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Isle of Wight Festival
Genre	Rock, pop
Dates	20-23 June 2024
Location(s)	Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, England
Years active	1968–1970 2002–2019 2021–present
Website	isleofwightfestival.com

The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.

The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early festivals and the unexpectedly high attendance levels led, in 1971, to Parliament adding a section to the Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971 preventing overnight open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special licence from the council. The event was revived in 2002.

Original festival

The original events were promoted and organised by the Foulk brothers (Ron and Ray Foulk) under the banner of their company Fiery Creations Limited and their younger brother Bill Foulk. The venues were Ford Farm (near Godshill), Wootton and Afton Down (near Freshwater) respectively. The 1969 event featured Bob Dylan and the Band. This was Dylan's first paid performance since his motor cycle accident some three years earlier, and was held at a time when many still wondered if he would ever perform again. Followers from across the world trekked to the Isle of Wight for the performance. Estimates of 150,000–250,000 attended. The 1969 festival opened on Friday 29 August—eleven days after the close of Woodstock. Dylan was living in Woodstock, New York, at the time and it was widely believed that he would perform there, after the event had been "put in his own backyard". As it happened, Dylan left for the Isle of Wight on 15 August—the day the Woodstock festival began.

The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early festivals; indeed it was said at the time to be one of the largest human gatherings in the world, with estimates of over 600,000, surpassing the attendance at Woodstock. Included in the line-up of over fifty performers were Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, The Doors, The Who, Lighthouse, Ten Years After, Terry Reid, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Joni Mitchell, The Moody Blues, Melanie, Donovan, Gilberto Gil, Free, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, Jethro Tull, Taste (Irish band) and Tiny Tim. The unexpectedly high attendance levels led, in 1971, to Parliament adding a section to the Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971 preventing overnight open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special licence from the council.

The 1970 festival was filmed by a film crew under director Murray Lerner, who at that point had just directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary Festival of the Newport Folk Festival. The footage passed to Lerner in settlement of legal fees after a dispute with the Foulk brothers in which each side claimed against the other for breach of contract. Lerner distilled material from the festival into the film Message to Love (released on video in the US as Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival: The Movie) released theatrically in 1996 and subsequently on DVD. In addition to this film, Lerner has created full-length films focused on performances by individual artists at the 1970 festival. To date there have been individual films of Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues, Free, Taste (Irish band), Leonard Cohen, Jethro Tull, The Doors and Joni Mitchell. Dave Roe (ex Liverpool Collegiate) produced all the psychedelic artwork for posters and advertising material.

1968

The first festival was held at Hells Field, Ford farm, near Godshill, on 31 August and 1 September 1968, and was attended by about 10,000 people. Jefferson Airplane headlined, with Arthur Brown, The Move, Smile, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, Plastic Penny, Fairport Convention, and The Pretty Things also performing.

1969

This took place on 29 to 31 August 1969 at Wootton Creek, with an estimated attendance of 150,000. The line-up included Bob Dylan, The Band, The Nice, The Pretty Things, Marsha Hunt, The Who, Third Ear Band, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Fat Mattress, Joe Cocker. Many celebrities of the day also attended the Festival, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono, George Harrison with Pattie Boyd, Ringo Starr with Maureen Starkey, Keith Richards and Jane Fonda.

1970

This event was held between 26 and 30 August 1970 at Afton Down. Attendance has been estimated by the Guinness Book of Records to have been 600,000 or even 700,000. However promoter Ray Foulk has said he believes it to have been half of that. It was widely reported on, due to its line-up and extremely high attendance. Acts included Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Chicago, The Doors, Lighthouse, The Who (whose set produced a live album), Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Supertramp, The Moody Blues, Joan Baez, Free, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Donovan, Ralph McTell, John Sebastian, Terry Reid, Taste (Irish band), Redbone and Shawn Phillips.

