Posted on
2019-07-24
Last weekend Suffolk’s beautiful fields were transformed once again into Latitude Festival. Latitude does and doesn’t feel like a festival – there’s a relaxed, laidback energy, punting, a helter skelter and even pink sheep, as well as minimal wait times for the extremely extensive facilities including multiple free water fountains and a plethora of food options. –however it still finds a way to have an edge using its wide variety of stages and venues dotted around the forest and surrounding fields. What strikes me the most about this festival is not only it’s relaxed atmosphere but the fact that five of the six acts to take the main stage were fronted by females on the final Sunday including mesmeric and uplifting performances from Pale Waves, Cat Power to Sigrid and Chvrches, which can be an unusual sight at a festival.
For me personally the highlight was Sunday night headliner Lana Del Rey inviting us to spend a night in her Hollyweird dream world. This was one of Lana’s rare and only UK Festival appearance in 2019, the last time being nearly two years ago in Brixton. From the May Jailer and Lizzy Grant days to the last album Lust For Life, to now, the new upcoming record Norman Fucking Rockwell, it’s clear that that there’s a lot of catching up to do.
The sun started to set as Chvrches came of stage ahead of Del Rey and then it got dark. We were ready. Palm trees and a summer deck chair set the scene as well as her two backing dancers, who moved sultrily in their red party dresses to tracks such as Cherry and Off To The Races, and then swung slowly on the two swings on either side of the stage.
The 14 song set was accompanied by cool vintage footage of skateboarders, horses, cars, bikers and LA glamour, as well as clips from Del Rey’s iconic music videos such as Ride. Del Rey, dressed in a simple white summer dress with green ribbon in her hair, beamed on stage. Classic legendary tracks such as Born To Die, Blue Jeans and Summertime Sadness were mixed in with the dark Pretty When You Cry, the hopeful Change and the seminal Black Beauty, where Del Rey’s melancholic moans left the crowd crazy for more.
Special moments included Video Games, a track Del Rey revealed she had written in the UK. The siren singers long angelic notes soared as she swung out above the audience on one of the swings. And Venice Bitch, a newer classic, saw Lanz playing with the audience, mixing up her lyrics, ‘I like ice cream, I’m a nice queen’ and, my personal favourite, ‘send nudes to you.’
Norman Fucking Rowell can’t come soon enough. The last record was interestingly Del Rey’s first album to engage with politics, although old themes like bad boys and sad summers, fast cars and freedom, youth, nostalgia and doomed romance were gratefully still present, so it will be interesting to see where she takes us next. If the singles she’s released so far are anything to go by, it’s going to be somewhere GOOD.
Enigmatic, captivating, magnetic, effortless, untouchable … There’s no way to fully describe her. Like she always does, Miss Del Rey left me and all her other adoring fans lusting for more.
All Photography and Words Lo Harley
www.latitudefestival.com
