Summer Festival Guide

First to headline Latitude’s magnificent Obelisk Arena on the Friday will be Bloc Party, whose recent triumphant return to form has been welcomed by fans and critics alike. On Saturday evening German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk will take to the stage, this performance will be a rare chance for festival goers to witness one of the most influential bands of all time performing their highly celebrated 3-D concert. Oxford quintet Foals have proven themselves to be one of the UK’s most dynamic and accomplished bands of recent times, further supported by their Ivor Novello and Mercury Music Prize nominations and NME Award Best Song gongs. Known for creative precision, Foals are preparing a closing show to be remembered for years to come.

Yannis from Foals comments on their headline appearance: “Latitude is always exciting, because they offer a very tasteful selection of acts. For our band, it’s an honour to headline alongside someone of the calibre of Kraftwerk – they can do whatever they like, they’re unique and you know they’re going to put on an incredible show. Bloc Party will be fantastic headliners too.”

Other special appearances across the music stages include exclusive UK festival performances from the heroes of the Tex-Mex sound Calexico, the sonically adventurous sister act, CocoRosie,  and the only 2013 UK live show from dancefloor favourites Hot Chip and Mark Lanegan Band. Joining them with Latitude exclusive performances will be band of the moment, Rhye, whose slinky, sensual R&B pop is currently bewitching tastemakers, the transfixing The Tallest Man on Earth, one of 2013’s most intriguing and sort after electronic acts Sohn, Brooklyn garage-maestros Yeah Yeah Yeahs and ever-evolving indie legends Yo La Tengo. In addition to these exclusives will be unmissable sets from Grammy-nominated Malian musician Bassekou Kouyate, Brighton indie darlings and NME Award Best Album winners The Maccabees, 2013 Brit nominee Jessie Ware, cult-status chanteuse Cat Power and electronic auteur James Blake.

Latitude is thrilled to announce an exciting new partnership with BBC Radio 6 Music, naming the second stage as the BBC Radio 6 Music Stage. This year the stage will host even more exciting musical treats including headline sets from Baltimore dream-pop duo Beach House in a UK festival exclusive; Portland’s greatest musical exports, indie-rock stalwarts Modest Mouse; and Mercury Prize-winning Alt-J, whose performance on The Lake Stage in 2012 was a festival highlight. Other acts set to play on the coveted stage include math-rock maestros Everything Everything, the girl currently on everyone’s lips, soul singer Laura Mvula, plus visually theatrical Swedish synth-pop duo IAMAMIWHOAMI and garage-rock perfection from White Denim both with UK festival exclusive performances; along with adventurous folk artistry from Villagers and much, much more.

Latitude is the event of the summer to see the very best in new music. If leftfield music is your thing, then the i Arena is the spot. Tucked away in Latitude’s beautiful woodland area, this year the stage will provide a magically intimate setting for the headliners; gloriously chaotic rock ‘n' roll of Japandroids, warped-electro hipsters Purity Ring and psychedelic husband and wife outfit Moon Duo. The Lake Stage, curated by Huw Stephens, has played host to numerous ‘next big things’ and this year is no exception with headline performances coming from the master of beautiful folk balladry  Benjamin Francis Leftwich, London indie-pop quartet Veronica Falls and hotly tipped Manchester foursome The 1975. Other must see sets include art-noise masters Bo Ningen and Australian rave revivalists Jagwar Ma.

Melvin Benn, Founder and Creator of Latitude, comments: “As it enters the eighth edition, Latitude is now firmly established as the most artistically ambitious event in the UK summer calendar, with a line-up that goes from strength to strength each year. We’re delighted to welcome the forefathers of electronic music, Kraftwerk, to Latitude with their 3-D show who, along with Bloc Party and Foals, will headline an incredibly strong music programme that already includes some of 2013’s hottest acts. As always, however, music is just part of the experience, and our eleven arts arenas will play host to a selection of comedians, theatre companies, poets, writers and other performers that really do make Latitude much more than a music festival.”

