Latitude Festival 2011: Gold Panda
Sunday evening and finally an arena completely packed out as it should be. The fans had coming flocking to see Derwin Panda, who with a name like that could only be a musician - better known as Gold Panda.
I, among everyone else there by the looks of things, found myself completely hypnotised by Panda's beguiling, swirling melodies and glitchy beats. I've always found the Sunrise Arena, despite being my least favourite venue geographically and in terms of layout, has the best sound of all the arenas. This perfectly accommodated Gold Panda's extended dreamlike electronic-glitch tracks, with the bass vibrating through the ground and crowds bodies making each of us feel like human mobile phones.
Watching Gold Panda tirelessly move from side to side of his table of gizmos was almost as mesmerising as the music itself, an unusual mix of chill yet energetic music, which made dancing feel very peculiar with a combination of wanting to relax and go insane at the same time. Following Caribou's performance, strong DJ sets such as this is what Latitude was in desperate need of to revive the loss of motivation to party due to the rain and low turnout. Panda's performance was like an incredible massage on the brain. It was one of those gigs where you leave and you're not entirely sure where you've been for the past hour. The set, like My Morning Jacket, was a glimpse at what previous years have felt like and was undoubtedly a positive force for the soul of the festival.