Friday.

So, on to the music then, and first off is Mancunian quartet (turned trio for today as one of their members couldn’t make it, we’re told) The Whip - 4/10 – who prove to be an extremely dull start to my Latitude '07 experience. They essentially just play one good song, complete with dancy-rhythms, simple, likeable melodies and synths a plenty, and then repeat until saturation point. On top of this, they are increasingly uncharismatic and endearing as their set goes on, and it just generally not a very exciting performance of not very interesting music.

Never mind then, onto Midlake - 7/10 - whom, despite major sound issues, do extremely well to pull off an entertaining set, mostly from their new album ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’. The Texans amusingly and dryly mention that recent indie blog hit ‘Roscoe’ has made it onto the “strip club play list” before a great rendition of said song, and generally kick things off in much better fashion.

Wilco - 9/10 – However are without a shadow of a doubt the band of the day, with an absolutely stunning performance. Their now legendary brand of heartfelt alt-country indie melded with chaotic and abrasive rock (almost punk, feeling like Sonic Youth at times) is a great act to behold when being performed live in front of you. Jeff Tweedy apologises for “Bringing the rain with them after it being such a lovely day” but is uncompromising in his deliverance vocally and with his guitar, whereas guitar powerhouse Nels Cline (who to me seems like he could be Josh Homme’s father in the way he plays) completely and repeatedly rips through the country rock safe ground that the band lay down in the majority of the songs, where needed. Excellent festival band and generally exciting live act, Wilco easily challenge as one of the best of the weekend.

For those who wanted an alternative headliner to the dreary humdrum of Damien Rice, there was Patrick Wolf - 7/10. This of course would have been fine, but originally the billed headliner for the Uncut Stage was Explosions in the Sky, and as an adoring fan, I couldn’t help but think about what could have been. Still, Patrick is a fantastic festival performer, particularly for his adoring fans that are scattered across the audience, as he rips through his electronica meets classical in a nicely formed 3 minute pop song set, and he is as enigmatic and iconic as we have come to expect from the young home-grown (he turns out to be the only interesting UK act of the whole weekend) multi-instrumentalist. Recent hit ‘The Magic Position’ of course goes down a storm, and he is simply put, a great performer. Couldn't help but still wish for Explosions in the Sky though.

Saturday.

Kicking off the Saturday then were North Carolina sextet Annuals - 8/10 – who somehow manage to not play recent fantastic single ‘Brother’ and still put on an amazing set, and to not an awful crowd for the time of day either. What they do play is all executed passionately and with excellent precision as this young band prove they are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the not to distance indie circuit record.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - 3/10 – Are though, unfortunately absolutely appalling. I came to give this band a fair chance after never being that much of a fan, and was quickly reminded why as they were just dreadful. These are some of the inexcusably weakest, most annoying vocals I’ve ever had to experience, and musically just generally quite unimaginative too. The only moments that showed any promise were those where front man Alec Ounsworth concentrated on guitar rather than the screeched yelps he calls vocals (this coming from a reporter who’s favourite band is Converge, no less) as moments touched upon almost post-rocky breakdowns and crescendos. These however were far too short lived to really make any impact and in the end were just miserable.

As for CSS, - 5/10 – they come as a welcome reprisal straight after Clap Your Hands…, but I still seem to be the only person alive that find this band boring live. Maybe I’m totally heartless or something, but I just don’t get it. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the Brazilian sextet’s self-titled debut was a fun, well produced pop record, but live it seems to me that people are too distracted by front-girl Lovefoxxx’s amusing yet ultimately pointless antics to notice how the sound is disgustingly flat, sloppy and how tracks like ‘Alala’ are performed without any of the menacing venom that comes across on record. Perhaps I’m too much of a perfectionist, but neither here or when I last saw them in a small-ish, dingy venue have they stuck to impress, and witty comments and Sepultura t-shirts aside, I am ultimately bored by a band that are supposed to make the listener want to dance and have a good time.

Seems like the Uncut Stage is proving as excellent refuge from boring, overrated, money-burning headliners from the main stage (tonight its The Good, The Bad and The Queen), so this time it’s the turn of the half Mexican, half Irish, totally awesome Spanish-acoustic-meets-just-about-everything-else duo Rodrigo y Gabriela - 8/10 – to save the evening. Entertaining, technically brilliant, a list of impressive covers and originals as long as your arm, and possibly the festival’s greatest moment when hundreds crammed into this small tent (apparently more and more as the set went on as more disgruntled fans headed over from the main stage, seemingly dissatisfied with Damon Albarn’s latest wank project) were singing Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' word-for-word back at the immensely talented duo. Awesome.

Sunday.

Onto the final day then and first off were gloomy, New Yoik sextet The National - 9/10 – who are, simply put, absolutely stunning. This is where I properly fell in love with this band. Despite the heat and small crowd numbers for the festival's biggest stage, they still create so much atmosphere in opener ‘Start a War’ alone that they are truly an amazing act to behold. They absolutely rip through their set despite not having all their equipment with them, (Cold War Kids however were on hand to help out) including astonishing renditions of ‘Fake Empire’ and ‘Mr. November’. If this year isn’t theirs then there is definitely something wrong with music today.

