| Music Festival Name: | Isle of Wight Festival |
| Years Active: | 1968–1970 2002 - 2019 2021–present |
| Dates: | 20-23 June 2024 |
The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England.[1] It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.[2] [3]
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.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6]
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[7]) 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.
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.[8] Jefferson Airplane headlined, with Arthur Brown, The Move, Smile, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, Plastic Penny, Fairport Convention, and The Pretty Things also performing.[9]
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 1969. This took place on 30 and 31 August 1969 at Wootton, with an estimated attendance of 150,000.[8] 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.[10]
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 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.[11] 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.
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.[12] 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.
See main article: Rock Island 2002. Held 3 June 2002
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2003. Held 14–15 June 2003
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2004. Held 11–13 June 2004
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2005. Held 10–12 June 2005
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2006. Held 9–11 June 2006
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2007. Held 8–10 June 2007
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2008. Held 13–15 June 2008
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2009. Held 12–14 June 2009
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2010. Held 11–13 June 2010[16]
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2011. Held 10–12 June 2011[16]
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2012. Held 22–24 June 2012
Held 14–16 June 2013
Held 12–15 June 2014
Held 11–14 June 2015
Held 9–12 June 2016
Held 8–11 June 2017
Held 21–24 June 2018
See main article: Isle of Wight Festival 2019. Held 13–16 June 2019
The 2020 event, which had been scheduled for 11–15 June, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]
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.[19] [20]
The 2021 event was originally scheduled to take place on 17–20 June,[21] it was postponed to 16–19 September, the first time that it took place in the autumn.[22]
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.[24] [25] [26]
The 2022 event took place on 16–19 June.
The 2023 event took place on 15–18 June.
The 2024 event took place on 20-23 June
|-| rowspan="2" |2007| rowspan="2" |UK Festival Awards|Best Major Festival||| rowspan="2" |[27] |-|Outstanding Contribution to UK Festivals|John Giddings||-|2009|ILMC 21 Arthur Awards|Liggers' Favourite Festival|||[28] |-| rowspan="4" |2015| rowspan="2" |UK Festival Awards|Best Family Festival||| rowspan="2" |[29] |-|Headline Performance of the Year|Fleetwood Mac||-|Isle of Wight Visitor Attraction Association Awards|Best Activity/Event|||[30] |-|Festival Baby Awards|Best Festival||||-| rowspan="4" |2016|Family Traveller Awards|Best Family Festival|||[31] |-|ILMC 28 Arthur Awards|Liggers' Favourite Festival||| ||-|Live Music Business Awards|Best Festival|||[32] |-|Red Funnel Isle of Wight Awards|Best Event to Lie Back & Soak Up the Sounds |||[33] |- |rowspan="2" |2017|ILMC 29 Arthur Awards|Liggers' Favourite Festival||| ||-|Red Funnel Isle of Wight Awards|Best Event to Lie Back & Soak Up the Sounds |||[34] |- | rowspan="12" |2018|Red Funnel Isle of Wight Awards|Best Event to Lie Back & Soak Up the Sounds |||[35] |-|Audio Production Awards|Best New Producer|Nick Harris||[36] |-|Event Production Awards|Music Event of the Year|||[37] |-|ILMC 30 Arthur Awards|Liggers' Favourite Festival||| ||-|Music Week Awards|Festival of the Year||| |[38] |-| rowspan="3" |Radio Academy Awards|Best Coverage of an Event|Absolute Radio|| | rowspan="3" |[39] |-|Best New Presenter|James Bay|| |-|Best Factual Storytelling||| |-|Q Awards|Best Festival/Event||| |[40] |-| rowspan="3" |UK Festival Awards|Best Festival Production||| | rowspan="4" |[41] |-|Best Major Festival||| |-|Line-Up of the Year||| |-| rowspan="5" |2019|Broadcast Awards|Best Music Programme||| |[42] |-|Event Production Awards|Music Event of the Year||| |[43] |-|Live Music Business Awards|Best Festival Performance|Biffy Clyro|| |[44] |-|Music Week Awards|Festival of the Year||| |[45] |-|Q Awards|Q Best Festival/Event||| |[46] |-|2020|Pollstar Awards|International Music Festival of the Year||| |[47] |-