“We’ve had so many dreams about this,” says Dream Wife’s guitarist Alice Go, as the band prepare to play their first show since January 2020.
“Dreams and nightmares,” corrects her bandmate Bella Podpadec.
“I had a dream that we couldn’t find any food until just before the show – and when we did, we were so hungry we gorged ourselves,” she continues.
“Then we couldn’t play because we were too full… And actually, I’m quite full now. I’m worried about digestion time.”
“The nightmare is coming true,” laughs singer Rakel Mjöll.
On stage an hour later, there are no signs of gastric problems as the punk trio head-bang and high-kick their way through a set so raucous it might register on the Richter scale.
Like everyone else, the band are overwhelmed at being back in gig-land for Latitude – the UK’s first full-capacity festival since 2019 (alongside Sheffield’s Tramlines, which also takes place this weekend).
Part of the government’s live event pilot scheme, Latitude has brought 40,000 mask-less but Covid-tested fans to Suffolk for three days of music, comedy, drama and entertainment.
But this is no normal festival audience. Walking around Henham Park, there’s an unmistakable sense of liberation amid the densely-packed music fans – many of whom started the day with a Disco Yoga session and followed that up with an old-skool hip-hop singalong in the BBC Sounds arena. They’re that enthusiastic.