Latitude 2026

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, broken monkey said:

Met a few of David Byrnes band in the Sunrise arena earlier yesterday. Such a lovely bunch. What a show that was last night, even converted my wife who used to despise Talking Heads! 😆

Neat. I'm seeing the Cardiff date tomorrow and I'm hoping all I've heard that he puts on a great show pans out.

 

I also saw Instagram snaps of a few comedians doing a thing where they were in oversized suits a la the Stop Making Sense era for an event earlier in the day. That made me smile haha.

[sheffinghell]

38 minutes ago, charlierc said:

Neat. I'm seeing the Cardiff date tomorrow and I'm hoping all I've heard that he puts on a great show pans out.

 

I also saw Instagram snaps of a few comedians doing a thing where they were in oversized suits a la the Stop Making Sense era for an event earlier in the day. That made me smile haha.

You're in for a treat! I saw the show at The Piece Hall last week. It's up there with the best of all time. Really special.

[Semprini]

Went yesterday and had a really good time. 5th visit (only ever gone for one day at a time as I can drive from where we live near Norwich) and it's a well run and friendly festival with plenty to see and do. Took my teenage daughter and a couple of her friends as they're massive Alessi Rose fans. Yesterday was my 9th time seeing her (mostly by default!!) in exactly two years since the very first one, which was her festival debut on Sunrise in 24. That's now more than any of the bands I love and have spent years following at gigs and festivals!!

Didn't have much of a plan during the day so was nice to just wander around the site with my lad and his gf who also came along. Caught a bit of Adult DVD (probably could have done with being on a bigger stage as it was rammed) and then the second half of Jalen Ngonda which was a great vibe. Watched all of Florence Road and was impressed with their performance. Got quite close to the front for TLDP and they went down well with the crowd. Well, most of them as we were next to a big group of about 10 couples and what looked like their children in late teens/20s who spent the whole time talking very loudly to each other. Was a bit of a theme for acts we saw on the main and had to move a couple of times later on during David Byrne to get away from people talking/shouting at each other. Know it's not a Latitude issue but don't understand why you'd make the effort to get reasonably close to the stage and then just talk loudly like you're at the pub? Not even gonna get started on the chair, blanket and trolley compounds people constructed in front and around the stages as they seem to come with the territory for Latitude.

 

Left it a bit late to get a decent spot for David Byrne and was to the side of the screen on the left which meant I couldn't see all the visuals. That didn't detract at all from the performance though, which was just magical. I'm not a massive DB/Talking Heads fan and only really knew the hits but the production and choreography were just amazing. I loved how he didn't make himself the main focus of the show and the band and singers/dancers got just as much attention and were all incredible. Was planning to dip out early so we could get away before the rush but we stayed for the whole show and absolutely loved it!

Yes, the undulating terrain is a pain in the arse and it was dusty as hell but we all had a great time. Will no doubt go again in the future if there's a day where the line up is decent.

[brayshizzle]

My first Latitude in 11 years and it felt so familiar yet so different. Back when Portishead played and Thom Yorke came out, what a year.

 

Got to the carpark at around 2pm and made the long walk. My group was a mix of ages but two aged 60 and sometimes hard on their feet. Ive only ever been dropped off by the yellow gates and never knew how long the walk was. It was fine for me but something Id take into consideration next time. Id have to take into consideration the buggys also.

 

We propped up in the trailer park which was mad too look at and such an interesting space. I regret not popping in again on the way out of the festival as it really seemed to be alive after dark. I got a few ciders in, which suits me but I know ale would have been appreciated by the crew. Cost wise I dont hate it. The last festival I went to was Coachella and All Points East so 7 quid for a drink is fine. I then walked to see Adult DVD on the Sunrise and it all came flooding back about why I love this fest. I love that little walk through the woods. Adult DVD had good energy but couldnt get near the stage. Mobbed. Should have moved them. 

 

I then wondered to the second stage and caught Lime Garden. Really enjoyed them and then left after a few songs for more cider. The available of bars and lack of queues was so good.

 

I met my sister back at the wine bar which was felt like it was sponsored by Country Life. Not my thing but everyone in there was having a good time.

 

Florence Road next. Def tipped for big things. Good tunes, great band and the lead singer has amazing voice and destined to be a star. It wasnt lost on me how many female bands are present and how many Irish acts were there. Felt really good. 

