Latitude Festival 2014: James cancel Saturday performance due to flight delays

Main stage appearance is rescheduled to Sunday lunchtime on BBC Radio 6 stage

James singer Tim Booth (EPA)

Britpop band James have been forced to reschedule their Latitude Festival performance after their plane from Portugal was delayed.

The band were due to play on the Obelisk Stage at 4.55pm, but will now perform on the BBC 6 Music stage tomorrow at midday.

The Manchester group played at the MEO Marés Vivas festival in Porto last night, and were due to be flying back to Stansted in time for their late afternoon set at Henham Park in Southwold, Suffolk.

Latitude 2014 - review

James' guitarist Larry Gott had tweeted late this morning that the flight was delayed to such an extent that the band would not make their set, however, there was some confusion when he later said they had been able to board. Matters were complicated further when the band's lighting technician was held up at immigration control, according to Gott.

At around 4.30pm, Latitude Festival's official Twitter account confirmed that the 'Sit Down' singers would not be performing until tomorrow.

Gott tweeted: "Looks like we'll be waking @LatitudeFest up, opening the show sun midday from the @6_Music stage, c u there fun folks :-) #startthedayright"

The band had played in pouring rain at last night's performance, with downpours continuing today in the Portuguese city. However, it was unclear whether weather was the reason for the delays.

A spokesperson for Standsted Airport said that it had been operating normally despite the severe weather forecast in the south-east of England.

Heathrow airport said it would cancel one in five flights between 4 pm and 6pm this afternoon, when there was due to be a strong likelihood of poor weather conditions.

"There is severe weather forecast at Heathrow for Saturday 19 July with a 70 percent risk of thunderstorms, lightning strikes and hail storms," a spokeswoman said.

Blur's Damon Albarn headlines the main stage at Latitude this evening and The Black Keys will close the festival tomorrow. Lily Allen topped the bill last night, after being named as a last-minute replacement for Two Door Cinema Club, who cancelled their performance on Wednesday when their singer Alex Trimble was hospitalised with a chronic stomach complaint.