Latitude 2025 – Festival Review

Latitude Festival 2025 (Friday-Sunday)
Henham Park, Suffolk
24th-27th July 2025

After buckets of rain greeted a soggy tide of punters onto the site, the music soon lifted spirits at Latitude 2025 as the sun began to poke its way through the holes in the overcast sky. 

As we entered the trees and headed to the tucked away treasure chest tent of new music discovery (otherwise known as The Alcove, where I would find a lot of my favourite discoveries of the weekend), Chest started the day with a rousing half an hour of brilliance which set the tone for a Friday full of exciting new bands. Straight after, hype band of the moment Westside Cowboy took to The Sunrise Arena, showcasing the nuanced songwriting and biting indie instrumentation that has seen them quickly gain widespread acclaim. 

The Sunrise Arena was where I settled for a while as The Orchestra (For Now) soon took to the stage, with a set which was one of my standouts of the week – capturing something which goes beyond the band’s already admirable studio recordings. Offering sprawling post-punk, the band captured a live sound which felt like the damaged poetic honesty of Tom Waits meets the musical depth and intensity of early radiohead. 

Blending intricate alt-rock guitar lines with dramatic strings and theatrical piano, the vocals led the music forwards with a purpose – moving from fragile and intimate moments to intense screamo, accentuating the already explosive dynamics of their studio recordings with a stunning sense of musicality and drama. 

Next up Cliffords again delivered another blinder. True to their recordings, but with a polished tightness and a captivating charisma thanks to the soaring, emotive vocal performances, the band delivered instantly repeatable melodies over their nuanced indie-rock backing. 

Another stand out of the weekend, Mandrake Handshake absolutely owned The Alcove with a set that was as hypnotic as it was urgent and engaging. Like Happy Mondays meets Hawkwind meets Fleetwood Mac, the band’s sound is free and unique, and yet cohesive and consistent.  

Layering biting synth arpeggiators, with swirls of phaser tinted guitar, jiving percussion and bouncing bass lines, the band created a bubbling, funk tinted psychedelic soundscape. Topped with the haunting dual lead vocals, which danced through overlapping melodies and beautifully placed, note-perfect harmonies, the band’s sound moved through a sea of atmospherics, awkward time signatures and long instrumental flourish, but crucially retained a vibrant and utterly mesmerising sense of accessibility and joy.

Into the early evening, The Kiffness took to the second stage. The set was fittingly silly in the best way possible (this is a family festival after all). A medley of his tiktok hits from the now renowned multitude of singing cat videos to samples of Donald Trump, the set was everything I had hoped it would be after I saw his name on the lineup. 

While Fran Lusty delivered some beautiful, heartful folk in the forest, Maribou State delivered a transcendent set on the mainstage (Obelisk Arena). Giving their lo-fi electronic sound a sense of grandeur with the addition of a live strings and brass section, the duos were joined by their guest vocalist for a number of their breakout tracks including Nervous Tics and Otherside, which glided elegantly through the summer haze. 

Sprints brought a sense of urgency and intent to the Second Stage with their evocative punk sound, before Basement Jaxx kept the energy going on the mainstage with a striking polished, crowd pleasing set. 

Feeder captured the essence of the essence of the ’90s resurgence as the crowd sang along to nearly every word of Just The Way I’m Feeling, before Sting started his headline set. Playing as a trio, focusing on just a simple guitar, bass, drums set up, the trio owned the stage, making a sound that it is hard to believe was just three musicians. Going through all the hits, from the odd Police track to Sting solo singalongs, it was a fitting and euphoric end to a day full of great music. 

Saturday saw Jade Bird bring buoyant indie-folk to the mainstage at Latitude as the now dusty ground put a haze over the midday sun. Capturing both a self-assured sense of resilience through the pointed vocal delivery and biting full band soundcapes, Bird’s move to indie gave the set a sense of drive and determination. This was broken up by points of  intimate, heartfelt emotion over stripped acoustic tracks, creating a nice mix that gently warmed everyone up for the dizzying euphoria of evening performances. 

Sorry brought their brand of edgy indie to the Second Stage, shifting the tone with biting guitar tones, glitchy electronic undertones and the effortlessly cool, half spoken vocal delivery. Dynamic and interesting despite the greyscale, muted nature of the band’s melancholic tone, the set was a standout of the day. 

Soon after, Example bought the energy to the Obelisk Arena, taking the crowd back to his feel good 2010 hits whilst joking about being told off for swearing. Next up, Clean Bandit took to the stage, bringing their unique brand of classical meets electronica with an added drive, thanks to the addition of punching live drums and some soaring guitar work. Guest vocalists delivered vibrant, soulful renditions of the band’s hits on a set which kept up the high energy, feel-good tone on the mainstage. 