 

Pottered off to meet the group who were at Balletboys. Not my thing at all but others seemed to enjoy it. Although one piece peaked my interest since it used Max Richters work from The Leftovers.

 

Sadly, Dr John Cooper Clark was v disappointing. One of my must sees but transition from Sarah Pascoe to Clark was awful, the sound was horrendous and the bleed from other stages harmed him. Should have put him on the comedy stage or similar.

 

It was food and drink time. Had the driest duck possibly but not sure what else I expected. Several ciders in between. 

 

Got a decent spot for Last Dinner Party. Off to the left of the stage where there was a lot of room. Access to the toilets and bar. Perfect. The sound was good. Although I agree with how chatty some people were. I found the children more tolerable than some adults. TLDP though were unbelievable. Not too familiar but walked away a fan. The stage presence of the entire band really was something. Their music got across to all ages. 

 

More cider. 

 

David Byrne, what more can be said. I saw the America Utopia show at Coachella 2018 and walked away that year saying it was the best show Ive seen at a festival. That now feels like a dress rehearsal and this new show is the final form. But, knowing Byrne , final form doesnt seem to exit. I loved the little dialogues in between the songs. The hits were at the end but you then just understand how f**king good the rest of the catalogue is. My whole crew adored every second and walked away saying its the best thing they have seen. For me, I just cant wait to see where Byrne goes next. Its rare to say that of an artist in their 70s but he is a rare rare artist. But I will certainly be trying to see this show outside a festival to see a few extra songs. 

 

Leaving was a bit iffy. Didnt like that at all. The bridge shaking at one point wasnt a vibe. The youngest of the group ran a head and got the car from the red carpark and came via the yellow so the walk was shorter. I hated walking past the Trailer Park and not going in. Oh and the dust.......awful. All feeling crokey and snotty today. 

It really is my favourite UK festival. Yes the lineup doesnt really meet the levels of previous years but the space, vibe and organisation outside of a few things always feels on point. I am quite shocked by how many kids there are from 11 years ago. Never felt overbearing or annoying, mostly well behaved and shout of to the kids earning that money with the cups. 

 

I am going to promise myself to do the full camping weekend next year.

 

[Andy3229]

David Byrne was an absolute highlight, been a fan for 40 plus years. Anyway this will be our last latitude, can’t be doing with the chairs and carts, Ross Noble summed it up perfectly yesterday. 

Edited Saturday at 18:49 by Andy3229
Typo

[Helephantelope]

Any word on the BBC introducing secret set yet? 

[John L]

47 minutes ago, Helephantelope said:

Any word on the BBC introducing secret set yet? 

Professor Green I was told…

[Helephantelope]

1 hour ago, John L said:

Professor Green I was told…

Cheers, spot on 

[Chapple12345]

Wow. What an extraordinary weekend! 

Managed to cram in 32 different acts, the highlights were David Byrne, Self Esteem, Flaming Lips and Getdown Services 

Everyone I saw played exceptionally and it was brilliant to see such a range of acts from true legends of music to super talented up and comers 

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and bring on 2027! 

[glimmers_of_hope]

Really fun weekend. Tired today though. 

Flaming lips were fantastic last night. Felt like a lovely mix of acts with some really great performances. 

Saw a talk with Melvin in the listening post on Sunday where he said they had signed a contract on the site for the next 20 years and that he was comfortable with the current size because making it bigger would mean big changes to the site layout. 

[charlierc]

On 25/07/2026 at 09:46, sheffinghell said:

You're in for a treat! I saw the show at The Piece Hall last week. It's up there with the best of all time. Really special.

It was really good. It's a shame he had a little cough early on but as it went on, it seemed to go away and it sounded great and punchy. Delighted with how it went.

 

I was impressed by his cameo song with Anna Calvi beforehand. For a 74-year-old who's been performing for years, his voice still holds up very well.

[Chapple12345]

7 hours ago, glimmers_of_hope said:

Really fun weekend. Tired today though. 

Flaming lips were fantastic last night. Felt like a lovely mix of acts with some really great performances. 

Saw a talk with Melvin in the listening post on Sunday where he said they had signed a contract on the site for the next 20 years and that he was comfortable with the current size because making it bigger would mean big changes to the site layout. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpq87nwyej1o

A teeny bit more info today here too

Looks like the loyalty scheme is back again for next year so I'm likely to hedge my bets and do it 

[Platty]

Had a blast as always!

