latitude 2023

[GrumpyRaver]

22 hours ago, DTichborne said:

First time. Why did nobody warn me about the wasps? 🙂

Didn’t see a single wasp all day 

[DTichborne]

33 minutes ago, GrumpyRaver said:

Didn’t see a single wasp all day 

You are lucky. The site is currently 50% wasp. 

(am having a good time) 

[glimmers_of_hope]

I don't want to be like the boy who cried wolf... and it does still seem really unlikely... but someone else has said blur are Playing tomorrow. Got a time but not a stage. Don't know what to make of it tbh but it is 3 people who have said it. 

[glimmers_of_hope]

I'm trying to crack the codes on the barclaycard amp stage secret sets but I'm really rubbish at them. Can anyone help me with them? The first one tomorrow looks like "picture this", what is the second one?

[glimmers_of_hope]

[glimmers_of_hope]

Anyone able to work it out?

[glimmers_of_hope]

Where is the barclaycard amp stage? Can't even find it!

[Miyn]

11 minutes ago, glimmers_of_hope said:

Where is the barclaycard amp stage? Can't even find it!

It's on the left side before you get into the arena, if you walk to the arena from the Co-op you shouldn't be able to miss it.

[DTichborne]

Well, as posted above by someone, I'm very impressed as to how the site holds up when it rains all day. 

[Chapple12345]

I don't think Blur would bother for a 20 minute set myself but I guess its worth keeping an eye open whoever it may be 

Massive credit to the organisers who overnight put loads of extra wood chip down, I think they'll do some more overnight ahead of tomorrow (which is forecast to be much better 😁) - as soggy as today was I had a great time, highlights were Far From Saints, Lightning Seeds, Fern Brady and Bridget Christie - I can't wait for James and Siouxsie tomorrow 

[Miyn]

22 hours ago, glimmers_of_hope said:

Got a time but not a stage. Don't know what to make of it tbh but it is 3 people who have said it. 

What time have you heard? Wouldn't want to miss it, however unlikely it is.

[glimmers_of_hope]

My mate offsite said it now isn't happening.... basically it was a load of rubbish. Quite annoying. 

[xxialac]

Blur to do a 20 minute set on a small stage having just played two massive nights at Wembley?

If ever a rumour was obviously rubbish...

 

[jenko]

That Barclaycard stage is basically a stall on a strip of eateries and welfare places - would get really busy with any more than about 100 people outside. 

I think the secret set was James Acaster DJing. He was there when I walked past in the afternoon. Slightly more underwhelming than Blur.

[Chapple12345]

Yet another superb weekend from start to finish, loved every second and managed to cram in everything I wanted to see and a little bit more too - highlights were Pulp, James, Siouxsie, Confidence Man, Far From Saints, Fern Brady and Bridget Christie

Roll on 2024! 

[Glasto Weatherwatch]

First time back since 2008. Lovely festival for families, very impressed with the set up generally and frankly astonished at the ground conditions after 13 hours of rain! Don’t think we ever waited longer than 10 mins for any food choices, the bar or the toilets - really made a difference to the weekend  

 

Only two gripes for me. The lack of atmosphere at the main stage unless you were right at the front (we had a decent spot for Pulp but it was really quite flat around us) but remember that from 2008 - think it’s just a result of the audience make up. 

 

And the other was how useless (albeit friendly) the stewards were in general. Getting any assistance as to where might be free to camp when arriving late Thursday was met by shrugs and “I don’t know, no one briefed us”. And less said about car park management this morning the better. 
 

But generally loved it and going back next year. 

[km9]

Really good weekend. I was the guy laying in the middle of the field like jesus on the cross between the bootleg Beatles and the proclaimers. Thanks all for not stepping on me, I was very very happy there 

[km9]

Also, the trailer park was excellent this year. So many really good acts 

[chrisplowman]

Had a great time.

The Murder Capital, Panic Shack, James  and Charlie Mackesy were all highlights.

Young Fathers may have ruined live music for me though, they were just too good.

Only negative for me was how packed the Obelisk was on Sunday, just impossible to find any amount of space.

 

[LowerMead]

Back for the first time since 2016, we just haven't fancied the line-up since but this year ticked a lot of boxes so were excited to make a return.  Since then we've graduated from family tent campers with a baby to caravan campers with a kid at the end of Year 3.   The main difference there is my wife now works in a school, and our son was at school, so we could not leave home until 3pm, with a 5hr drive.    Arrival at a festival on a summer evening at 8pm, with a pre-booked, expensive ticket shouldn't be a problem, no? 

