Phoenix FM at the Latitide Festival 2007

13-15 July, Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk

Listen to the interviews:

Charlotte Hatherley | Scroobius Pip | Hot Puppies | Blood Red Shoes | Jeremy Warmsley | Ra Ra Riot

Review from Steve and Eddie

After an abysmal early summer it seemed that the weather had finally broke as we got nicely burnt by the sun on Friday afternoon whilst watching Cake. We'd left later than proposed and didn't get there until after 2pm. Cake played a great set, Steve really was only there to hear two songs, 'The Distance' and 'Short Skirt, Long Jacket' neither of which they played. The sound was spot on, you could hear all of the lyrics. They finished on 'Never There'.

The layout of the site is fantastic, set in the grounds of a large country house with a lake in the middle you couldn't wish to spend your time in a more idyllic place, complete with multi-coloured sheep!

Next up Aqualung, which we appreciated from just outside the Uncut Arena. We then trawled up to the Sunrise Arena, one of the best stages at any festival ever, set in a clearing in the woods. We watched Les Rita Mitsuoko, one of the worst bands Steve said he'd ever seen, although Eddie Curry has seen T'Pau so couldn't quite agree with that sentiment. We were waiting for New Young Pony Club to appear but then the bar beckoned, and most people couldn't get beck in the tent after that, although Eddie managed to push to the front to bring you the fabulous pictures.

We journeyed home on the Friday night, unfortunately Eddie Curry neglected to fill the car up with fuel before the trip so the first thirty miles were slightly worrying as we drove through the wilds of Suffolk passing closed service station after closed service station.

Eddie: if you don't mention about the petrol I won't mention who lost their phone staggering around the poetry tent, Steve ...

Saturday morning and a new day beckoned. Got on site at about 2pm again and headed straight for the Sunrise Arena in the forest, actually that's a lie, we headed to the bar and then to the Sunrise Arena to catch Jeremy Warmsley, signed to the Transgressive label he was a hit and was kind enough to spend some time with us here at Phoenix FM and tell us what he has been up to lately and what he has planned for the rest of the year.

Steve spent a lot of time in the Poetry tent on the Saturday and, lucky for us, so did Scroobius Pip after his awesome set with Dan Le Sac, we caught up with him at about midnight when both of us were a little worse for wear.

Sunday started with an interview with Charlotte Hatherley, she was absolutely wonderful and played a blinding set. Next up was an interview with Ra Ra Riot, five lovely people from Syracuse in the US. They had a cracking time on stage resulting in a bloody injury and elastoplasts! On tour later in the year with Editors, keep your eyes open for them, they will be everywhere this year!

Eddie interviewed Becky and Luke from Phoenix friends and favourites, the Hot Puppies who aired some new material, although rather annoyingly they took to the stage 25 minutes early much to everyone's surprise.

Shortly after Phoenix FM's Alex Fletcher interviewed Brighton duo, Blood Red Shoes.

We all caught Jarvis Cocker on the main stage who played a blinding set, ending on a cover of Survivor's Eye Of The Tiger.

Eddie's picks of the weekend had a bit of a girly feel about them, with Fields playing a blinding set on Friday, CSS proving to be real crowd pleasers with a suprise cover of L7's Pretend We're Dead, and Bat For Lashes who had a highly appreciative audience patiently putting up with the band's technical problems.

All in all the festival was a success, brilliant music in beautiful surroundings in a lovely part of the world, top marks all round. There wasn't too many people there either, even though it was sold out. Roll on Latitude next year, we'll be right at the front of the queue.

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