Latitude Festival

An estimated 12,000 people attended the inaugural festival in 2006 at Henham Park, near Southwold, with the majority won over by the mixture of music, comedy, theatre and poetry.

On the eve of the festival returning for its second year, organisers Mean Fiddler announced the sell out and also revealed a weather-forced change to the main arena.

Arcade Fire

"The Obelisk Arena; last year it was in a giant marquee and was this year also, until last Friday, when a huge swirling wind attacked it and ripped it apart," revealed Mean Fiddler's chief executive Melvin Benn.

"A mad scramble followed to replace like with like but we couldn't find a marquee big enough so it is now an open air stage. It looks beautiful and is a big enough space for everyone to get a great view of all of the acts on stage."

The headline acts to enjoy the new stage at this year's festival are Damien Rice (Friday), the supergroup behind The Good, The Bad & The Queen (Saturday) and Arcade Fire (Sunday).

Arcade Fire earned worldwide acclaim in 2005 with the release of their debut album, Funeral and the follow-up Neon Bible is doing similar business.

Bat For Lashes

Benn is delighted to have secured what he sees as three ideal headliners: "I'm very excited. We set out on a path with last year's festival and I would certainly say the acts we have chosen to headline this year's Latitude Festival are very much in that vein. I'm really delighted with them.

"With perhaps the band with the album of the year already, Arcade Fire, that for me is pretty much as good as, and as ideal as I wanted for this year's Latitude."

Damon Albarn last played Suffolk as part of Blur at the Ipswich Corn Exchange at the peak of Britpop. After enjoying success in the dance world with his next project, Gorillaz, Albarn got together with Paul Simonon of The Clash, drummer Tony Allen and The Verve's Simon Tong to form the band behind Saturday's headline slot.

Damien Rice

More music

Other bands to be confirmed for the festival include The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr, former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, Wilco, Au Revoir Simone, The Magic Numbers, Bat For Lashes, The Rapture, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Wilco and Cansei De Ser Sexy (CSS). Captain Corelli's Mandolin author (and former Ipswich schoolteacher) Louis De Bernieres will appear in the literary tent.

Scott Matthews - the folk/blues singer songwriter who supported the Foo Fighters at their special unplugged gig in Ipswich in 2006 (see Foos review on the right>), the former Screaming Trees singer Mark Lanegan, SFA's Gruff Rhys, Gotan Project and Rickie Lee Jones are also playing.

Magic Numbers

Representing the local scene are Bungay singer Tom Baxter (Uncut Arena) and Ipswich's James Severy (Lake Stage), both on Saturday.

Last year's festival, which differed from the likes of Reading and the V Festival by having tents dedicated to other forms of the arts such as poetry and theatre, was headlined by Snow Patrol, Anthony and the Johnsons and Mogwai.

"It was a tough act to follow as we set out on a great path last year," Benn continued. "I think it would be very difficult to find more suitable headliners for Latitude. I think we hit all the right things in terms of what we're looking Latitude to be."

The announcement of the headliners will no doubt leave some disappointed, especially those who were hoping for confirmation of rumoured appearances from The Who and Joni Mitchell: "I can assure you neither of those is going to happen," said Benn.

"The Who, as wonderful as they are, are headlining the Glastonbury Festival but they actually wouldn't be a headliner I'd necessarily be looking for at Latitude at this point in time.

"Joni Mitchell would have been marvellous to have, not necessarily as a headliner but certainly as an artist in her own right - but she's definitely not playing."

Comedy and theatre

The comedy tent line-up seems to be getting stronger and stronger. Phil Jupitus, Bill Bailey and Arnab Chanda have been added to a bill which already features Alan Carr, Stewart Lee, Dylan Moran, Mark Steel, Lee Mack, Russell Howard and The Early Edition with Marcus Brigstocke.

Comedian Mark Lamarr is curating a night in the Music & Film tent which aims to showcase the sort of eclective mix to be found on his BBC Radio 2 God's Jukebox show. At Latitude that means 1980s ska-revivalists The Beat, Alabama 3 (still best known for The Sopranos theme tune), Broken Family Band, Edgar Jones and Little George Sueref.

The Royal Court will again be the main 'act' in the theatre tent where they'll be joined by the Nabakov Theatre, Small Change Theatre, Paper Birds, Lizzie Roper in Peccadillo Circus, Colin & Fergus and the Bush Theatre.

Revisit last year's festival via the links on the right.