Just like old times

It’s been 16 long months since I last attended a gig and watched a band play live. Since then, it’s been a struggle not only for me and other music fans, but also for bands, concert halls, clubs, and festivals alike. The pandemic has taken a hold of the music and arts industry and thrown it down the grid. Obviously it hasn’t been safe to be staging big live events for the past year/year and a half, but now, all of a sudden it is again. The vaccination programme that the NHS has worked wonders with has enabled us all to slowly get back to what we all love doing, and last weekend, I got to go to an actual, real-life festival with real-life people and watch real-life artists play real-life music. I still can’t believe it happened.

10 of us crammed ourselves and our stuff into 2 cars and a van and made the massive journey down to The Latitude Festival in the stunning Henham Park in Suffolk.

As it was announced a few weeks ago that it was going to be a pilot event, anyone going would need to prove that they’ve had two jabs, or show a negative lateral flow test.

As soon as we walked through the entry gate, everything felt normal, and as if we hadn’t been locked up since the start of last year. The sound of laughter and vague basslines coming from speakers all over the campsite, along with the lack of masks and actually being able to see smiles on people’s faces immediately took away any anxieties that I had in the weeks and days that I was feeling in the build-up.

The security and stewards were made me feel at ease when I got there unless that was the warm can of Heineken I opened the minute I got out of the van. Did I mention that it was a bastard of a drive?

All 10 of us walked into the arena after drinking more warm cans of beer and that feeling you get when you were a 10-year-old kid waking up on Christmas morning was prevalent among each of the 40,000 punters. We were all there for one thing; to watch live music, and share that moment with each other. No distancing, no masks, and as everyone had proved they were safe to be there, there was nothing to worry about either. However, there were senses of emotion, overwhelmingness, and disbelief that any of this could happen.

As we all know, the pandemic has meant that international travel is nigh-on impossible, so as well as this being a celebration of strangers being able to mix and experience live music again, it was also a celebration of British music.

Each band on the lineup was formed somewhere in the UK, and the said lineup was spot on. Wolf Alice and The Chemical Brothers headlined the Friday and Saturday and Bastille closed the festival with an orchestrated set. Luckily I didn’t watch the full set as Sons of Kemet were on the second stage, and if you’re not sure who they are, go and have a listen. All I’ll say is saxophones and grooves. Greentea Peng was another Sunday headliner in the woods and also had grooves flowing through her veins, so there were better alternatives than the main stage on Sunday.

But the aforementioned Friday and Saturday headliners set the place alight. Wolf Alice on Friday were more than worthy of their headline slot. A mixture of mellow sounds and heavier, more rock-type stuff showed exactly why they need to be taken seriously and proved why they’ve been nominated for the prestigious Mercury Award this year. The only surprising thing was how empty it was for them. It was a cold night on Friday but I was expecting a bigger crowd. Future Glastonbury headliners? You wouldn’t bet against it.

The Chemical Brothers were, as always, absolutely insane. The elation of their set summed up, in music terms, how we all felt. All positive, all-dancing, loud, euphoric. It had everything and more. And as they’ve been around for years, it meant that not only people my age were in awe of Tom and Ed, but the older generation was too. It was a party involving everyone, and it felt incredible. There is nothing quite like dancing with strangers to dance tracks that will never get old.

Away from the big names of the headliners, the lineup included a plethora of breakthrough British artists, and it’s probably the only time I’ll confidently say that Britain is good at something; producing new music and new artists.

Wet Leg, Shame, Griff, Greentea Peng, Goa Express, and Working Men’s Club are just a handful of bands that are flying the flag for the next wave of big names we’ll be seeing in the next few years and we need to look out for them at festivals in the future.

Shame provided the most intimate gig I watched over the weekend. They were on the second stage, which was a tent, (like the John Peel), and even by listening to their music, you can tell that seeing them live would be sweaty and shouty (it was). The singer ended the performance by jumping into the crowd without his top on. We’re back.

Wet Leg have been all over Radio 6 in recent months and currently only have one track available on streaming services, so when they played the only song anyone had heard of “Chaise Long”, it was a treat to the ears, although I didn’t actually get to see them because the festival insisted on queuing for the stage they were on, so I stood in the trees and watched them against the fence. These are another band that needs to be watched because the other tunes they performed sounded ace. Fingers crossed for an album soon.

I could write in-depth about every band I saw over the weekend. I didn’t see one bad set. From Bombay Bicycle Club doing their classics to Griff, who I’d never listened to, belting out her new stuff with an insane voice.

Whilst the music was the main talking point of the weekend (obviously), you could have gone and had a good weekend without seeing a band. There were all sorts of stuff to do that wasn’t remotely related to live music. Swimming in the lake that separates the arena from the camping fields was something I didn’t know I’d enjoy so much considering I’m an awful swimmer, but it was one of the highlights of the weekend. You could’ve gone paddleboarding, done some arts and crafts, gone to watch a comedian, or gone into the Greenpeace tent, and you could quite easily have spent an hour deciding on what to eat as there were loads of food traders. There was even a Co-op on site.

It’s hard, to sum up, how good it felt to be back at a music festival after the time we’ve all been through. To share the experience with 40,000 people all in the same place and not have to worry about keeping 6ft away from them or wear a mask when watching a band was a privilege, and an experience I won’t be forgetting in a long time.

The first full capacity festival in over a year is momentous, and can only be a good sign. Normality is on the horizon and it’s the least we all deserve. Here’s to spending and sharing many more gigs, festivals, and other live events with random people.