Latitude 2017: 15 acts to see

This year’s Latitude sees crowd pleasers like Mumford & Sons, beardy folk sorts Fleet Foxes and ‘yes, we suppose someone must like them’ indie rock gods The 1975 rub shoulders with avant-garde dance, country, folk, electronica and Americana.

If your idea of a good time is punk pop played in a way designed to entertain the crowds, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more exciting new band playing Latitude than SuperGlu on the Lake Stage on Friday. Hailing from Manningtree, their tunes are gathering crowds on Spotify as you read. And if you dig SuperGlu, remember to bookend your weekend by checking out the reformed and revitalised Jesus and Mary Chain over on the BBC Stage on Sunday.

When Geoff Barrow isn’t Portisheading, he’s part of the trio that is Beak> along with Billy Fuller and Will Young (not that Will Young – although that would be interesting too in its own way). You’re likely to hear tracks from their recent soundtrack to Tom Geens’ film Couple in a Hole; catch Beak> on the Sunrise Arena on Friday. And, if you like Beak> you should also make sure to check out the bewitching Jorja Smith on the Lake Stage on the Saturday night.

Taking their name from a Danish fairy tale, Esben and the Witch have been described as "Radiohead without all the mithering," but frontwoman Rachel Davies’ ethereal vocals recall Slowdive at their best whilst Daniel Copeman’s drumming patterns aren’t a million miles away from those of The National’s Bryan Devendorf. As Finn the Human from Adventure Time would say, they’re mathematical – and well worth a watch. They play the Sunrise Arena on Friday.

The world may be a topsy-turvy place at the moment, but at least we have Beans on Toast to make sense of it for us. He can be a bit of a hippy and a bit of a punk but his political heart is firmly in the right place (check out the song A Whole Lot of Loving and you’ll be bang up to speed with where he’s coming from). Catch him at the Sunrise Arena on Saturday. If the Latitude crowd are chanting for Corbyn, chances are they’ll be doing it in front of Beans on Toast. 

If you’re coming to Latitude to party, then you’ll want to make an absolute beeline for Saint Motel – a band whose songs have been appearing all over adverts for some time now (check out My Type and Cold Cold Man and you’ll see what we mean). They’re the kind of band guaranteed to bring the sunshine with them; catch them on the Sunrise Arena on Friday. And if you want the party to continue, make sure to catch the equally tremendous GRLTLK’s DJ set on the Lake Stage on Saturday.

It isn’t Latitude without Tinariwen, all the way from the Saharan mountains and a global phenomena if ever there was one. They’ve played over 180 concerts in the last three years and you can tell: they are a machine of honed entertainment, a glorious rabble of wild instrumentation and hypnotic sounds. We can guarantee they will be a highlight; they play the Obelisk Arena on Friday.

We all like those festival moments when we hear a band for the first time and are blown away. There are a few contenders for 'act most likely to' – ranging from country duo Ward Thomas (Obelisk Arena, Sunday) to NY three-piece Sunflower Bean (Sunrise Arena, Sunday). But if we had to choose one act that we thought most likely to earn themselves the biggest share of attention from people who haven’t heard them before, we’d have to urge you towards Goat Girl (Sunrise Arena, Sunday) – who are soulful and dissonant in all the right ways.

The absolute best thing about a music festival is usually the opportunity it gives you to step outside your comfortable little niche in order to check out a bona fide legend – and we would say that there are two playing this year’s Latitude. The first is Mavis Staples, an enduring legend on the soul and R'n'B circuit; the fact her most recent album was produced by M. Ward and features contributions from the likes of Nick Cave, Neko Case, Justin Vernon and Aloe Blacc suggests her appeal isn’t waning any time soon. Catch her at the Obelisk Arena on Sunday. 

The second is undoubtedly John Cale – who also plays the Obelisk Arena on Sunday – a once-upon-a-time member of The Velvet Underground but also with a long and fascinating solo career in his own right. He’s been playing dates recently in which he performs the first VU album with a handful of special guests (including The Kills, Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, Clinic, Nadine Shah, Fat White Family and Wild Beasts) – it may be too much to expect something similar at Latitude but Cale is just about unmissable.

It may seem like a long time ago now that Fatboy Slim ruled the airways but he represents ‘that which you want at music festivals’: musicians who have big tunes and know how to work a crowd. Headlining the BBC Stage on the Sunday night, he’ll be the antidote to Fleet Foxes’ introspective harmonising and the last place Latitude-goers will be able to shake their booties as if Monday was still a long, long way away. Praise him is what we say.

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Latitude takes place at Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, 13-16 Jul