So, there’s Paul Merton — no less — smoking a cigarette and eating a baked potato. This, gentle reader, is the first thing I see at this year’s Latitude — and, surely, as celeb/food/fag interfaces go this might well take some beating.
Still, walking out into the site, I head straight to the Radio 4 Arena. If I can confess something to you, I’ll be missing this Sunday’s Archers onmibus, so I’m planning to spend as much time as possible loitering round the Radio 4 tent, particularly as they’re recording Just A Minute live from here tomorrow. Hence, of course, the presence of Paul Merton. Anyway, strolling off in the direction of the Lake Stage, I catch a bit of Bearsuit, from (relatively) nearby Norwich — bringing their inflatable balloons and blue capes to the pastoral bosom of Suffolk.
I also catch a snatch of The Aliens. I was a huge fan of the Beta Band, who featured The Aliens’ Gordon Anderson in their original line-up — and if the Beta Band’s debut “Dry The Rain” was the greatest song Primal Scream never recorded, then there’s something satisfying about hearing Anderson’s Aliens close their set with a suitably psychedelic cover of the Scream’s “Higher Than The Sun”. Mixed into The Beatles‘ “Helter Skelter”. And the Close Encounters theme.
A good start, I reckon, to Latitude 08.
Anyway, gotta motor — there’s Black Kids and Howling Bells to come, and if I’m very lucky I might be able to squeeze in a smidgeon of Julian Cope.