Latitude Ireland "will not happen this year"

Latitude - not coming to a country near you soon


The proposed Irish staging of UK festival 'Latitude' at Belvedere House Gardens and Park in Mullingar, Co. Westmeth over the weekend of July 18 -20 has been postponed.


Although the venue, which has played host to the Hi:Fi and Midlands Music Festival in recent years, was booked for Latitude and plans were submitted to its owners, Westmeath County Council, by Festival Republic (which Irish giants MCD have a share in) the festival was called off earlier this month.


A Council spokesperson told Hot Lunch that Latitude "will not happen this year" or possibly any other year for that matter. The local authority and the management of Belvedere are said to be devestated that the high-profile maiden voyage for the festival has been nixed. Earlier this year there was THREE music festivals booked for Belvedere, which is undoubtedly the finest festival site in Ireland. Now, it looks like there will be none. As On the Record said last week, the Irish festival market is in a state of flux, with some high profile casualties including both the Midlands Music Festival and Garden Party for POD Concerts, who are rumoured to have lost money on both. MCD, their main rivals, even struggled to shift tickets for the teenage rite-of-passage that is the Oxegen festival. It's line up was pitched at the oldies and, it has to be said, is the one of the weakest Oxegen line-up in years with plenty of old timers on stage to confuse the kids who have made this festival a no-go area for most self respecting music fans in recent years.

But POD have an ace in their sleeve, and that is the peerless Electric Picnic, the line-up of which is being announced tomorrow (Wednesday). Latitude itself was modelled on the Picnic (or Leccy Piccy as Hot Press inanely call it) and with Latitude falling by the wayside, and MCD not able to tie in acts for a twin festival (as they do with T In The Park/Oxegen) that now isn't happening it's technically been 'open season' for a number of acts on the UK Latitude bill, which no doubt means we'll be seeing Sigur Ros, Franz Ferdinand and the brilliant Elbow play the Electric Picnic this year.

Richard Hawley for Oxegen

Balls! Not only is it snowing outside and NOT sticking, but now Richard Hawley has become the straw that broke the camel's back and looks like dragging me to a racecourse in Punchestown for three days in July. I always say I'm not going, and I always go anyway, but this year was going to be a definite no-no. Then they started announcing acts and I got very tempted. And now today, with Hawley and Battles joining another handful I want to see I'm very, very tempted.

Good to see that tradition is being maintained and absolutely feck all Irish acts have been announced. How did Ten Spee.. Future Kings of Spain manage to become the first of all TWO acts annonced thus far?

Anyway, Hawley joins the fakest band in the world, the frankly ridiculous Editors with their annoying pretend-spa frontman Tom Shit, ginger crusty Newton Faulkner, Kate Nash, The Zutons, The Hoosiers, Scouting for Girls, Roisin Murphy, Pendulum, Lightspeed Champion, Bowling For Soup, and previously announced Kings of Leon, R.E.M., The Verve, Rage Against The Machine, Kaiser Chiefs, The Prodigy, The Fratellis, Interpol, Chemical Brothers, Counting Crows, Stereophonics, The Raconteurs, Ian Brown, Hot Chip, Justice, Panic At The Disco, The Feeling, Aphex Twin, Band Of Horses, Seasick Steve, The Courteeners, Future Kings Of Racer, Alabama 3, DJ Koze, Kaz James, Crookers and Battles (how did they get Battles?) in Punchestown in July. I see they're doing day tickets again. Good call MCD. Hopefully you'll sort the fucking parking out this year.

Check in on Shane Meadows' website for a couple of Hawley vidz and some behind the scenes malarky.

Snow is getting heavier, maybe it WILL stick! Holy fuck, it is sticking.

EDIT - It stuck for half an hour. I managed to eat some for lunch. It's now pissing hailstones. Or shitting hailstones or whatever swear word applies to them...

The only interesting thing about Oxegen headliners REM is the drummer

REM for Oxegen

According to Hot Press, My Bloody Valentine are paying Electric Picnic because they heard Primal Scream and Jesus and Mary Chain had great craic at it last year. So, does that mean REM are playing one of the most atrocious festivals in the world becuase they heard Davy Carton of the Saw Doctors, the drummer from Arcade Fire and Avril Lavigne had a right old laugh at it last year? Probably.

Anyway, after not much deliberation at all, REM have been unveiled - alongside the totally out of their depth Kings of Leon - as the main Oxegen headliners. Expect a clatter of shite and at least a dozen acts worth breaking the now-annual "I'm never going again" pledge to be announced once MCD get the Meteors out of the way.

T In The Park is normally a good guide as to who's playing Oxegen, and to dat they have announced: The Verve, Rage Against The Machine, REM, Kings of Leon, Fratellis, Kaiser Chiefs, Stereophonics, Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Kooks, Aphex Twin, KT Tunstall, Biffy Clyro, Erol Alkan, Amy Winehouse, The Raconteurs, Primal Scream, Feeder, Counting Crows, The Feeling, DJ Hell, Wombats, Ian Brown, Amy MacDonald, Pigeon Detectives, The Enemy, The Pogues, Justice, The Charlatans, Interpol, Hot Chip, Pendulum, Ben Folds, Slam, Reverend And The Makers, The National, Jack Penate, Alabama 3, Sons and Daughters, Lightspeed Champion, The Courteeners, Band of Horses, Seasick Steve, Ting Tings, The Law, Black Kids, Sergeant, Gabriella Cilmi, and many more to be announced... Bloody Hell. RATM? Aphex Twin? Looks like my pledge is already broken...

REM are a curious beast and, like the decision to stick The Who on the main stage two years ago, they are a baffling choice to play a load of post Junior Cert teens, culturally clueless culchies and rookie drug users. It's a well known fact at this stage that REM haven't made a decent album since the mid-1990's. Sadly, the only interesting thing about them these days is the fact that former Ministry drummer Bill Rieflin plays with them, and even at that they only seem to allow him play live as he has yet to become an 'official' member despite putting up with their directionless MOR shite since 1997.

Rieflin was with Ministry from '86, joining them midway through "The Land of Rape and Honey" sessions. He went onto drum on "The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste", although by this stage he'd turned into a cyborg. After extensive surgery pioneered by Omni Consumer Products (OCP) had turned him back into a tweed-friendly dandy, he can be seen 'in the flesh' on the rather dangerous live vidjo "In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up". His finest hours sweating like a lug behind Al Jourgensen, though, came with the seminal "Psalm 69" and the organic and utterly briliant "Filth Pig" - arguably Ministry's finest hour that. Sadly, old Bill didn't seem to think so, and he fucked off before the "Filth Pig" tour got underway.

Somehow he ended up in REM, and last summer he thrilled the natives and regulars in Barney Drakes pub in the tiny Westmeath village of Castletown-Geoghegan when he became the only REM member to get publicly drunk when they stopped off for a few pints after a day at the Kilbeggan races. Stipe, by all accounts, wanted to go home straight away because two local children asked him to sing a song. The other two sheepishly followed but not before Rieflin snuck in two more quick ones.

I suppose the fact he's still not yet an official member of REM makes this outrageous behaviour acceptable. He's had plenty of grounding in madouva la-la-land. Away from Ministry and REM, Rieflin has pounded the pots for the likes of KMFDM Lard, 1000 Homo DJ's, Pigface, and The Revolting Cocks. His only other soft drumming jobs have been with Robyn Hitchcock and The Minus 5.