Latitude Competition 2025 (Friday-Sunday)
Henham Park, Suffolk
Twenty fourth-Twenty seventh July 2025
After buckets of rain greeted a soggy tide of punters onto the location, the music quickly lifted spirits at Latitude 2025 because the solar started to poke its means by way of the holes within the overcast sky.
As we entered the bushes and headed to the tucked away treasure chest tent of latest music discovery (in any other case referred to as The Alcove, the place I might discover lots of my favorite discoveries of the weekend), Chest began the day with a rousing half an hour of brilliance which set the tone for a Friday filled with thrilling new bands. Straight after, hype band of the second Westside Cowboy took to The Dawn Enviornment, showcasing the nuanced songwriting and biting indie instrumentation that has seen them shortly acquire widespread acclaim.
The Dawn Enviornment was the place I settled for some time as The Orchestra (For Now) quickly took to the stage, with a set which was considered one of my standouts of the week – capturing one thing which works past the band’s already admirable studio recordings. Providing sprawling post-punk, the band captured a reside sound which felt just like the broken poetic honesty of Tom Waits meets the musical depth and depth of early radiohead.
Mixing intricate alt-rock guitar strains with dramatic strings and theatrical piano, the vocals led the music forwards with a function – transferring from fragile and intimate moments to intense screamo, accentuating the already explosive dynamics of their studio recordings with a surprising sense of musicality and drama.
Subsequent up Cliffords once more delivered one other blinder. True to their recordings, however with a elegant tightness and a charming charisma because of the hovering, emotive vocal performances, the band delivered immediately repeatable melodies over their nuanced indie-rock backing.
One other stand out of the weekend, Mandrake Handshake completely owned The Alcove with a set that was as hypnotic because it was pressing and fascinating. Like Comfortable Mondays meets Hawkwind meets Fleetwood Mac, the band’s sound is free and distinctive, and but cohesive and constant.
Layering biting synth arpeggiators, with swirls of phaser tinted guitar, jiving percussion and bouncing bass strains, the band created a effervescent, funk tinted psychedelic soundscape. Topped with the haunting twin lead vocals, which danced by way of overlapping melodies and superbly positioned, note-perfect harmonies, the band’s sound moved by way of a sea of atmospherics, awkward time signatures and lengthy instrumental flourish, however crucially retained a vibrant and completely mesmerising sense of accessibility and pleasure.
Into the early night, The Kiffness took to the second stage. The set was fittingly foolish in one of the best ways potential (it is a household pageant in spite of everything). A medley of his tiktok hits from the now famend multitude of singing cat movies to samples of Donald Trump, the set was the whole lot I had hoped it could be after I noticed his title on the lineup.
Whereas Fran Lusty delivered some lovely, heartful folks within the forest, Maribou State delivered a transcendent set on the mainstage (Obelisk Enviornment). Giving their lo-fi digital sound a way of grandeur with the addition of a reside strings and brass part, the duos had been joined by their visitor vocalist for quite a few their breakout tracks together with Nervous Tics and Otherside, which glided elegantly by way of the summer time haze.
Sprints introduced a way of urgency and intent to the Second Stage with their evocative punk sound, earlier than Basement Jaxx stored the power happening the mainstage with a putting polished, eye-catching set.
Feeder captured the essence of the essence of the ’90s resurgence as the group sang alongside to almost each phrase of Simply The Manner I’m Feeling, earlier than Sting began his headline set. Enjoying as a trio, specializing in only a easy guitar, bass, drums arrange, the trio owned the stage, making a sound that it’s exhausting to consider was simply three musicians. Going by way of all of the hits, from the odd Police monitor to Sting solo singalongs, it was a becoming and euphoric finish to a day filled with nice music.
Saturday noticed Jade Chicken deliver buoyant indie-folk to the mainstage at Latitude because the now dusty floor put a haze over the noon solar. Capturing each a confident sense of resilience by way of the pointed vocal supply and biting full band soundcapes, Chicken’s transfer to indie gave the set a way of drive and dedication. This was damaged up by factors of intimate, heartfelt emotion over stripped acoustic tracks, creating a pleasant combine that lightly warmed everybody up for the dizzying euphoria of night performances.
Sorry introduced their model of edgy indie to the Second Stage, shifting the tone with biting guitar tones, glitchy digital undertones and the effortlessly cool, half spoken vocal supply. Dynamic and attention-grabbing regardless of the greyscale, muted nature of the band’s melancholic tone, the set was a standout of the day.
Quickly after, Instance purchased the power to the Obelisk Enviornment, taking the group again to his really feel good 2010 hits while joking about being advised off for swearing. Subsequent up, Clear Bandit took to the stage, bringing their distinctive model of classical meets electronica with an added drive, because of the addition of punching reside drums and a few hovering guitar work. Visitor vocalists delivered vibrant, soulful renditions of the band’s hits on a set which stored up the excessive power, feel-good tone on the mainstage.