In addition to the music bill, Latitude offers an unrivalled selection of innovative arts programming, with a line-up that reads like a virtual walk through the culture pages of a Sunday newspaper. Eleven dedicated arts arenas, stages and spaces will offer performances from a spectacular mix of artists across comedy, film, dance, theatre, literature, poetry and cabaret.

Daniel Kitson will bring six performances spread over four different shows to Latitude 2013. Kitson (Writer, Performer, Keen Home Cook) will be appearing across Latitude’s arts arenas throughout the weekend like a self-important, pie fingering, genre straddling behemoth. In the Theatre Arena he will present two performances of his current tour show After the Beginning. Before the End. The same venue will also play host to the first previews of a brand new theatrical work. Meanwhile, the Poetry Arena will see Kitson joining forces with big balled mega legend musician Gavin Osborn for a one off performance of Lucinda Ding and the Monstrous Thing, a forty five minute adventure poem ballad thing from the long-time collaborators. Finally, the Film & Music Arena will host the first ever public screening of It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later, a concert film of the show by the same name recorded last summer in Manchester and followed here by a Q&A session with Kitson and the film maker, Ewan Jones Morris.

Latitude’s Comedy line-up will once again play host to all manner of big-name comics. Heading up the stellar comedy line-up will be offbeat Irish stand-up Dylan Moran, best known for co-writing and starring in Black Books, which has twice won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Situation Comedy, Brighton’s finest motor-mouth Seann Walsh, the multi-talented poet, film maker and comic Tim Key and South London tearaway and man of the moment Lee Nelson with his qwaliteeee jokes, games and banter. Also appearing will be one of the best up-and-coming acts on the UK circuit, Josh Widdicombe andcomedian, author, sports pundit and husband Mark Watson and the award-winning Marcus Brigstocke’s new show Policy Unit will be making a stand in Henham Park. Bringing Latitude a preview of his new Edinburgh show will be musically minded comedian Charlie Baker, the jazz ‘n’ jokes fusion of The Horne Section. Also flying in from the US is the comic talk-show host, who turns righteous anger into breathlessly funny jokes, Jamie Kilstein. Fans of TV comedy will be pleased to seeKerry Godliman, who recently took a leading role in Ricky Gervais’ Derek and star of Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, the Canadian comic Katherine Ryan. BBC Radio 1 DJ and hot young comedian Tom Deacon will bring his combination of looks, lines and charm, as will Ed Gamble, the celebrated young comic and one half of hit podcasters and BBC Radio 4 Extra presenters Peacock and Gamble.

Also on hand to tickle festival-goers fancies over the weekend will be Marcel Lucont the laconic Frenchman with dry wit, bawdy chansons and exquisite sex poetry; critically acclaimed comedienne and TV starlet Sara Pascoe and winner of Dave’s Leicester Comedy Award, hotly-tipped comedian extraordinaire, Romesh Ranganathan.

Performance artist Bryony Kimmings will challenge opinions with her eagerly anticipated new show, Catherine Bennett, Latitude favourites Idiots of Ants will bring their madcap sketch show and The Sunday Assembly will hold an all-singing, all-dancing godless congregation. The hits will continue throughout the weekend, giving festival-goers the chance to see sell-out shows like Luisa Omielan’s hilarious meditation on celebrity culture What Would Beyonce Do?. Daran Johnson, Alistair Roberts and Liam Williams bring their infamous sketch show Sheeps and Austentatious come to Latitude with An Improvised Novel, a full-length comedy play. Holly Burn appears with The H Club, Suffolk's least exclusive private members club, as does the 2012 Best Newcomer winner at the Edinburgh Fosters Comedy Awards, Daniel Simonsen and Lucy Beaumont winner of the BBC New Comedy Award in 2012. A selection of the country’s most promising up and coming comics, selected by theChortle Student Comedy Awards will be on hand to tickle festival goers and over in Pandora’s Playground the infamously intimate Monster Comedy Shed will provide festival goers with one of the smallest and hilarious gigs of their lives.

