Great Tunes But Could Have Been Performed Better
Cold War Kids are quite the heroes of Latitude popping up in Elvis Perkins set and lending equipment to The National, who knows where else they've made a cameo or saved the day, but their slot on the last day is certainly eagerly awaited.
They kick off with the jaunty 'I Used To Vacation' after a short tense intro with maracas and percussion, which gets everyone in the audience pretty shaken up and ready to explode with excitement. The band have clearly got into the festival spirit with a hat theme going on as three out of four members sport summery headwear of some kind. Singer Nathan Willet steps up to the front of the stage for 'Old St John', which is quirky sing along with overwraught falsetto and sees the guitarist sloping behind the keyboard, although from the racket he doesn't seem to have much accuracy, but chugs out a bright selection of chords. 'Hospital Beds' evokes rapturous applause, but the band still seem a little coy and fail to acknowledge the crowd's feedback as much as they perhaps deserved, later joking self-depreciatingly, "We've had a few days out so forgotten how to play some of our songs" and declaring that this is a good festival as "all the others are run by drunks", well as it appears that the band have been around since yesterday at least and seen two stages, they're in a good position to know.
Brand new tune, 'Dream Old Men Dream' is a pleasant change from the constant sing alongs from the band's album, it's a rippling guitar melody with pulsing drumbeat and powerful chorus. Of course it's 'Hang Me Up To Dry' that receives the biggest cheer, an unlikely underdog anthem from the summer that's simply so different that you have to love it.