The back of his trademark denim jacket read Gold Rush Kid, but George Ezra ended his 18-month tour on the final night of Latitude as more of a Good Time Bloke returning to his spiritual home, four years after he last headlined Suffolk’s cultivated weekend of music, comedy, debate and psychedelic sheep. If Latitude had a face, it would be British comedian Marcus Brigstocke. A personality: fellow comedian (and Brigstocke’s partner) Rachel Parris. A sound? Ezra’s tropical soul pop.
Yet as Latitude has gently evolved – the literary panels of old giving way to a podcastocalypse of Taskmaster alumni, and the David Cameron set now wooed with a banquet tent (guest speakers: Brigstocke and Parris) – musically it has mastered blending the safe with the seditious. Headlining Friday over the synthetic alt-pop of Metronomy and Confidence Man, for instance, Pulp were a lesson in nefarious nostalgia, oozing from the melodically sublime (Disco 2000, Common People) to the seedily salacious (Pink Glove, This is Hardcore) while Jarvis Cocker once more proved himself angle-poised of disco shape, dry of wit and a reliable supplier of free grapes.