Other comedy performers so far include: James Acaster, Joel Dommett, Brett Goldstein, Elis James, The Noise Next Door, Hennessy & Friends, Tiffany Stevenson, Loretta Maine, Ed Aczel, Holly Walsh, Vikki Stone, McNeil and Pamphilon, Alfie Brown, Sam Fletcher, Pat Cahill, Mae Martin, Rich & Andy, Ben Target, Andrew Ryan, Nish Kumar, Chris Kendall, David Trent, Jenny Fawcett, John Robins, Suzy Bennett, Aisling Bea, Rob Beckett, Joe Lycett and Matt Rees.

The Theatre Arena will serve up a whole host of dramatic performances including the National Theatre Wales’ and Neon Neon Praxis Make Perfect. An exciting and unique collaboration, set to blur the boundaries between pop gig and theatre performance. On the stunning Waterfront Stage Sadler’s Wells present the first full length dance show ever to be taken to a festival from award-winning flamenco dancer, and Sadler’s Wells New Wave Associate Rocío Molina, who has quickly established herself as one of the most important choreographers and performers at the forefront of flamenco.  Rocío Molina’s performance marks Sadler’s Wells’ sixth visit to Latitude. Daniel Kitson will present two performances of his current tour show After the Beginning. Before the End. The fields of Henham Park will premiere the Royal Exchange Theatre’s There Has Possibly Been An Incident, Ockham’s Razor will bring the thrill of the circus to Pandora’s Playground and The National Youth Theatre will showcase their new version of Little Red Riding Hood with not one, but two separate endings, exploring the themes and fears of the fairy tale, while BAC will present Made In China’s new play Gym Party. Forest Fringe will deliver immersive theatre to Latitude, with the twist being that the festival goers both create and participate in the show, making dreams come true.

Elsewhere the award-winning theatre group Clean Break will present two new plays by Alice Birch and Sonya Hale, Hours til Midnight and Many Moons, dealing with women’s experience of the criminal justice system and performed by graduates of the company’s theatre in education programme. The Wrong Crowd reinvent one of Slavic folklore’s most extraordinary characters, the child-eating hag-witch Baba Yaga, PEEP will present Sexlife, as well as a premiere of a new play also by Kefi Chadwick, while DryWrite brings together writer and performer Phoebe Waller-Bridger and director Vicky Jones for a new production of five short plays, Good. Clean. Fun. In a special Latitude commission exploring the festival’s theme of What Defines Me? Curious Directive will debut The Yellow Path, a new play that mixes the Chinese Zodiac with stargazing. 

The Pleasance will preview some of the best work appearing at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In the fabulous Faraway Forest, theatrical fun will be provided by Fuel Theatre, which will present the surprising, delightful and intriguing While You Wait sound project and a specially written tribute to Doctor Who comes from And Remember…We Care as the hit TV show celebrates its golden anniversary. Dance East will be at Latitude with their hit dance workshops, Wales’ foremost fringe theatre company Dirty Protest will bring their guerrilla approach to performance to Latitude’s Outdoor Theatre with Plays In A Bag, a series of new commissions to Welsh playwrights that must be carried everywhere… in a bag. Daniel Bye will stop by to deliver his whistle-stop tour of bizarre facts and impassioned argument The Price of Everything, and Boo Dwyer will transplant the punk spirit of late 70’s New York to Wolverhampton in Dye Young/Stay Pretty.