 

Top highlights for me:

 

Flaming Lips. A proper fun show. That's how you close a festival! I'm sure capaldi was fine but didn't want 1.5 hours of depressing songs as the finale! 

 

Getdown Services. I can't get over how good they were. So so good. 

 

David Byrne. Was an incredible show wasn't it. I really enjoyed it. We got hyped up earlier in the day by watching Adam Buxtons BUG with Ivo Graham. All about David Byrne. Adam Buxtons band was good fun too earlier that day. And I got to meet him whilst wandering the festival. 

 

Good Health, Good Wealth. Some great tunes and relatable lyrics. Very much enjoyed and perfect on the Sunrise. 

 

Pleasure Inc. High energy and I particularly liked their Stone Cold Steve Austin merch. 

 

Alex James. I knew this would be a good sing-a-long. But didn't realise it would be THAT good. Very nostalgic trip and some great guests. Including Gary Stringer from Reef. Love that guy!!

 

Ross Noble. Belly laughed through the chaos the entire time. Too good! 

 

Special mentions to Mystery Jets who got the party started for me in the Sunrise on Thursday, the Lilacs who I thought done well considering on so early. Mustbejohn in the alcove who we went to see over the last dinner party as we just couldn't handle trying to get past the blockade. He was brilliant. Very charismatic and great tunes!

 

Saw lots of over good things over the weekend but definitely was a more chilled one with spare wandering time, which was quite nice. Interestingly only saw 3 acts on Obelisk. Sunrise remains my favourite stage! 

 

Anyone try that BBQ place smoking the meat on the coals? That was also a highlight!

[Swiss Tony]

Hope everyone had a great festival.

 

My highlights this year were Wet Leg, The Flaming Lips, David Byrne, Panic Shack, and a brilliant new discovery for me: Lime Garden.

 

My wife managed to get a selfie with the guys from Underpass, who are favourites of our teenage daughter. Unfortunately, our daughter had wandered off with her mates just before the band came out from the side of the stage, so she was absolutely gutted to miss them.

 

The left hand side of the second stage also seemed to be the place for a bit of band spotting. We saw Jacob Alon hanging out with his mates while watching Westside Cowboy, barely recognisable in normal civilian clothes! The artist pass gave the game away. The members of English Teacher also came out and stood near us to watch The Flaming Lips. I was tempted to ask for a selfie, but they were clearly just enjoying the set themselves, so I left them in peace.

 

Overall, it was a great weekend, although the dust really gets to me after a couple of days. I'm still coughing up bits of Suffolk soil! The crowds also seem busier than ever, and the big groups who "circle the wagons" and spend all day chatting over the music are a real pain in the arse.

 

I'm a chair user myself these days. At nearly 50, it's nice to sit in a proper chair, enjoy the bands, and give my arthritic knees a rest. But I'm always careful to set up at the side or the back and make sure people can get past. It's a shame the same can't be said for 90% of others.

 

I won't be falling into the early release discounted ticket trap again. Next year I'll wait for the line up announcement and will probably just do a single day. Hopefully I'll have better luck in the Glastonbury ballot.

 

Until next year.

[Swiss Tony]

To add.... The Alex James thing was a bit of a pastiche for me. I can absolutely see why people loved it, but having spent my formative years in the 90s, it felt a little too much like cabaret, or karaoke, rather than the real thing. That's entirely a personal taste issue though, and it was clearly a big hit with plenty of people.

[cdm22]

25 minutes ago, Swiss Tony said:

To add.... The Alex James thing was a bit of a pastiche for me. I can absolutely see why people loved it, but having spent my formative years in the 90s, it felt a little too much like cabaret, or karaoke, rather than the real thing. That's entirely a personal taste issue though, and it was clearly a big hit with plenty of people.

 

T'other half managed two songs and then said 'I know why I hate this. It's like being at a bloody wedding!' so we then thankfully wandered off to see Panic Shack again 😁

 

I think all weekend we saw one thing at the Main stage and that was David Byrne who was excellent. Other highlights were the Beta Band, Getdown Services, and surprisingly for me Peter Hook and the Light. 