How wrong could you be?  Complete carnage on arrival - family campervans was totally full, oversold IMHO. The staff who were doing their best to find us space were in effect completely helpless - only one of them had a radio and his battery had long gone flat. There were about 5 of them running around a huge field trying vainly to find some space, but not being able to communicate, whilst the queue grew longer and longer. People were being sent down blind alleys with no space to turn, having to then unhitch caravans in the mud to turn them round, complete chaos.  Eventually they "found" us a space that was basically in a fire lane that was a main walkway into the site. We along with five other vans behind us refused to camp there, to an officious Customer Services woman who said "this is what festivals are like". No, they are not.

We stood our ground and insisted that they site us on a proper pitch i.e. one that wasn't in a fire lane.  It got a bit heated, I said I would complain to East Suffolk Council that they would be in breach of their licence on H&S grounds. Eventually, after a 45 min stand off they opened a gap in the fence and allowed us onto an access road, where our little convoy of refuseniks sat for the next 2hrs waiting for them to finally agree to open an overflow field.   

Eventually an apologetic campsite manager turned up in a pickup truck and led us to it. We were the first five vans in, but by next morning it was also completely rammed.  We were eventually set up by 1am, having arrived on site at 8pm, effectively losing our Thursday night's entertainment, meeting up with friends etc etc. Whole idea of having a caravan at a festival (and paying a princely sum for it) is that you arrive, drop your legs down and are set up, none of that lugging of camping gear from the car.  5hrs to get to that from pulling into Henham is not really cricket.  

This is not my first festival rodeo - I've been to about 50 events, at least 10 as a caravan lugger. Elsewhere they are without exception always well managed, simply for the fact that any traffic problems that us shed-draggers create soon impact everyone else.  Latitude failed us massively unfortunately, I doubt we will be back in that form.  I can't understand why they don't push the event date back a week later so that it is inside school holidays, so families with kids in school (a massive part of their market) can get there easier. 

Musically it was great. Pulp, James, Paul Heaton and Far From Saints were my highlights.  It was noticeably busier than 2016, but I thought overall that the site coped very well with it. I had a friend at Bluedot who stopped allowing day ticket people in on Sunday because of the amount of mud on site, by comparison. 

Toilets were all great, and I met some lovely staff, including one really kind Oxfam volunteer lady who accompanied me into the festival site at 1am without a wristband on arrival night just so we could get some water.  She was a bit of a superstar dealing with loads of annoyed people. 

My only other minor whinge is that despite the massive Barclaycard sponsorship on social media, they gave bugger all advance notice of the 10% Barclaycard discount at the bar - I have one of their cards that I hardly ever use so left it at home!  It only transpired on Sunday that some bar staff were giving the discount if you said you had one at home, but not all were doing this, so it was somewhat random in its application. I was also overcharged twice at the bar because some of the staff just wave a card terminal vaguely in your direction without showing the contactless amount - this happens everywhere these days, not just festivals - I've got to the point where I insist on seeing the amount. Refunds were apparently not possible, so I had to accept 'free' extra beer instead, which I didn't necessarily want at that point. 

So, musically this was an 8/10 for me, but I'm not convinced we will return again soon.

 

[philipsteak]

2 hours ago, LowerMead said:

Back for the first time since 2016, we just haven't fancied the line-up since but this year ticked a lot of boxes so were excited to make a return.  Since then we've graduated from family tent campers with a baby to caravan campers with a kid at the end of Year 3.   The main difference there is my wife now works in a school, and our son was at school, so we could not leave home until 3pm, with a 5hr drive.    Arrival at a festival on a summer evening at 8pm, with a pre-booked, expensive ticket shouldn't be a problem, no? 

How wrong could you be?  Complete carnage on arrival - family campervans was totally full, oversold IMHO. The staff who were doing their best to find us space were in effect completely helpless - only one of them had a radio and his battery had long gone flat. There were about 5 of them running around a huge field trying vainly to find some space, but not being able to communicate, whilst the queue grew longer and longer. People were being sent down blind alleys with no space to turn, having to then unhitch caravans in the mud to turn them round, complete chaos.  Eventually they "found" us a space that was basically in a fire lane that was a main walkway into the site. We along with five other vans behind us refused to camp there, to an officious Customer Services woman who said "this is what festivals are like". No, they are not.

We stood our ground and insisted that they site us on a proper pitch i.e. one that wasn't in a fire lane.  It got a bit heated, I said I would complain to East Suffolk Council that they would be in breach of their licence on H&S grounds. Eventually, after a 45 min stand off they opened a gap in the fence and allowed us onto an access road, where our little convoy of refuseniks sat for the next 2hrs waiting for them to finally agree to open an overflow field.   

Eventually an apologetic campsite manager turned up in a pickup truck and led us to it. We were the first five vans in, but by next morning it was also completely rammed.  We were eventually set up by 1am, having arrived on site at 8pm, effectively losing our Thursday night's entertainment, meeting up with friends etc etc. Whole idea of having a caravan at a festival (and paying a princely sum for it) is that you arrive, drop your legs down and are set up, none of that lugging of camping gear from the car.  5hrs to get to that from pulling into Henham is not really cricket.  

