Red Funnel

2007 Review

By Ben Murray (virtualfestivals.co.uk)

Carlsberg don't make major festivals. A man called John Giddings does, however, and in our opinion he makes them better than anyone else. Welcome to the Isle Of Wight 2007 - the Best Major Festival we have yet had the pleasure of experiencing...

Just like a well-known film starring John Candy and Steve Martin, a variety of trains, planes and automobiles are required to get to the Isle of Wight for the now annual reincarnation of the classic 60's arts festival. The masses arrive by train and car, the canny ones get on the hovercraft (well it does fly in a way, so that's the plane bit sorted) and then the unlucky ones, as we are, then get in a taxi and brave some of the most miserable cabbies this side of a kebab-strewn West End taxi rank at 4am. With the world put to rights and the taxi driver clutching a wad of notes (he admits the prices are vastly inflated for the festival weekend - thanks) we amble through Seaclose Park and pitch the tent in a gap that would be described by an estate agent as 'modest' and anyone else as Penny Black-sized. The camping sites on the Isle of Wight are relatively hassle free; not as busy as Glastonbury, safer than Reading and V and not far from the main arena - all of which matter if a festival weekend is to go well and your tent's contents still there when you get back after Sunday's headline set.

2006 Review

by Ross Purdie (virtualfestivals.co.uk)

Thousands of eager festival-goers make the pilgrimage to the Isle Of Wight for the revived weekender's strongest lineup since 1970 - Coldplay, Foo Fighters, The Prodigy, Richard Ashcroft and more...

It's all kicking off on Friday. The hottest day of the year to date has seen helicopters dumping water supplies to jam-stranded motorists on the M25, two tankers colliding in the Solent to disrupt ferry crossings, and 35,000 festival fans making the journey almost half a million hippies made on a similarly steaming day back in 1970 – to the Isle Of Wight for the UK's oldest and original music festival.

And now The Prodigy are stepping up the chaos. Having missed Morning Runner, The Rakes, Goldfrapp and Placebo as the result of the congested eight hour journey from London, we can only assume they did a good job judging by the carnival atmosphere that's generated throughout the festival site, from the long winding thoroughfare linking the campsites all the way down to the spread of smiles and sunburn illuminated by the dazzling lights of the main stage.

2005 Review

by Susan Le May (virtualfestivals.co.uk)

It may be more contrived than its famous hippy ancestor, but as the June sunshine blankets the beautiful IOW Festival site, you can almost smell the acid-soaked ghosts of the past lingering in the sea air.

It was Britain's answer to Woodstock. In 1970 Jimi Hendrix plucked his guitar with world-shattering panache, Joni Mitchell cooed her way into folk folklore, and The Who became one of the most important bands in rock history. Rebellion against war and violence with Peace and Love saw 700,000 people (about six times the size of Glastonbury's current capacity) descend on a small island off the south coast of England for an event that embodied an entire decade. Reborn in 2001, the Isle of Wight Festival is now decidedly more controlled and corporate, similar in its 'middle of the road' music policy to V Festival, with mainstream rock music being the staple three courses. But can the magic be revived? Will the likes of Roxy Music and R.E.M rekindle the spirit of the those pioneering festivals more than three decades ago?

2004 Review

by Chris at Rockbeast.com (virtualfestivals.co.uk) 

Clear skies, plenty of sun, The Isle of Wight festival is back. Almost gone are the 70's festival faithful dressed in 'eco multi-coloured dream coats', living in a hazed world behaving like over-sexed rabbits.

Today it is their heirs', the 'well heeled' generation, in designer T-shirts and trainers, those indulging in what used to be the mandatory festival pastimes few and far between. Put this aside the atmosphere has that original festival feel, overflowing toilets, discarded beer bottles and cups carpeting the arena, wafting odours of the festival 'greasy spoon' hot food stalls only topped by the lavishing of sun cream served up on lobster like rockers. Add this to a line up that might just have been on a wish list and the stage was set for an unforgettable weekend. The Who and David Bowie supported by The Manic Street Preachers, The Charlatans and Steve Harley , plus many more, indeed a dream line up. That 'I was there', the feel good factor fades all the less favourable memories.