Revived festival details

The event was revived in 2002 at Seaclose Park, a recreation ground on the outskirts of Newport. It has been held annually since that year, progressively extending itself northwards beyond Seaclose Park along the fields of the eastern Medina valley. Many artists have performed since its revival including The Rolling Stones, Blondie, Amy Winehouse, Robbie Williams, Paolo Nutini, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, The Prodigy, Green Day, Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Muse, Boy George, Sex Pistols, Rod Stewart, Calvin Harris, Stereophonics, Yungblud, Pulp, Faithless, Donovan, Ray Davies, Robert Plant, Queen + Adam Lambert, David Bowie, Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Manic Street Preacher, The Who, The High Kings, Placebo, R.E.M., Travis, Coldplay, The Zombies, Pearl Jam, The Proclaimers, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, The Police, Foo Fighters, The Killers, Nile Rodgers and Chic, The Stone Roses, Madness, Lewis Capaldi, Paloma Faith, James Marriott, Kings of Leon and Rick Astley. Bowie's 13 June 2004 concert would prove to be his last live performance in the UK following emergency angioplasty in Hamburg after a concert in Germany twelve days later which eventually saw him retire from touring. It was sponsored by Nokia from 2004 to 2006. The promoters of the event now are Solo Promoters Ltd.

There was no festival in 2020.

2002

Held 3 June 2002

• Attendance: 8,000 (approx.)
• Headline acts (Saturday): The Charlatans, Robert Plant

2003

Held 14–15 June 2003

• Attendance: 15,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Saturday: Paul Weller, Starsailor
  • Sunday: Bryan Adams, Counting Crows

2004

Held 11–13 June 2004

• Attendance: 35,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Friday: Stereophonics, Groove Armada
  • Saturday: The Who, Manic Street Preachers
  • Sunday: David Bowie, The Charlatans

2005

Held 10–12 June 2005

• Attendance: 50,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Friday: Faithless, Razorlight
  • Saturday: Travis, Roxy Music
  • Sunday: R.E.M., Snow Patrol

2006

Held 9–11 June 2006

• Attendance: 50,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Friday – The Prodigy, Placebo
  • Saturday: Foo Fighters, Primal Scream
  • Sunday: Coldplay, Richard Ashcroft

2007

Held 8–10 June 2007

• Attendance: 60,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Friday: Snow Patrol, Groove Armada
  • Saturday: Muse, Kasabian
  • Sunday: The Rolling Stones, Keane

2008

Held 13–15 June 2008

• Attendance: 55,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Björn Again, Suspiciously Elvis
  • Friday: Kaiser Chiefs, N.E.R.D
  • Saturday: Sex Pistols, Ian Brown
  • Sunday: The Police, The Kooks

2009

Held 12–14 June 2009

• Attendance: 50,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) The Human League, King Meets Queen
  • Friday: The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx
  • Saturday: Stereophonics, Razorlight
  • Sunday: Neil Young, Pixies

2010

Held 11–13 June 2010

• Attendance: 60,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Squeeze, Are You Experienced
  • Friday: Jay-Z, Florence and the Machine
  • Saturday: The Strokes, Blondie
  • Sunday: Paul McCartney, P!nk

2011

Held 10–12 June 2011

• Attendance: 65,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Boy George, ABC
  • Friday: Kings of Leon, Kaiser Chiefs
  • Saturday: Foo Fighters, Pulp
  • Sunday: Kasabian, Beady Eye

2012

Held 22–24 June 2012

• Attendance: 55,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Primal Scream, The Stranglers
  • Friday: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Elbow
  • Saturday: Pearl Jam, Biffy Clyro
  • Sunday: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

2013

Held 14–16 June 2013

• Attendance: 58,000 (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Happy Mondays, The Farm
  • Friday: The Stone Roses, Paul Weller
  • Saturday: The Killers, Bloc Party
  • Sunday: Bon Jovi, The Script

2014

Held 12–15 June 2014

• Attendance: 58,000+ (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Boy George, Inspiral Carpets
  • Friday: Calvin Harris, Biffy Clyro
  • Saturday: Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Specials
  • Sunday: Kings of Leon, Suede

2015

Held 11–14 June 2015

• Attendance: 58,000+ (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Billy Idol, UB40
  • Friday: The Prodigy, The Black Keys
  • Saturday: Blur, Pharrell Williams
  • Sunday: Fleetwood Mac, Paolo Nutini

2016

Held 9–12 June 2016

• Attendance: 58,000+ (approx)
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Status Quo, Cast
  • Friday: Faithless, Stereophonics
  • Saturday: The Who, Richard Ashcroft
  • Sunday: Queen + Adam Lambert, Ocean Colour Scene

2017

Held 8–11 June 2017

• Attendance: 45,000+
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Razorlight, Starsailor
  • Friday: David Guetta, Run-D.M.C.
  • Saturday: Arcade Fire, Catfish and the Bottlemen
  • Sunday: Rod Stewart, Bastille

2018

Held 21–24 June 2018

• Attendance: 72,000
• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) The Wombats, Hot Dub Time Machine
  • Friday: Kasabian, The Script
  • Saturday: Depeche Mode, Liam Gallagher
  • Sunday: The Killers, Manic Street Preachers

2019

Held 13–16 June 2019

• Attendance: 59,000
• Headline Acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Wet Wet Wet, Heather Small
  • Friday: Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Courteeners
  • Saturday: Fatboy Slim, George Ezra
  • Sunday: Biffy Clyro, Richard Ashcroft

2020

The 2020 event, which had been scheduled for 11–15 June, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Originally scheduled headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Happy Mondays
  • Friday: Lionel Richie, Lewis Capaldi
  • Saturday: Snow Patrol, The Chemical Brothers
  • Sunday: Duran Duran, Black Eyed Peas

On 12–14 June 2020, Absolute Radio and Sky Arts both held virtual festivals, broadcasting selected acts from the festival's archives, including exclusive footage from the 1970 edition.

2021

The 2021 event was originally scheduled to take place on 17–20 June, it was postponed to 16–19 September, the first time that it took place in the autumn.

• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Scouting for Girls, Sophie Ellis Bextor
  • Friday: Liam Gallagher, Tom Jones
  • Saturday: David Guetta, Snow Patrol
  • Sunday: Duran Duran, The Script,

Sky Arts broadcast sets from the show each night of the festival from 7pm with Becky Hill, Kaiser Chiefs and Razorlight's sets shown alongside the headliners.

2022

The 2022 event took place on 16–19 June.

• Headline acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Happy Mondays, Heather Small
  • Friday: Lewis Capaldi, Madness,
  • Saturday: Pete Tong, Kasabian,
  • Sunday: Muse, Rudimental

2023

The 2023 event took place on 15–18 June.

• Headline Acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Groove Armada (DJ set), LF System
  • Friday: Pulp, Courteeners
  • Saturday: The Chemical Brothers, George Ezra
  • Sunday: Robbie Williams, Blondie

2024

The 2024 event took place on 20-23 June

• Headline Acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) Scouting for Girls, Dagny
  • Friday: The Prodigy, The Streets
  • Saturday: Pet Shop Boys, Keane
  • Sunday: Green Day, Simple Minds

2025

The 2025 event will take place on 19-22 June

• Headline Acts:
  • Thursday: (Big Top) TBA
  • Friday: Sting, Faithless
  • Saturday: Stereophonics, The Script
  • Sunday: Justin Timberlake, Jess Glynne

Awards

See also

• List of historic rock festivals
• List of music festivals in the United Kingdom

References

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External links

• Official website
• Ray Foulk on The History of the Isle of Wight Festival
• Isle of Wight County Press gallery of Festival pictures
• Information on the Original IOW Festivals
• 1970 Isle of Wight Festival Veterans
• Isle of Wight Festival Rumours
• Memorabilia from the Original Isle of Wight Festivals 1968-69-70

• Isle of Wight Festival
• Music festivals on the Isle of Wight
• Recurring events established in 1968
• Annual events in the United Kingdom
• 2002 establishments in England
• Music festivals established in 2002
• Music festivals established in 1968
• 1968 in England
• 1968 in British music
• Counterculture of the 1960s