The excitement is beginning to build and I’m hearing more and more mentions of the festival on social media. It can only mean one thing; it’s almost time for Latitude festival. Yes we’re only a few weeks away from East Anglia’s biggest music, arts and comedy festival and I can’t wait to go. It’s the highlight of my summer and kick-starts the holidays for me. The festival runs from 14th-17th July this year and I’ve been following the line-up announcements with anticipation all year. I blogged about the dance line up as soon as I heard about it, because my lindy hop heroes Swing Patrol are going to be performing this summer. I. Can’t. Wait.
The headline acts were announced earlier this year and includes The Maccabees and Beirut getting the party started on the Friday night, The National and Chvrches on Saturday, and M83, The Lumineers and New Order rounding off the festival on Sunday. If the star-studded line-up wasn’t enough, there are hundreds (and I mean hundreds) more acts to enjoy on numerous stages throughout the festival. Check out the full line up to find out which of your favourite performers will taking to the Obelisk Arena, the BBC Radio 6 Music Stage, the Sunrise Arena, the Lake Stage, the Alcove Stage, Comedy Tent, Literature Tent, Theatre, Film & Music Arena, Waterfront dance stage, Poetry tent, Cabaret venue, the Faraway Forest, the Woods and SO many more!
Now, you may have realised from my 2015 round-up of Latitude Festival that one of the main reasons I go to the festival is to see the comedy. Where else in the world can you see 50 internationally renowned comedians all in one place? I’m perfectly happy to plonk myself down in the Comedy Arena and not move for 8 hours! The only thing that will tempt me out of the comedy tent is if Nick Helm is performing in the Poetry arena. Or I might consider moving if a group of 5 comedians are putting on an improve show in the Literature marquee. Other than that, I tend to stay put until the last comedian has performed, then I go skipping off (with cheeks that ache from smiling so much) to enjoy the music for the rest of the evening. 
Last year I watched SO many comedians that I couldn’t possibly name them all here but my highlights were Sara Pascoe, Latitude ‘veteran’ Marcus Brigstocke, Nish Kumar, Jason Manford and Romesh Ranganathan. Best of all was Joe Lycett (who we later met while strolling through the Latitude fields) with a performance that made me scream with laughter, and (I think I might have mentioned it before) Nick Helm shouting poetry at a slightly scared audience in the poetry tent. When I caught up with him in the middle of the festival field he wasn’t at all scary and actually rather charming – hence why he’s top of my list to see performing again this year.
Oh and one stage that I’ll definitely be visiting this year is Late Night at the Sunrise Arena. With ‘my era’ Artful Dodger, Mike Skinner and the legendary Suggs (can you believe it?!) performing, I’ll be making my way over to the woods after the comedy tent closes. I’m gonna enjoy me some late night DJ sessions – it’s just like being a teenager again! 
With lots of festival folk heading off to Glastonbury this week (and the unfortunate hashtag #GlastonburyTraffic trending on Twitter..!) I’ve been thinking EVEN more about Latitude Festival and the wonderful time that my friends and I had at the festival last year. Thankfully, we didn’t get stuck in any festival traffic during the event and the weather here was SO gorgeous that everyone ended up with dusty feet from the exceptionally dry fields. It’s always lovely at Latitude festival no matter what the weather, so I’m getting really excited about visiting again this year. I’ll be sure to report back with plenty of photos and will keep you posted throughout the festival weekend on Twitter @Cassiefairy and Instragram @Cassiefairy. And please do let me know if you book tickets for Latitude Festival by leaving me a comment below – I’d love to know if you’re going too!
I attended Latitude festival as a member of the press but was not asked to write this blog post. This piece contains my own opinions and experiences of the festival and I am not responsible for your experience of the event.
