Tom Jones

Welsh singing legend Tom Jones will be making a special appearance at the upcoming Latitude Festival at the Henham Park Estate in Suffolk it has been announced.

Now in his seventieth year Tom Jones will appear in the woodland setting on the opening night of the festival July 15th, taking to the secluded and magical Stage In The Woods at midnight.

In this late and special performance Jones will appear with his band to perform songs from his brand new album Praise & Blame which will be released on July 26th through Island Records.

Jones’ career spans an unprecedented 45 years of a roller coaster ride, ground breaking and unpredictable times that have seen the singer achieve popularity through generations of record buying, concert going music fans.

The songs from Praise & Blame are from a repertoire that includes American traditional, gospel and country, seeing Jones going back to his roots and creating a truly evocative musical work, aided and abetted by producer/musician Ethan Johns.

Tom Jones says of Praise & Blame: “It’s food for thought, it’s real, it’s natural, and in that sense it’s truly me.”

Thirty years ago the UK music scene was alive and kickin’.  But the anger of post-punk Britain had turned to new explorative angles which were awkward boxed and termed as ‘new wave’.

The ripped up jeans and spiky hair of seventies punk was about to be replaced with the clean-cut and tidy mod and ska revival headed by The Specials and Madness.  Both of whom have reformed to play live this year.

With the 1980s came glamour, dressing up and synthesizers, the polar opposite to loud aggressive punk rock and a dress-down culture of 1970s.  A new pop sensation was in the making, and began playing sporadic, word-of-mouth live shows and a new scene began to grow around a small London nightclub called The Blitz.  Club regulars included Boy George, Steve Strange (the manager), and a band who were about to have their first Top 20 hit single with To Cut A Long Story Short.

From the New Romantics movement came Spandau Ballet, who like many other groups from the 1980s have recently reformed after officially breaking up in 1989.

Soon other pop groups were wearing make-up and flowery shirts.  Duran Duran jumped on the coat-tails of the New Romantic scene, while electro ‘Synth Pop’ music swamped the charts.  Bands like Soft Cell, Human League and Depeche Mode had hit after hit.

Depeche Mode went on to become one of the biggest bands in the world. Their last album, Playing the Angel topped the album charts in no less than 18 countries and the band’s subsequent tour saw them play to 2.5 million fans across the world.

The Depeche Mode 2009 Tour will be their first for six years.

Other artists from the 1980s that have recently resurrected their pop careers with new albums and announced live shows include Grace Jones and the Pet Shop Boys, who won the award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’ at the 2009 Brit Awards.

Grace Jones and the Pet Shop Boys are headlining this year’s Latitude Festival as well as playing live concerts in the UK this year.

Latitude Festival 2009

While Reading & Leeds Festivals are geared towards rock music lovers, Glastonbury has always offered more than just the music and been a more family-friendly festival.  But with the price of festival tickets there has been room for a smaller music festival in the UK with big name headline acts.  Over the past three years that void has been perfectly filled by the Latitude Festival.

Latitude is a small family-friendly music festival staged on the beautiful Suffolk coast, and this year it plays host to three legendary performers - Pet Shop Boys, Grace Jones and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

Pet Shop Boys headline announcement comes after their recent performance at the 2009 BRIT Awards, where they received an award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’ award. The Pet Shop Boys have released ten studio albums, all with a single word titles.  They have enjoyed continued commercial success since their first single, West End Girls was re-released in 1985.  Their current album is titled Yes.

Grace Jones has also recently returned with a commercially successful studio allbum, Hurricane (2008). Former supermodel, Grace Jones was at the peak of her commercial success between 1980 and 1985, original with great cover versions of songs like Private Life (The Pretenders) and Nightclubbing (Iggy Pop) with the perfect rhythm section accompaniment of Sly & Robbie, and then later with the Trevor Horn produced Slave To The Rhythm.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have enjoyed alternative cult status since they were formed in 198. Together they have released an astonishing 14 studio albums, the latest was Dig Lazarus Dig in 2008.

Other music acts already confirmed to play include Doves, Editors and Bat For Lashes along with other acts both musical and non-musical across the festival’s many arenas!

Taking place on 16th – 19th July, near Suffolk’s stunning sea-side town of Southwold, Latitude tickets are more reasonable priced, especially for a families.  This year’s festival will offer a wide range of entertainment from the worlds of music, film, comedy, theatre, cabaret, dance, poetry, literature and art.