Latitude Festival 2011: Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Collins was an act that saved Latitude's soul and kept it true to its roots. His announcement was one that made sense on a Latitude bill, which cannot be said for many of the other acts on this year's puzzling line up.
It was hard not to feel sorry for Collins, once the sexy rocker front man of Glasweigan post-punk band Orange Juice now reduced to walking with a cane and slurred speech as a result of suffering multiple strokes in his lifetime. But this fact has not affected Collin's confidence, nor his performance. Despite his speech problems, the distinctive baritone Scottish shone through and didn't stop Collins doing what he does best.
Giving one of the most memorable shows of the weekend, Collins sung material spanning his entire career including tracks from his 2010 album 'Losing Sleep' featuring an amiable duet with his terrified looking son of 'In Your Eyes'. Throwing in some crowd-pleasing Orange Juice songs and finishing on the classic 'A Girl Like You' ensured a hugely rare and enjoyable experience. Regardless of the tragedy that has stood in his way throughout his life, Collins has delivered consistently good material throughout his career and is one of the few classic artists that doesn't fill and audience full of dread when they insist on playing their new tracks.
Pulling in the middle-aged nostalgists and young fans alike, Edwyn Collins provided a perfect family festival atmosphere to kick off the weekend on a strong note, before the torrential rain came along to dampen everyone's spirits...and clothes.