Good Morning Latitude

Good morning Vietnam!!!!! Ok well we are not in Vietnam or even going there, but still. Good Morning! It’s 8.32am and we are swiftly on our way to Latitude. Surprisingly we’re all quite sprightly, nothing to do with an overwhelming lack of sleep followed by strong coffee and a classic crunchy Friday affair. Rosh (our Company Manager) in true style has the chocolate in hand as well as all the team. Gotta love her SM style.

Kate (Productions Coordinator) is playing Mumsie, driving the van, set to a cracking soundtrack provided by our very own Pix (cast member). Classic old funk and soul legends, gracing our ears.

9.45am Food stop at Colchester. Everyone’s whistles suitably wetted, and we’re off again. The sun is shining, the spirits are high and the vocals are getting a warm up.

I wonder how the other coach is getting on? ONWARDS!!!!!

Spot on!!! 11.20am, we have arrived!!! Out the van……..back in the van. Oh the joys of good sign posting….not!!! A quick drive to the production office to get our passes and we’re on!

1.09pm and many of us are ready to go. Sound check in progress, I better do a warm up before we’re off. Changing rooms are well prepared. A fridge with beers, cider, vino, fruit, amazing! That’ll go down a treat post show.

30 minutes to go! And here we are all dressed and ready to go.

The Gig:

Well that seemed to go down well. Pretty crazy. I don’t remember much, apart from laughing at Jude (cast member) at one point just because she was going crazy, dancing in one of the songs. It was almost like she was having a freak out at a festival. Loved it.

Pix gave it his usual, full on ‘ow’s ya farver’. His proper arms up, stomping, ‘let’s av it’ moves make my day.

The energy on stage this afternoon, regardless of the heat was phenomenal. Maybe it’s because we knew there was just the one show to make our mark. And make it, we did.

Post show:

3.31pm and we are all off stage, almost packed up, ready for food and a beer or two. Latitude provided us with a meal ticket and so we’re off in search of food.

4.17pm and we’re elbow deep in amazing food. Proper healthy hearty stuff, courtesy of Latitude. Why thank you.

I was ‘supposed’ to be going home in the van, but that all changed when Jen decided to head back to London. I mean there was space in the van, but also, a new space in a tent. Who needs pyjamas’, clean underwear or anything else to camp? Not me obviously!  Jen tells us to have a good time and as we don’t need telling twice, we do as we are told and the fun begins at 5.10pm.

6.11pm and we’ve made it to the camp-site will all our gear. And so now, we attempt to put up this MASSIVE tent. I straight away sit back and take the role of dog’s body. I hate these situations where everyone knows the best way to do something. And as I have no clue, I take my place and basically laugh, take pictures and blog. To be fair to everyone, there was no bickering and everyone, just got on with it and it was a pretty swift operation. How many people does it take to put up a 12-person tent? More than 12! On the bright side we’re all laughing.

Jude has this covered. The mallet breaks but any object will do the trick. I’m sure there was a shoe at one point as well as the mallet head without a handle as well as hand and brute force.  I can tell Jude is used to these sorts of shenanigans.

7.10pm and so it begins. The tent is up and in the festival we go. We do a fair bit of walking around to find our bearings. It’s lovely all strolling in together. It’s not long before we start to disperse. Different people, meeting different mates here and there and drinking in the sun while we explore.

Morning:

Morning!!! It’s 8.04am and we’re all up. Apart from Stephen Collins (cast member), who is deep in sheep counting land, bless him. We’re all surprisingly awake and lively. The sun is gracing us again, which is great and it’s time to get productive.

8.22am on the way to breakfast. Although I said it last night and I’ll say it again: pink sheep? I’m not cool with that.

9.15am breakfast eaten, it’s fit a massive tent in a tiny bag time. Wish us luck.

Well that was surprisingly easy. Many hands do indeed make light work. And the tent all fitted in the bag it came in. That never happens. It’s a miracle.

Breakfast was great, Jude left a hilarious voicemail for Rosh and Kate as we needed to get back but they were on a mission to rally Kyle from his slumber at the other camping site. Jude was also a wonderful Tent packer upper. Eventually Kate arrived back and we drove to meet Kyle and Rosh at his camping area. Kate drove home and we all slept, so I’m afraid there was little to report.

3.33pm and this is where our journey must end. I’m on my way to another job so this is where the fun must stop. For now, we’re putting it to bed, Rock and roll peoples, Rock……aaaaaaannnnnnnd….rooooooooooolllllllllll!