Latitude Festival 2025: Three Days Of Pure Joy

Latitude Festival, Suffolk

24th-27th July 2025

Photography by Tabatha Gibson

Toby Furlong

I’m a writer hailing from the distant land of Norfolk. With a deep love for vinyl, currently standing at over 100 in my collection. When it comes to picking a favourite artist, it will always be the sounds of Trish Keenan and Broadcast.

In its 19th year, Latitude Festival continues to cement its reputation as one of the most unique festivals on the summer roster

It’s clear as day why Latitude, now in its 19th edition, continues to be the UK festival calendar’s best kept secret. Spending three days of unrivalled fun in the beautifully serene Henham Park, we were serenaded by a gloriously varied line-up of musicians from bombastic punk duo Lambrini Girls to global legends such as Sting and Fatboy Slim.

Latitude’s strength remains its across the board diversity; from the genre spanning musicians to it’s stage setups, expect to find yourself deep in the woods jumping around to Westside Cowboy on the Sunrise Arena and emerge to the sound of Basement Jaxx beaming down the party from the colossal Obelisk Arena.

Manchester’s indie starlets Westside Cowboy sparked the Sunrise Arena into life. As soon as you heard the opener ‘The Boys’ pouring out of those deliciously retro 1978 Fender Twin Reverbs, you could hear the desire of a group with a point to prove and bucket-loads of talent to go alongside it. Paddy Murphy plays the drums like this set is make or break for the group and once you hear his opening shout of ‘WESTSIDEEEE COWBOY’ on track ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You),’ you can see that this group’s drive and ability is undeniable.

Continuing on with our Friday antics over on The Alcove were fellow Mancunian’s TTSSFU, AKA the shoegaze project of vocalist Nicole Stephens, cloaked in anonymity, Blondie wig and shades flanked by guitarist and bassist who resembled the cover to 1978’s Parallel Lines. Atmospheric worlds were shaped on The Alcove in the orbit of Stephen’s uncompromising creative vision.

As day turned to night, Friday evening entertainment was delivered by the wonderfully mixed assortment of Basement Jaxx followed by Sting. Touring the UK for the first time since 2014, Basement Jaxx drew one of the liveliest and largest crowds of the long weekend. Iconic songs ticked along in a groovy haze as the crowd resembled a lit match waiting for fan favourite ‘Where’s Your Head At’. you can imagine the euphoria amongst the crowd as the eagerly awaited tune was blasted across the arena.

When it comes to Sting, this is an artist whose reputation speaks for itself: ex-frontman of The Police, Rock & Rock Hall of Famer and 100 million albums sold worldwide. Needless to say, that is serious pedigree. Just as you’d expect, it was a set full of crowd pleasers, he knew how to keep a crowd ranging across the generations firmly invested in the performance, with a whole handful of The Police songs including highlights ‘Message in a Bottle’, ‘Reggatta de Blanc’ and wisely bringing the curtain down on Friday with the eternal ‘Roxanne‘ which could be heard for miles and miles.

Saturday was a new day and it promised new surprises and enduring memories. The day was mostly centred around the rather impressive looking Second Stage. Instigating our day were the infectiously upbeat LA Collective NOFUN! Ranging from alternative rock to West-Coast hip-hop, this collaborative effort could put a smile on even the most cold-hearted of individuals.

Up next and bringing an eclectic blend of wry, cheeky indie-rock were North London’s Sorry. Knowing absolutely nothing about them before they took the stage presented the perfect opportunity to be blown away by something completely unknown. I was awestruck by the fierce sound of tracks like ‘Jetplane’ and ‘Jive’. There is no fear of the unknown here as Sorry continue to establish themselves as standouts from the London scene.

As is the case with all Saturday nights at festivals, the renowned ones are out to rock the stage. Much like Sting the previous day, Norman Cook’s own Fatboy Slim is such a globally beloved phenomenon that it doesn’t require much background.

A tantalising, if slightly chaotic set, that included tributes to Ozzy Osbourne, Freddy Mercury and England’s Lionesses before their Euro final VS Spain. This was a rollercoaster ride that included classics such as ‘Praise You‘ and ‘Right Here, Right Now‘, but Fatboy Slim also enjoyed being a massive tease, as a few seconds of the legendary ‘Born Slippy‘ quickly morphed into The Killers’ ‘Mr Brightside’.

Whether the set, which was mostly comprised of classic songs such as Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere‘ ‘Wonderwall‘ and ‘Under Pressure‘ being remixed into acid house freakouts, was the most innovative idea ever is one question, but his ability to excite a crowd of thousands into a dancing frenzy can never be questioned.

On the last day of a three day festival, it can be easy to think back to what has been, rather than what is yet to come. But when you look at your schedule and you still have Air, Lambrini Girls, The Pill and Arthur Black on the way, I dare say we are saving the very best till last.

With the privilege of starting the Sunday festivities it was Arthur Black on The Alcove stage. With a growing live reputation spread through word of mouth, this was pure captivation. Think the vocals of Snail Mail‘s Lindsey Jordan with the gothic instrumentation of Bauhaus. Black’s voice can sound like it carries the weight of the world on top of it.

Quite conveniently as Arthur Black departed the stage, The Pill were next to step on. Since forming in 2019, the duo comprising of Lottie on bass and Lily on guitar have been creating a form of what they describe as ‘jank’ punk music. Included in the set were songs titled ‘Woman Driver’, ‘Money Mullet’ and ‘POSH’.

As the titles imply these are all cleverly baiting tracks with lyrics such as “Never trust a man with a mullet unless you want to get in his wallet”, The Pill aren’t reinventing the wheel but why should they, for me cracking up at these tracks and pogoing to the fuzzy thrash of ‘POSH’ is more than enough to be memorable.

It may have only been a month since Air brought the Moon Safari to Victoria Park, but they were back at Henham Park in equally mystical form and brought a longer live set with them, including the spectacular inclusions ‘New Star In The Sky’ and ‘Radian’. The latter saw Air using a mind-bending light set.

Whilst Snow Patrol were closing the Obelisk Arena in gentle fashion, Lambrini Girls were closing the Sunrise Arena with a bazooka of a live set, a truly riotous occasion with the crowd following the memo perfectly as limbs flew across the stage. With a set that mostly included extracts from 2025’s glorious debut album ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’, this was a rabble-rouser of the highest occasion as they stormed through favourites ‘Love’, ‘God’s Country’ and ‘Cuntology 101’. Lambrini Girls are destined to bring perfect chaos to any stage you see them on.

This may have been CLUNK’s Latitude debut, but with everything on offer, we can be absolutely sure it won’t be the last time.