Cold War Kids - 8/10 - Keep things moving very nicely as they run through a fantastic, swinging, energetic journey through their debut album 'Robbers & Cowards'. At times it feels like I've actually travelled to the Deep South while watching them, as they play with all the passion and swing many of their contemporaries undoubtedly possessed to first become the inspiring acts they were. And of course, hit single ‘Hang Me Out to Dry’ gets everyone singing while soaking up the Sunday, summer sun; all in all, very enjoyable set.

As for The Rapture - 7/10 - they play at around the same time as CSS did yesterday and completely outshine them at their own game, despite not having as much commercial appeal. Here we have an act that are tight, intelligent and create fantastic dance-rock (with a much warmer and bassier sound than CSS) while still being fun and an entertaining festival band. Set highlight is undeniably ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ and its notorious ‘Counting’ breakdown.

Straight after that, it was over the bridge to my first visit to the newly-moved Sunrise Arena of the weekend to catch Canadian multi-instrumentalist and general nice guy Owen Pallett, better known as; Final Fantasy - 8/10 - Playing a tiny stage in the woods, this is the first performance of the whole weekend that I can truly describe as ‘intimate’ and who better to share it with than the very talented Mr. Pallett who once again proves why he's one of the most interesting, exciting and even humorous live acts out there today. He performs with stunning and enchanting precision for a solo artist who has to create all his songs perfectly right there in front of his generally very respectful audience, what I suppose is nice about being the kind of act he is, is that he can allow himself as much or as little time as he wants to construct the songs, as it will always remain intriguing to watch. And as for his voice, he is as ever pitch-perfect and strangely charming in his delivery; it’s exciting when one man can hold a crowd for half an hour with as much intensity and integrity as he does. And he still finds room to be fun and likeable, particularly with his ‘Jarvis Cocker banter’ (which is interesting given that later on a certain Win Butler would claim that the song ‘Laika’ could never have happened without Mr. Cocker.) and even being able to have a poke at himself whenever he made a mistake; again, a generally fantastic performer, who I can’t help but think can do everything Patrick Wolf can, just all at once.

And so finally, the only main-stage headliner that actually struck any interest with me to wrap up the weekend; The Arcade Fire - 9/10 – who for the record are joined by Mr. Pallett; quite a rare treat now-a-days. It’s been quite a long time since ‘Funeral’ first came out in late 2004. Ever since I first heard that record, not only did I fall in love, but I’ve had incredibly increasing amount of reports telling me that if there was a live act I should go check out, let it be The Arcade Fire. Amazingly, this July evening some 2 and half years later, is the first time for me. Unfortunately I am aggravatingly far away from the stage and kick myself for not getting closer, sooner. Not only this, but I appear to be in a bad patch of crowd, as the majority of my surrounding peers appear to be the usual festival cannon fodder that are here purely to see the headliners because they feel like they should (sorry, but that’s my only written complaint about the audience in the whole review, so let me have this one and we’ll return to the music). Still, complaints aside, The Montreal super-group are a spectacle, if nothing else. Once again during this set I’m left kicking myself that I never saw them back when they were still playing tiny, dirty basements, getting increasingly energetic and sweaty as they went on. Still, that’s not to say they’re a bad choice to headline the final night of a festival; there are moments here (mostly from that aforementioned debut album) that hit dizzying heights as far as crowd-band interaction goes, including ‘Rebellion (Lies)’ and set clincher ‘Wake Up’ particularly.

Amazingly though, it is the tracks from recent sophomore effort ‘Neon Bible’ that are the standout tracks of this set. Now, up until this point, I never really enjoyed that record too much, to me it seemed like it was half gold, half dirge. But now, after experiencing it live (even if I was annoyingly far back) suddenly I’m going back to that record, and I’m feeling its atmosphere in a way I never did before. Now, after seeing that huge, expansive amount of musicians play, what is an undoubtedly huge and expansive arrangement of music, I’m understanding its flow, its themes and that it's more subtle, less 'heart-on-its-sleeve' passion that made ‘Funeral’ such a stunning album. Of course, I could comment on the obvious tracks; ‘No Cars Go’ and ‘Intervention’ are both stunning live, but what’s really startling about this set, is that tracks like ‘Keep the Car Running’ and ‘(Antichrist Television Blues)’ tracks I perhaps didn’t really find the significance of until now, completely blow me away, and thus all of a sudden, this definite progression in sound and maturity as a band has struck me in a big way.

So, I look forward to seeing them on their next tour. Ok, granted it’s an arena tour so I could be facing the same problems as I did here, but at least I will (should) be surrounded by more genuine fans of the band, and with a greater understanding as to why their latest record has been so critically acclaimed up until now. As for the festival itself as a whole, it was light-years of improvement from last year’s still teething effort, and I am genuinely now looking forward to next years effort on the strength of the line up and improved organisation from last year. I just hope and pray that it stays relatively independent and doesn’t start relying on the mainstream rubbish that plagues our biggest festivals; I’m looking at you Razorlight.

Adam Turner-Heffer