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:07 by cdm22

[Swiss Tony]

10 minutes ago, cdm22 said:

 

T'other half managed two songs and then said 'I know why I hate this. It's like being at a bloody wedding!' so we then thankfully wandered off to see Panic Shack again 😁

 

I think all weekend we saw one thing at the Main stage and that was David Byrne who was excellent. Other highlights were the Beta Band, Getdown Services, and surprisingly for me Peter Hook and the Light. 

 

Haha, same. Did 20 minutes and then went to Panic Shack. Right decision for me.

[some dude]

Didn't attend this year, but did they manage to enforce the no chairs past the sound tower (towards the stage) a bit better? Was a huge pain last year!

[Swiss Tony]

2 hours ago, some dude said:

Didn't attend this year, but did they manage to enforce the no chairs past the sound tower (towards the stage) a bit better? Was a huge pain last year!

No, they didn’t, it was much, much worse. Enough to put me off going back next year. And I’m a chair user, albeit one who consciously makes the effort not to obstruct or piss off other people, otherwise, just I’ll stand.

Don’t get me started on the ‘circling the wagons’ either. Those things have completely taken over the arena. They have put down a few new hessian ‘access’ lanes in the arena, which was good in theory, but the chairs and trolleys were set up directly alongside them, so it didn’t really help much in practice.

[Platty]

Actually I think they did well to enforce no chairs/wagons/blankets past the sound tower. They had a clearly marked zone and a path to get past them all. Sure some snuck in further but the few times I went to Obelisk didn't see any chairs ahead of sound tower.

 

The only issue is, if you came in no where near a path through you were buggered trying to get through the blockade. It felt even more congested when you arrived on the stage. Best option was to go either far right or left to get past them all then swing in. 

[ALFZ]

Had a great time this year: weather was incredible and there was pretty much always a band on I wanted to see. Highlights for me included David Byrne (genuinely felt like we were watching something special), Jalen Ngonda (never heard of him before he was announced for this year, but what a voice, and great stage presence - a future Second Stage headliner I reckon), Getdown Services (brilliant crowd involvement, most raucous the festival got for me), Peter Hook and the Light (a one hour race through Joy Division and New Order's biggest songs, perfect for a festival), Flaming Lips (just the sort of over the top show you need when you are flagging at the end), Saint Etienne (despite muddy sound, so many good tunes), and Everything Everything (got Sunday off to a flier with a 35 minute set). There were a few odd programming choices: Diles Que No Me Maten surely would have been better on a smaller stage. I walked right up to the barrier at the start of their set and the crowd was only about 5 deep).

It was annoying that only The Taphouse was selling San Miguel and that Camden Hells was in cans only at the main stages. I had to strategically plan my bar trips around who was playing where. Or drink cider 🙂

 

[ALFZ]

On 28/07/2026 at 10:40, Swiss Tony said:

To add.... The Alex James thing was a bit of a pastiche for me. I can absolutely see why people loved it, but having spent my formative years in the 90s, it felt a little too much like cabaret, or karaoke, rather than the real thing. That's entirely a personal taste issue though, and it was clearly a big hit with plenty of people.

As soon as The Riverboat Song started that was enough for me and I took shelter in the Second Stage tent for the rest of the day

[ALFZ]

On 27/07/2026 at 13:40, glimmers_of_hope said:

Really fun weekend. Tired today though. 

Flaming lips were fantastic last night. Felt like a lovely mix of acts with some really great performances. 

Saw a talk with Melvin in the listening post on Sunday where he said they had signed a contract on the site for the next 20 years and that he was comfortable with the current size because making it bigger would mean big changes to the site layout. 

Considering the amount of bitching and moaning that has gone on about the line up this year, I thought it was a better mix of acts than last. It didn't occur to me that Lewis Capaldi was even playing when The Flaming Lips were firing lazers and latex balls at me.

[modefan]

20 minutes ago, ALFZ said:

There were a few odd programming choices: Diles Que No Me Maten surely would have been better on a smaller stage. I walked right up to the barrier at the start of their set and the crowd was only about 5 deep).

They were brilliant. Their only other UK date was at the Moth Club so pretty baffling how they got a main stage slot. At least it gave them some exposure and more of a crowd than they’d have got at eg Sunrise or Alcove. 

 

[glimmers_of_hope]

Agree with comments about the Alex James britpop orchestra. It was like the live equivalent of a petrol station compilation cd. I thought it was really naff and walked off.