Following on from success of their 2012 collaboration Latitude has once again joined forces with Lyric Hammersmith,Greenwich + Docklands International Festival and Watford Palace Theatre to present a visual and physical outdoor theatre extravaganza of exciting new talent. Together four companies have been commissioned to present four new shows. The specially selected companies have been chosen for their innovation and artistic creativity in an outdoor space. For 2013, Latitude, the Lyric, GDIF and Watford Palace Theatre will present work from RashDash, Tangled Feet, Pin The Tale and Pins & Needle. Each company will perform at the commissioning festivals and spaces over the summer.

Latitude is extremely proud to present an amazing programme of renowned artists for 2013. David Shrigley, whose instantly recognisable naive style has elevated him into the world of fine art, will be making a very rare appearance and presenting from his work How Are You Feeling? One of the most influential comic book writers of all time, the man behind Watchmenand V for Vendetta, Alan Moore will be discussing the making of his short film, Jimmy’s End along with director Mitch Jenkins allowing Latitude goers to get into the minds of the creators. One of the world’s leading fashion photographers,Tim Walker, will be taking to the stage for a rare and intimate ‘in conversation’ appearance. The National Gallery invites the audience to immerse themselves in great art by Renaissance master Titian, the mobile cinema offers a National Gallery festival experience celebrating Diana and Callisto, a painting recently acquired for the nation. In The Faraway ForestLondon based artist David Shillinglaw will be painting a mural based on this year’s Neuroscience vs Sex theme where festival goers will be free to submit suggestions for words or phrases to be included in the final painting. 

An exciting mix of film screenings and special multi-media live music performances will also be on offer. Appearing across the festival over the weekend will be Daniel Kitson in the Film & Music Arena to host the first ever public screening of It's Always Right Now, Until It's Later, a concert film of the show by the same name recorded last summer in Manchester and followed by a Q&A session with Kitson and the film maker, Ewan Jones Morris. Comic booker writer, artist and Rough Trade signed musician Jeffrey Lewis & The Rain will appear and The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) will, in association withBowiefest, present a celebration of David Bowie’s breakthrough year of 1973 in a programme of screenings, talks and live performances from some very special guests. Also appearing will be radical performance community church Reverend Billy & The Church Of Stop Shopping, revered Texan instrumental collective Snarky Puppy, tipped by the likes of The Guardianand The Independent, and experimental music duo Crook and Flail (Fog’s Andrew Broder and Adam Drucker of Subtle/Themselves/cLOUDEAD). The Latitude audience can prepare to be transported across 40 years of Bowie, from Spaceboy to Superstar, by Ed Blaney's Ultimate Bowie and Gavin Osborn will be on hand to entertain festival-goers with his wry musical comedy. Total Film magazine will be hosting a series of premieres, Q&A’s and more over the festival weekend.

The hugely popular Poetry Arena features the very best in poetry and this year is no exception with readings from the British Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy; the spectacular British performance poet Murray Lachlan Young, The Scots Makar, Scottish Poet Laureate Liz Lochhead and Sonic Youth songwriter and poet Thurston Moore. Daniel Kitson with Gavin Osborn will perform My Adventure Poem and The Queen’s Gold Medal winner Don Paterson will also be taking to the stage.Michael Rosen, formerly the UK’s first Children’s Laureate and one of the nation’s best loved children’s poets will be appearing, as will co-curator of the Poetry Arena Luke Wright. This is just the beginning; there will be a whole host of exciting names including Ross Sutherland with an Edinburgh preview, The Islander, a 'lo-fo musical' about memory, first-loves and growing up and Tim Clare, John Osborne, Poejazzi, Apples and Snakes, Dead Poets, Katie Bonna, Mike Garry, Byron Vincent, Intensi-T, Tim Turnbull, Caroline Bird, Hollie McNish, William Letford, Steve Roggenbuck.

