Latitude - the last dance

And so to the last day of Latitude.

Departures

Dear mrs electrofried has already gone.  She has to attend a funeral tomorrow, sadly an increasingly common occurrence of late as we enter the autumn of our lives.  Teenygoth and I go our separate ways,  she toward the Comedy Arena and me to the BBC Radio 6 Music Stage.

James are due to play, having had to cancel last minute on Saturday evening. The tent is already rammed by the time I get there and the crowd stands some ten deep by the exits, so I content myself with yet another nicely chilled festival cider as I take in the vibe at a respectable distance.

And arrivals

This sets me up nicely for the Atomic Bomb, a tribute band featuring a stellar cast that includes members of Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem, the Beastie Boys and Scritti Politti. They're here to recreate  the music of cult Nigerian funk artiste, William Onyeabor.

With the sun beating down once again on the Obelisk Arena the Atomic Bomb get to work and they are utterly, utterly fantastic - one of the real hits of the festival.  The music captures the very essence of Onyeabor's electro-funk; sadly the man himself has been missing some thirty years from the music scene since embracing  the Christian faith. Shame, he would have loved this performance!

Beating the retreat

After a glorious hour's worth of the Atomic Bomb my knees ache, so I buy a tastily priced Cormac McCarthy paperwork from the on-site book stall and retreat to the camper-van for a restful afternoon in the company of a full wine-box of cheap Shiraz and an i-pad logged into Master Amazon's finest musical emporium.

It proves an expensive combination. Before long orders have been placed for seminal works by the artists that have most taken my fancy during the last three days. In addition to the electrofried bank account, a significant dent is made too in the contents of the wine-box.

Suitably refreshed it's back to the music for the last leg of the journey.

Dying embers

I arrive in time to share with Teenygoth a box of the finest chips on offer at the festival, served from a bar constructed on the remains of a VW bus before catching a brief snatch of War on Drugs. They sound rather good but the main Obelisk Arena calls.

Tame Impala are very good, their light psychedelics accompanied by a tasteful screen projection. And before you know it, it's time for the last headliner of the weekend, the Black Keys. Sadly, despite high hopes they fall short of expectations. Somehow they just seem a little bored with proceedings, so I make my way across to the BBC Radio 6 one last time for Lykke Li who I'm pleased to report puts on a far more impressive performance.

Ears ringing, Teenygoth and I link up for the long walk back to our camper-van, and that folks was Latitude 2014!

Best acts:

Mogwai
Tinariwen
The Atomic Bomb

Unexpected surprise:

A fabulous night in the Film and Music Arena curated by the White Mink electro-swing club

Flop of the weekend:

Damon Albarn, by a country mile, bringing new meaning to middle-age angst

All in all … an enormous success!