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 with Rock Island 2002, and has since been held annually, except for 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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; it was reported at the time have an attendance of 250,000, but at some point many years later someone started claiming it to be one of the largest human gatherings in the world, with estimates of over 600,000. 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 featuring Rory Gallagher, 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.Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971, c.lxxi, ss.5–6
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) 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 featuring Rory Gallagher, 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, The Moody Blues, 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. News agencies at the time reported the attendance figure as 250,000. 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, Joan Baez, Free, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Donovan, Ralph McTell, John Sebastian, Terry Reid, Taste featuring Rory Gallagher, 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 Preachers, 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.
2002
Held 3 June 2002 Attendance: 8,000 () 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 7 pm with Becky Hill, Kaiser Chiefs and Razorlight's sets shown alongside the headliners.Radio Times 11–17 September 2021 page 111Radio Times 18–24 September 2021 pages 57 and 67
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