The Literary line-up will play host to a unique selection of the nation’s most dynamic names.  The legendary Germaine Greerwill be presenting a discussion on The Disappearing Woman and Jonathan Cainer will show exactly why he remains one of the world’s most popular astrologers, expect to be riveted. Joining them will be Jeremy Dyson, best known as the co-creator of the BAFTA award-winning comedy series The League of Gentlemen, creating a ghostly atmosphere and reading from his new collection of stories The Haunted Book.  WordTheatre will reveal a star studded line-up of well-known actors reading short stories and bringing his well-loved Book Club, Robin Ince will be giving it a saucy twist for 2013. Salon London,the cultural showcase that brings together some of the finest minds from the worlds of science and the arts will be there to entrance audiences with fresh perspectives and interdisciplinary discussion. There to blend highbrow thought with fun will be the artistic collective and thrower of unforgettably intelligent parties, events and masquerade balls The Last Tuesday Society.

Other authors taking the stage include Tracey Thorn with her sensational autobiography Bedsit Disco Queen, award-winning journalist and novelist Will Storr will explore why today’s heretics just don’t believe the facts and Duran Duran’sJohn Taylor will appear to discuss his candid autobiography In the Pleasure Groove. Also on Latitude’s literary line-up will beMatt Haig, author of five novels including the bestselling The Last Family in England and his latest, The Radleys, voted the winner of Channel 4's TV Book Club in 2011 and broadcaster and journalist Dawn O’Porter, who will be speaking about her gritty comical novel Paper Aeroplanes. For an academic perspective on the What Defines Me? theme, the writer and Chair of Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin Professor Ian Robertson will join the literary bill to talk about his book, The Winner Effect, which explores how worldly power affects the chemistry and structure of our brains.  

Lovers of literary comedy can also look forward to a special appearance from BBC Radio 4’s Before They Were Famous, a spoof documentary which delves into the archives to present the early works of literary greats, brought to life at Latitude. The scientifically tinged fun will continue with the show that mixes sparkling wit with fascinating facts Festival of the Spoken Nerd with Helen Arney and Blue Peter’s science expert Steve Mould. Toby Litt will also chair a graphic novel discussion fromSelfMadeHero between Glyn Dillon, Joff Winterhart and Corban Wilkin.

Latitude’s Cabaret and Live Art line-up will offer up a feast of delights for lovers of the alternative arts, with a menu that runs from raucous fun to thought-provoking and daring performance. Carnesky’s Tarot Drome will be specially recreated in new form leading Latitude’s decadent Saturday night extravaganza. Leading London comedy and variety club Boom Tish Cabaret will curate their own programme of small but beautifully formed performance and the irreverent, fabulous and multi-talented Boogaloo Stu asks the audience to record a pop song, make a badge or play a parlour game. Fancy Chance will be hanging around in a red light booth that walks and hanging by her hair and Flabbergast Theatre will bring their sell-out Smash Boris and Sergey’s Vaudevillian Adventure to the Literary Salon, featuring bunraku puppetry, character comedy and improvisation of the highest calibre.

Swing Patrol will host the Sunday tea dance while live artist and connoisseur of antique pornography, Ophelia Bitz, will bring her celebrated project ArtWank, which contrasts vintage smut with modern toss. Feminist performance group Eggs Collective make their Latitude debut with a razor sharp, show of a girl’s big night out. Absurdist artist, filmmaker and performer Richard Dedomenici will perform his new show Cause and Effect, while Brian Lobel brings a digital slant withPurge, a brutal game of friendship management which explores what being a ‘friend’ means for members of the Facebook generation.

Following the success of last year’s Pagan to Occupy theme, the arts programming this year at Latitude will tackle another idea that defines our times in 2013 as it explores Neuroscience vs. Sex: What Defines Me? in association with The Wellcome Trust. Recent advancements in neuroscience are transforming the study of the brain and nervous system from a branch of biology into a wellspring of stories to explain the people we are and the societies we form. As such, neuroscience now grips contemporary artists, writers, performers and thinkers in a way we have not seen since developments in psychoanalysis shook up creative and intellectual life in the 1950’s. Alongside neuroscience, Latitude will also explore the subject of sex, looking at the central roles that sex, gender and sexual orientation play in creating our individual and collective identities. See the wonder and feel the atmosphere of Amsterdam come to life in The Faraway Forest!