This is not my first festival rodeo - I've been to about 50 events, at least 10 as a caravan lugger. Elsewhere they are without exception always well managed, simply for the fact that any traffic problems that us shed-draggers create soon impact everyone else.  Latitude failed us massively unfortunately, I doubt we will be back in that form.  I can't understand why they don't push the event date back a week later so that it is inside school holidays, so families with kids in school (a massive part of their market) can get there easier. 

Musically it was great. Pulp, James, Paul Heaton and Far From Saints were my highlights.  It was noticeably busier than 2016, but I thought overall that the site coped very well with it. I had a friend at Bluedot who stopped allowing day ticket people in on Sunday because of the amount of mud on site, by comparison. 

Toilets were all great, and I met some lovely staff, including one really kind Oxfam volunteer lady who accompanied me into the festival site at 1am without a wristband on arrival night just so we could get some water.  She was a bit of a superstar dealing with loads of annoyed people. 

My only other minor whinge is that despite the massive Barclaycard sponsorship on social media, they gave bugger all advance notice of the 10% Barclaycard discount at the bar - I have one of their cards that I hardly ever use so left it at home!  It only transpired on Sunday that some bar staff were giving the discount if you said you had one at home, but not all were doing this, so it was somewhat random in its application. I was also overcharged twice at the bar because some of the staff just wave a card terminal vaguely in your direction without showing the contactless amount - this happens everywhere these days, not just festivals - I've got to the point where I insist on seeing the amount. Refunds were apparently not possible, so I had to accept 'free' extra beer instead, which I didn't necessarily want at that point. 

So, musically this was an 8/10 for me, but I'm not convinced we will return again soon.

 

Please, everyone, absolutely do this.

I (genuinely) accidentally charged someone £120 for a Calippo! Neither of us paying proper attention. Only noticed when I cashed up later and refunded her when I realised. Bit of a shock for her when she checked her online banking though before the refund had gone back on.

[rseamer]

Overall for me a great weekend.

3 (minor) complaints

1. when did they ditch the Eco cups? I didn’t come last year but the year before that I’m sure they were still in usd.

2. General camping seemed busier than ever. I arrived very early Thursday morning, but those who arrived on Friday seemed to be struggling to find anywhere to camp.

3. My timetable on the app didn’t always update as I had limited signal on some parts of the site. 

Other than that, everything was spot on and the site was still in excellent condition given the rain (organisers also did a great job with the wood chippings in the arena)

Here’s what I saw (all full sets)

Music

Eaten by Lions • Eddy • Oscar Cash • Wasia Project • Max Fulcrum And The Win • The Last Dinner Party • Connie Constance • Confidence Man • English Teacher • Pulp • The Mysterines • Nell Mescall • Bonnie Kemplay • The Big Moon • Far From Saints • Young Fathers • James • Caity Baser • Sophie Ellis Bextor • The Proclaimers • Mimi Webb • Rainbow Frog Biscuits • Siouxsie 

Live podcast shows

BookTalkBookTalk • Garth Marenghi’s Terror Tome • Uncanny with Danny Robins • Gig Pigs with Ivo Graham and Alex Kealy and special guest Shappi Khorsandi 

Theatre / Dance

Public : The Musical 

Joss Arnott Dance : Rush

Comedy

David Morgan • Joshua Bethania • Shazia Mirza • Kate Hammer

Edited July 25, 2023 by rseamer

[km9]

I really enjoyed Pete Weetabix, 86 TVs and John E Vistic 

Edited July 25, 2023 by km9

[DTichborne]

I had a great time as a first timer and again, was very happy at how the site is virtually mud-proof. Looking at pictures of Bluedot, Tramlines and others, I know how lucky we were. 

That said, after a tough couple of years and not being a youngster anymore, we splashed out on the luxury camping which was fantastic, but I realise that the ability to do this at all (funded by money saved when Covid stopped us doing anything for 18 months) was a privilege. And everyone should expect the basics to be gotten right. In the arena, that seems to have been the case - the toilets were by far the best I've ever known at a festival - but they need to get it right in the campsites too. I've seen that next year tickets are £290 (and that's earlybird). That's not far off Glastonbury prices (which gets you five days of entertainment as opposed to three and a half), so people have the right to demand that things are done well. 

Not sure how I felt about the massive number of trailers, and the amount of space taken up by people who basically camped out in one spot for the day - but as a non-parent I should probably not be too judgmental.

[chrisplowman]

2 hours ago, rseamer said:

1. when did they ditch the Eco cups? I didn’t come last year but the year before that I’m sure they were still in usd.

Last year. Can’t remember the numbers but they had a study that claimed that their impact was no better or worse than recyclable cups.