Latitude Festival organiser Melvin Benn PICTURE: Ashley Pickering.

North Suffolk Setting is ‘perfect’ for Latitude festival, says organiser

Saturday, March 23, 2013
10:02 AM

Latitude founder Melvin Benn says the festival’s Suffolk setting inspires its performers and he is still on the lookout for local acts to add to the bill.

Mr Benn was speaking at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios in London after revealing the line-up live on 6 Music.

He said Suffolk people felt “pride” in the annual event, which is now in its eighth year, and a sense of “ownership” of the festival.

He said: “With Latitude, we created a festival in the area that wasn’t there; the area wasn’t previously thought of as a sort of ‘festival area’ in a way, and I looked around for a long time at where to put the festival and eventually came across Henham Park and it was perfect for it.

“It was perfect for it both in its location of the park and setting of the park but actually also in the atmosphere of the area – I know that might sound daft but somehow if I had a heavy metal festival at Henham Park it wouldn’t sit right.

“Latitude Festival sits right because the area feels as though it embraces it.

“Of course it’s well known the amount of playwrights and film people who live in the area. It seems to feed off it; it seems to work.”

Mr Benn added that following on from the breakthrough set from Suffolk’s Ed Sheeran two years ago he was always looking for East Anglian acts to add to the bill. It has been confirmed that 6 Music will be a key partner in the festival, with the second stage rebranded.