Latitude 2016: Part the fifth - Headliners

Friday - Grimes

If this were Culturebergs spiritual progenitor Tom Wolfe writing about Grimes he would no doubt echo his articles on the Noonday  Underground and the Tycoon of Teen, as Grimes is now pogoing on the zeitgeist and to some degree so of the moment it is difficult to explicate without somehow immersing yourself in her sound world.  Having spent merely an hour sans preconceptions in the same tent as Ms Grimes and a couple of thousand of her target audience I feel unqualified to make any judgement beyond noting her hyperkinetic show bridging the archetypal dance act cliche of the two backing dancers and a moderne take on electro pop , with a notable pan-global strain, almost oriental, like a hybrid of video game music, hip hop and dark wave.  There are high pitched trills, guttural growls whilst rolling on the ground, song introductions at 100 mph, light and sound exploding throughout.  Bewildering but intriguing.

Saturday -The National

The first act to headline Latitude twice, one must acknowledge the aptness of this.  The National are literate rockers, both cerebral and physical, thoughtful and abandoned.  They put on a well drilled show which sometimes appears on the edge of falling apart.  Well it is and it isn't.  Matt Berringer is a bit of a loose cannon who imbibes himself into a heightened state, tonight showering the stage with discarded wine, and the band have the wit and chops to follow where he wanders.
They drew a large crowd of initiates and neophytes and were rapturously received.  The road testing of (I think) 5 new songs may have sent a few off to see Soulwax, but the deft drama of staples like Fake Empire and Squalor Victoria was irresistible .  Matt went walkabout into the crowd, lost his glasses and returned like a bearded Stallone to lead the last song singalong of Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks.  The National can throw stadium shapes and still connect and they won't fuck us over.


Sunday - New Order

Cultureberg safely estimates that New Order drew the biggest crowd of the weekend and justifiably so.  They are as much part of manys DNA as the Beatles.  They're iconic.  It is difficult not to project onto their austere and probably timid selves.  they do kitchen sink drama on an immense scale, all Temptation and Regret