The first major UK festival will welcome in 40,000 people this weekend

This weekend, Latitude Festival will welcome 40,000 attendees, making it the first major event to go ahead in the UK since the pandemic began.

Taking place in Suffolk’s Newnham Park, the four-day festival will be the largest of its kind to go ahead. In the past 16 months since the pandemic began, the largest event to take place in the UK was Download Festival, a test event with 10,000 attendees.

Latitude started yesterday and was said to be “the safest place in England” according to organisers. To enter, festival-goers must be double vaccinated or show proof of a negative COVID test.

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Despite all restrictions having been lifted in the UK, Latitude will still go ahead as a pilot event in coordination with the government. As part of the Events Research Programme, COVID cases linked to the festival will be closely followed and researched in the weeks following.

Latitude will welcome hundreds of acts onto the stage across the four day weekend, including a headline set from The Chemical Brothers, as well as Wolf Alice, Rudimental, and Bastille.

Several acts tested positive for COVID in the days leading up to the event, meaning they can no longer play. Fontaines D.C., Arlo Parks, and Alfie Templeman are all said to have contracted the virus.

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“I am really very happy and very relaxed,” Latitude founder Melvin Benn told Sky News. It’s probably as close to being the safest place in England today really."

"We had a great night last night. It was a huge party. None of the main stage acts were playing, but there is a lot going on in the woods, on the lake and in the theatre area,” he continued.

[Via Sky News]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter