Thousands of music fans will flock to Suffolk over the coming days for an award-winning highlight of the festival season.

East Anglian Daily Times: Early arrivals at last year's festival Picture: PAUL JOHN BAYFIELDEarly arrivals at last year's festival Picture: PAUL JOHN BAYFIELD (Image: PAUL JOHN BAYFIELD)

Latitude 2018 kicks off at Henham Park near Southwold tomorrow offering three days of music, comedy, dance and theatre.

Headline acts include The Killers, Solange, alt-J, as well as The Charlatans, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man and Mogwai – while mystery still surrounds who will be performing the “secret set”.

Previous secret set performers have included the likes of Ed Sheeran, Rudimental, Thom York, Snow Patrol and Tom Jones.

Festival organisers have been teasing festival-goers as to who the “iconic” act will be this year.

“There are lots of rumours about who could perform at secret set at Latitude this summer,” a spokesman said. “This is possibly the biggest secret set Latitude has ever booked.”

Many of the 30,000 estimated visitors to the festival travelled up yesterday to pitch their tents and soak up the atmosphere ahead of the official start later today.

Organisers Festival Republic have taken major steps in recent years to manage the large volumes of traffic heading to the festival grounds along the A12 and cross country roads.

“This plan aims to increase safety, ease congestion around and through local villages, minimise disruption and ensure the safety of residents and Latitude Festival attendees,” a spokesman said.

“We will continue to use three different routes to the site to ensure traffic is balanced more appropriately in the wider area and on approach to the festival. This may mean that journeys appear longer when checked on satellite navigation, but it will be quicker and the traffic flow in the vicinity of the site should work well.”

Suffolk police has issued advice to festival-goers to ensure crime is kept to a minimum.

Det Supt David Cutler said: “The festival has become a well established fixture on the Suffolk calendar and, as such, we want everyone to enjoy it. “We urge everyone attending to be mindful of the security of their valuables as there will be a very small minority who will look to exploit those who have their guard down. Have fun at the festival, but stay vigilant, be aware of your surroundings and stay safe. If you have any concerns, please approach one of our officers or a member of the event staff who will be happy to help.”