Because the rain started to fall, Kaiser Chiefs once more captured a reassuring sense of nostalgia, however with an impressively, and admittedly unexpectedly full and gritty sound. Backed by some eye popping, vibrant, weird and oddly charming visuals of graphics popping by way of the home windows of a brick home, the band received the group roaring to hits of years previous: I Predict A Riot and Ruby.
On the Second Stage, Latitude favourites Public Service Broadcasting returned for an additional set of robotic spoken phrase over biting indie, crossing over with the beginning of a euphoric set from mainstage headliner Fatboy Slim.
Working by way of a sequence of remixes, just a few of his large hits, in addition to minimize up reworks (the mashup of Mr Brightside and Born Slippy being a favorite second), Fatboy Slim had the group within the palm of his hand, as you’d count on. The set moved with such a way of realizing, protecting the momentum and curiosity going with minimal effort, protecting the packed out enviornment transferring and singing from begin to finish.
After a gradual morning on day 3 (day 3 of a pageant hurts, I’m getting outdated), the intense guitar tones of Hamish Hawk rang out from the second stage as I stumbled in direction of the espresso stand. Heading in direction of the forest, offended lady punk duo The Tablet had the group spilling out of The Alcove for a set which was strikingly tight, enjoyable with its irreverent, witty songwriting and quick strummed, fuzzy guitar tones. Transferring on to the BBC Introducing Stage for Wyldest, it actually struck me that essentially the most thrilling bands and my favorite moments of Latitude 2025 had been tucked away on the smaller levels. Wyldest and her band blanched moments of shoegaze tinted melancholic magnificence with explosive crescendo brilliantly. Regardless of the 2 guitar, bass and drums line up, the nuanced, wealthy nature of the guitar tones and stylish vocals gave the set a depth and a heat which took the sound far past the sum of its elements.
After catching a fast glimpse of Annahstasia’s considered one of a sort husky vocals on The Dawn Enviornment, Lapsley introduced some ambient, ethereal vibes to the Second Stage. Pale Waves upped the anti with a rousing set of strikingly catchy vocal melodies over the driving, buoyant indie-rock backing. Palace adopted by bringing their floating shimmers of interlocking picked guitars.
A stirring efficiency from Irish indie riser Anyone’s Baby at The Dawn Enviornment began my early night. He delivered a way of charisma and a driving, excessive octane aptitude to the already feverish sound of his studio recordings. As a portion of the primary enviornment shaped in entrance of a newly erected display screen exhibiting the Girls’s Euro ultimate, Doves packed out the second stage. Highlighting that they will greater than ship the exhausting to classify indie-alt sound of their recordings, the band introduced a large sound to the tent, filling each nook with their shimmering riffs and effortlessly memorable melodies.
Elbow quickly took to the mainstage for an astonishingly good efficiency. Pausing their set early on to observe the penalty shootout, the band used the euphoria across the win to gas the power for his or her mainstage set because the band quipped “let’s have fun with a track about remorse”.
Probably the most full sounding and completely spotless performances of the weekend, Elbow delivered a blinder. Each monitor was elevated from the recording to a flourishing new peak, from the primary riff of Grounds For Divorce punching by way of one of many thickest, fuzziest guitar tones that any guitarist would dream of, to the overwhelmingly spotless, heartfelt supply of Lippy Youngsters and euphoric, fittingly solar soaked One Day like This, this felt like an excellent headline set in itself, and but there was nonetheless Snow Patrol to come back.
Snow Patrol closed Latitude (for me a minimum of) in a fittingly epic, singalong method. A kind of bands the place it’s shocking what number of songs you realize; nearly each riff, each vocal line was lodged someplace behind my mind, and god, did they do it properly. Regardless of approaching 20 years since their hit album Eyes Open, the band sounded the identical as ever. The vocals retained the identical readability, the musicality shone as vibrant as ever, and the explosive instrumental breaks, like that on the finish of Run, actually exploded with depth.
The set was not solely a reminder simply what number of nice, and well-known songs the band have however extra so, a show of how affecting, relatable and actually heartfelt their songwriting is, with moments it was exhausting to not really feel moved by.
All in all, whereas Latitude 2025 did make me miss the road ups of earlier years the place I had seen extra present, breakout bands on the primary levels, the pageant delivered a little bit of the whole lot and a weekend which was wholeheartedly fulfilling, each musically and from a way of simply the enjoyment of being in a pageant ambiance. From the uncooked and contemporary sounds of the up and coming levels within the forest, to the singalong nostalgia of the primary headliners, there was music for everybody for those who knew the place to look. Maybe, simply as importantly, regardless of the household pleasant, barely PG therapy the pageant has received in recent times, it nonetheless felt like a serious pageant – one thing which I used to be frightened can be misplaced alongside the way in which.
Latitude’s shift towards what I’d name a “household pageant” is clearly mirrored on this 12 months’s lineup – with that in thoughts, it delivered impressively. The packed crowds at almost each set spoke to the pageant’s ongoing recognition and success, suggesting a vibrant, promising future for the years forward.
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All phrases by Simon Lucas-Hughes. Extra writing by Simon Lucas-Hughes may be discovered at his writer’s archive.
All images by Adam Williams observe right here.
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