Latitude closes with George Ezra on 'Singalong Sunday'

As helium headlines the Latitude Festival, George Ezra offers immoderate redundant instructions.

"Halfway done this song," helium tells the audience, "I'm going to present you to immoderate words and we're going to sing them together."

The assemblage don't request asking. They already cognize the drill. They've been singing astatine the apical of their lungs each day.

By luck oregon design, festival organisers person planned a full time of singalongs. A Radio 2 playlist of aureate oldies and modern classics.

Ezra is astatine the apical of the bill, playing the past amusement of his 18-month satellite tour.

But 12 hours earlier, the main signifier successful Suffolk opened with Manchester indie set James, celebrating their 40th day by reworking their backmost catalogue with an orchestra and a gospel choir.

They commencement with an ace - a hushed mentation of Sit Down that blows distant immoderate campsite cobwebs successful the audience.

"We came connected astatine this time, wherever determination wouldn't beryllium immoderate sound pollution, truthful we could bash immoderate of our much quiescent songs," says frontman Tim Booth.

Frustratingly, they astir squander the goodwill, continuing the acceptable with the 2010 medium way Dust Motes and an obscure b-side, The Lake. Even Booth admits these tracks volition trial the audience's "concentration and patience", which makes you wonderment wherefore they bothered.

But erstwhile they crook to the hits - Tomorrow, Born Of Frustration, Laid - everything comes to life. Then an assemblage subordinate screams, "Play Say Something!" and, to his surprise, the set agree.

"Don't archer anyone we took a request," asks Booth. "It'd beryllium unspeakable if this caught on."

It ends with a long, lingering chorus that alternates betwixt the choir and the crowd, which seems to permission the set stunned. The signifier manager intelligibly agrees - and gifts them an other 10 minutes to support the magic flowing.

After Ireland's Picture This present immoderate high-energy popular kicks, The Bootleg Beatles instrumentality the stage, boasting the alternatively unfair luxury of the world's champion opus catalogue to conception their setlist from.

Thankfully, they debar Maxwell's Silver Hammer and unfastened with the mop apical classics - Can't Buy Me Love, Twist and Shout, Help - earlier swerving into the post-Pepper epoch with I've Got A Feeling, Get Back and Come Together.

They exemplify the 2 halves with era-appropriate costume changes, transforming from clean-cut youngsters to shaggy-haired iconoclasts.

"It's astonishing what LSD tin bash for your hair," quips the Bootleg John Lennon.

The acceptable ends with Hey Jude (what else?) producing much na-nas than the antheral from Del Monte.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor covers Madonna's Like A Prayer, but she's much similar a Ray of Light - precocious kicking and shimmying astir the stage, saying hullo to everyone successful the assemblage portion streamers flail from her epaulettes.

Complying with due festival etiquette, she wholly ignores her caller medium to play a Kitchen Disco acceptable that interspersed her hits with covers of Moloko's Sing It Back and Mojo's Lady (Hear Me Tonight).

But the affectional precocious constituent comes erstwhile she introduces her mum, erstwhile Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis, who was watching from the broadside of the stage.

"This is her archetypal ever festival," Sophie announces. "It's taken maine 25 years to get her to travel to a field… It's a spot similar seeing the Queen."

As she plays Young Blood - written astir the enduring emotion betwixt her mum and step-dad John Leach, who died successful 2020 - the camera pans to Ellis, wiping tears from her eyes.

After a little reset, Scottish rockers The Proclaimers instrumentality the reins, attracting a monolithic assemblage who conscionable privation to loop retired (I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles.

Newcomer Mimi Webb has a smaller, younger, but nary little enthusiastic audience, chanting her sanction and sitting connected parent's shoulders to shriek the words to Red Flags and House On Fire.

Webb's parents besides marque an quality - staging a signifier penetration to contiguous her with a 23rd day barroom and pb everyone successful an impromptu chorus of Happy Birthday.

The vocalist aboriginal confesses her day privation successful 2022 had been to play Latitude.

"That was my extremity for this twelvemonth [and] I americium so, truthful stoked to beryllium here."

Ezra gets the biggest assemblage of the full weekend, and a young 1 excessively - toting glow sticks, bubble guns and Pokemon hats arsenic they creation astir to his effortlessly sunny popular songs.

It would instrumentality a hard bosom not to lukewarm to tracks similar Anyone For You, Budapest, and Paradise, each of which clasp the tantalising committedness of flight (a imagination everyone is trying desperately to clasp onto, arsenic the festival ends and they look the quagmire of the carpark).

When helium switches to the romanticist quality of Hold My Girl, you tin perceive a pin drop; and erstwhile helium plays the ebullient Green Green Grass - "a solemnisation of life" - the enactment spills retired beyond the Obelisk arena, with kids and parents dancing astir the nutrient stalls.

Ezra's occupation seems elemental - but penning life-affirming popular songs is overmuch harder than moping astir being edgy. The assemblage clasp him not due to the fact that he's cool, but due to the fact that there's a upland apical we're each dreaming of.

The BBC Sounds structure caters to the assemblage who privation thing much visceral, with a noisy, jolting acceptable from Black Midi; and a uncommon accidental to spot Siouxsie Sioux, playing lone her 2nd UK gig successful 10 years.

She twists bewitchingly crossed the signifier successful a metallic jumpsuit, punching retired the beats of goth-punk anthems similar Spellbound, Happy House and Hong Kong Garden.

Her still-loyal fans are truthful anxious to get adjacent that she has to admonish them.

"You're each packed successful similar sardines," she declares earlier launching into Kiss Them For Me. "You request immoderate country to dance".

Back connected the main stage, Ezra is astir to wrapper up.

"We've been connected circuit playing these songs for 18 months and this is our past show," helium declares.

"It has been an implicit pleasance to stock it with you."

Then helium launches into Shotgun, his biggest, singalongiest number, augmented by fireworks and confetti and arms being punched successful the air.

But, arsenic if to beryllium a point, Latitude didn't fto their headliner person the past word.

As the assemblage record away, the speakers commencement playing Matthew Wilder's 1980s oddity Break My Stride.

And that, for nary evident reason, becomes the closing chorus of Singalong Sunday.