. People trying to leave from every direction and little management of it or info. A few fraught people. It often takes ages to leave festival sites, but this one felt particularly bonkers for a while.

Kudos to everyone who made it happen. Yes it wasn't perfect, but it was certainly memorable under the circumstances and very much needed!