As the rain began to fall, Kaiser Chiefs again captured a reassuring sense of nostalgia, but with an impressively, and admittedly unexpectedly full and gritty sound. Backed by some eye popping, bright, bizarre and oddly captivating visuals of graphics popping through the windows of a brick house, the band got the crowd roaring to hits of years past: I Predict A Riot and Ruby. 

On the Second Stage, Latitude favourites Public Service Broadcasting returned for another set of robotic spoken word over biting indie, crossing over with the start of a euphoric set from mainstage headliner Fatboy Slim. 

Running through a series of remixes, a few of his big hits, as well as cut up reworks (the mashup of Mr Brightside and Born Slippy being a favourite moment), Fatboy Slim had the crowd in the palm of his hand, as you would expect. The set moved with such a sense of knowing, keeping the momentum and interest going with minimal effort, keeping the packed out arena moving and singing from start to end. 

After a slow morning on day 3 (day 3 of a festival hurts, I’m getting old), the bright guitar tones of Hamish Hawk rang out from the second stage as I stumbled towards the coffee stand. Heading towards the forest, angry girl punk duo The Pill had the crowd spilling out of The Alcove for a set which was strikingly tight, fun with its irreverent, witty songwriting and fast strummed, fuzzy guitar tones. Moving on to the BBC Introducing Stage for Wyldest, it really struck me that the most exciting bands and my favourite moments of Latitude 2025 had been tucked away on the smaller stages. Wyldest and her band blanched moments of shoegaze tinted melancholic beauty with explosive crescendo brilliantly. Despite the two guitar, bass and drums line up, the nuanced, rich nature of the guitar tones and elegant vocals gave the set a depth and a warmth which took the sound far beyond the sum of its parts.

After catching a quick glimpse of Annahstasia’s one of a kind husky vocals on The Sunrise Arena, Lapsley brought some ambient, ethereal vibes to the Second Stage. Pale Waves upped the anti with a rousing set of strikingly catchy vocal melodies over the driving, buoyant indie-rock backing. Palace followed by bringing their floating shimmers of interlocking picked guitars.  

A stirring performance from Irish indie riser Somebody’s Child at The Sunrise Arena started my early evening. He delivered a sense of charisma and a driving, high octane flair to the already feverish sound of his studio recordings. As a portion of the main arena formed in front of a newly erected screen showing the Women’s Euro final, Doves packed out the second stage. Highlighting that they can more than deliver the hard to categorise indie-alt sound of their recordings, the band brought a giant sound to the tent, filling every corner with their shimmering riffs and effortlessly memorable melodies.  

Elbow soon took to the mainstage for an astonishingly good performance. Pausing their set early on to follow the penalty shootout, the band used the euphoria around the win to fuel the energy for their mainstage set as the band quipped “let’s celebrate with a song about regret”. 

One of the most complete sounding and utterly spotless performances of the weekend, Elbow delivered a blinder. Every track was elevated from the recording to a flourishing new height, from the main riff of Grounds For Divorce punching through one of the thickest, fuzziest guitar tones that any guitarist would dream of, to the overwhelmingly spotless, heartfelt delivery of Lippy Kids and euphoric, fittingly sun soaked One Day like This, this felt like a brilliant headline set in itself, and yet there was still Snow Patrol to come. 

Snow Patrol closed Latitude (for me at least) in a fittingly epic, singalong manner. One of those bands where it’s surprising how many songs you know; almost every riff, every vocal line was lodged somewhere in the back of my brain, and god, did they do it well. Despite approaching 20 years since their hit album Eyes Open, the band sounded the same as ever. The vocals retained the same clarity, the musicality shone as bright as ever, and the explosive instrumental breaks, like that at the end of Run, really exploded with intensity. 

The set was not only a reminder just how many great, and well known songs the band have but more so, a display of how affecting, relatable and honestly heartfelt their songwriting is, with moments it was hard not to feel moved by. 

All in all, while Latitude 2025 did make me miss the line ups of previous years where I had seen more current, breakout bands on the main stages, the festival delivered a bit of everything and a weekend which was wholeheartedly fulfilling, both musically and from a sense of just the joy of being in a festival atmosphere. From the raw and fresh sounds of the up and coming stages in the forest, to the singalong nostalgia of the main headliners, there was music for everyone if you knew where to look. Perhaps, just as importantly, despite the family friendly, slightly PG treatment the festival has got in recent years, it still felt like a major festival – something which I was worried would be lost along the way.   

Latitude’s shift toward what I’d call a “family festival” is clearly reflected in this year’s lineup – with that in mind, it delivered impressively. The packed crowds at nearly every set spoke to the festival’s ongoing popularity and success, suggesting a bright, promising future for the years ahead.

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All words by Simon Lucas-Hughes. More writing by Simon Lucas-Hughes can be found at his author’s archive.

All photos by Adam Williams follow here.