Tania Harrison, Programmer of the Arts Arenas commented: “The most exciting part about creating a programme for Latitude is that it is a playground of possibility. Sometimes it feels like eleven stages packed with artists and performance is too much, too many things and ideas to get your head round and other times I think, hell, that’s not nearly enough! It’s pretty exciting this year with neuroscientists, thinkers and speakers adding to the creative mix at Latitude.  There’s something stimulating for everyone from the fascinating to the roll around funny. I hope you like it.”

The first confirmed Late Night DJs are Guilty Pleasures for Friday night, an unashamedly glorious all-singing, all-dancing renouncement of pop music and an antidote to modern day clubbing fatigue created by Sean Rowley; Buttoned Down Disco, the largest indie dance party in the UK, coming to Latitude from Koko to rock the Saturday night, armed with ace music and glitter cannons! Trans-party collective Sink The Pink will be channelling some trendy East London realness at Latitude this year and Pandora’s Playground wouldn’t be the same without the Disco Shed pumping out big tunes until the small hours.

For 2013 The Lavish Big Screen presents the theme Revolution – Musical and visual anarchy, art mayhem and experimentation. This year at the Big Screen Lavish present an exciting selection of contemporary artists’ film and video plus live appearances by Phil Hartnoll (Orbital) and the legendary Don Letts (Big Audio Dynamite) and Harry K (Simply Dredd).

Late Junction, BBC Radio 3’s late night celebration of musical curiosities from across time and space returns to Latitude for a third year running. Filling the woods with captivating sounds, previous line-ups have featured music as diverse as Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier, song collector and Mercury Prize nominee Sam Lee and the tape music of minimalist composer Steve Reich. For 2013, Late Junction presenter Max Reinhardt hosts another hand-picked collection of diverse, wild music in the intimate setting of The Lavish Lounge, with highlights to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Including Newcastle’s skewed troubadour,Richard Dawson, and from Brazil, post-tropicalia polyphonic populists, Graveola.

Latitude’s recent Best Family Festival Award is testament to the huge array of family-friendly activities available for children and parents alike. Arranged around the banks of the central Latitude lake is the incredibly enticing Children's Arena, where children are entertained all day and into the night with everything from pond dipping and face painting to helterskelter rides and theatre workshops. A real hive of activity, it’s the place where children never want to leave and parents wish they could stay!  The Inbetweeners’ Teen Area is for those kids who may just be a little too old for the Children's Arena, but still want to get involved. Teenagers can enjoy taking part in music, media and technology workshops, wildlife survival skills and assault courses suspended in the trees. Families can also choose to stay in the Family Campsite where like-minded people, early morning activities and easy access to the Children's Arena are guaranteed. 

Sharon Reuben, Children’s Arena Booker said: “A riot of creativity, colour and curiosities, the Children’s Arena aims to be the best and doesn’t disappoint! With a backpack full of great ideas, we’re ready to entertain the most energetic kids. We also welcome back The Inbetweeners Teen Area, featuring the wild treetop and bushcraft activities of our friends at Greenpeace, alongside a packed programme of activities and workshops with music and media professionals, hosted by Cultureworks and Access to Music.”

Latitude and Marks & Spencer are excited to once again offer an adventurous way of travelling to the festival in 2013, with the second Tour de Latitude!  This initiative will help participants reduce their carbon footprint by cycling their way to the festival in Suffolk, whilst raising vital funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, helping them in their life-saving work supporting seriously ill children and their families from across the UK. Everyone taking part will also have their ticket upgraded at the finish point with access to the Guest campsite and facilities throughout the festival, and Tour de Latitude will transfer bikes back to the start points and provide participants with coach travel  back to where their adventure started.