Latitude Festival boss Melvin Benn announced he is “very confident” that the festival will go happen this year. Latitude 2021 is a four-day event that will see the performance of headliners Bastille, Wolf Alice, The Chemical Brothers and Bombay Bicycle Club. It is supposed to take place at Henham Park in Suffolk from July 23rd, just four days after the potential reopening from the UK Government. Tickets can be purchased here.
After being involved in talks with the Government, Benn – who is also managing director of Festival Republic and is organising Download’s pilot event – is confident that Latitude will go ahead as planned: “It’s been a long week after the Prime Minister’s announcement on Monday and while I was disappointed in the immediate aftermath of the statement, on reflection, I think it actually gives much more certainty of Latitude being able happen than if he had loosened things on Monday because the country will have strangled the variant’s ability to spread to a greater degree through increased vaccination than if we had opened fully this coming Monday”, he stated on the festival’s social media pages.
He continues: “So, for much of the week I have been in conversation with the Government on Latitude in particular and I’m very confident after those talks that Latitude will be allowed to go ahead. There will be more detail on the specifics next week but with this in mind, we will be announcing even more artists and day splits tomorrow as a demonstration of my confidence. More details will follow but we’ll 100 per cent keep you updated every step of the way. We’re very excited – it’s really happening!”
Hence, the Download pilot event happening this weekend is crucial in understanding what would be the future of UK festivals this summer. The event will be headlined by Bullet for my Valentine, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and Enter Shikari. The three-day campaign is part of ongoing research for a safe return to live music.
