Prior commitments meant I could only spend a day at the Latitude Festival, but what a day. From comedy to music the Festival really was a sight for sore eyes this year. 

 

Well, I say it was a sight for sore eyes, but the sight part is partly based on what others told me. While it's great to see everyone packing into the comedy tent it meant that by the time I arrived for Flo and Joan I could barely glimpse Flo's legs (pictured in third shot down) on the video screen from the best vantage point I could find behind the accessible toilets.

 

I don't know if the attendance was larger this year or whether more people are into comedy but I've never seen the tent like this. Musical sisters Flo and Joan were great, their spiky songs, harmonies and wordplay easily winning over the crowd who maybe only knew them from the naff Nationwide ads. They were also won over by the songs they did that they claimed were rejected by Nationwide.

 

As fans trickled out after Flo and Joan, Sara Pascoe (pictured in pink) came on without a break, catching her a little on the hop. After a quick anecdote about once seeing someone leave a gig who turned out to have diarrhea she went off and came back on and started again on storming form with material from her recent I Am A Strange Gloop tour. She was particular good about relationships, discussing what it was like to have a tall husband with size thirteen feet. The novelty soon wore off when she realised that two of his clothing items would fill the laundry basket.

 

And talking of filling up, my partner couldn't join me for Pascoe as – a first for Latitude? – when she arrived she said there was a sign outside saying "Full". It really was crazy rammed. I've sat in the tent during thunderstorms with people only there to shelter or watching the likes of Michael McIntyre and Russell Howard and it was never as crowded as this. 

 

So after a cheese sandwich I decided to head over to The smaller but more spacious Listening Post marquee where Adam Buxton was doing a special Bug show paying homage to that evening's star turn David Byrne. He was joined by Byrne superfan Ivo Graham – their entrance dancing on in giant oversized Stop Making Sense suits was a true joy to behold.

 

The show was a great primer for the upcoming Byrne gig, comically filling us in on background to songs. At one point Graham handed out Starbursts and instructed those who got one to eat it when Byrne did Graham's dad's favourite song as dad couldn't make it.

 

Josie Long and Sara Pascoe also popped up as guests and both had their own Byrne anecdotes. Long met him at a festival and they chatted about Glasgow cycle routes while Pascoe met him when they both appeared on the same Jonathan Ross show. It wasn't quite clear why but Pascoe gifted a toy monkey to Graham that had a Byrne connection.

 

Graham later explained that he had emailed Byrne's people asking him to perform in orange tonight as he is obsessed with the colour (his own current show is called Orange Crush). Byrne has been performing in blue and orange on this tour. Would Graham's wish be granted? 

 

The Listening Post actually turned out to be a great sanctuary to hang and sadly I didn't make it back to the Comedy Tent for headliner Ross Noble. Instead I stayed for John Cooper Clarke who really is bordering on the world's most unlikely national treasure. His poems, anecdotes and generally engaging punky/vaudevillian black clad stick insect lookalike eccentricity had the full house hooked.*

 

I know this website is supposed to be about comedy, but the buzz at Latitude was clearly all about David Byrne. He has been touring his latest show to rave reviews and as the sun set over Henham Park he came on with his band and dancers, all dressed in orange much to Ivo Graham's delight, and didn't disappoint for a moment. 

 

Whereas his last show American Utopia had more of a concept, this was more like a greatest hits mix of recent new work and classic Talking Heads numbers – the perfect combination for an audience – of a certain age – who hadn't necessarily bought tickets just for Byrne. Each song was backed by striking video footage. Byrne danced, played guitar, introduced most songs and even, like the best touring stand-ups, chucked in some local material, explaing how he had stayed in Norwich last night where the people "think" - at which point a big Norwich road sign saying "think" appeared behind him. 

 

If you really forced me to choose a highlight of the day it would probably be Burning Down The House or Psycho Killer. I've seen some great gigs here over the years – Pulp, Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Adam Hills crowd surfing the comedy tent – but this was a perfectly pitched show that really delivered. I came for the comedy, but stayed for the music. This really was Byrne's Night.