Isle of Wight Festival

Isle of Wight Festival
Logo of the 2018 Isle of Wight Festival
Genre Rock, Pop
Dates 21–24 June 2018
Location(s) Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, England
Years active 1968–1970
2002–present
Website www.isleofwightfestival.com
Isle of Wight Festival Main Stage 2015

The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually on the Isle of Wight in Newport, England.[1] It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.[2][3]

The 1970 event was by far the largest and most famous 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]

Original Festival details

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 was notable for the appearance of 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 and most famous 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, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Joni Mitchell, The Moody Blues, Melanie, Donovan, Gilberto Gil, Free, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, Jethro Tull, Taste 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 35mm film crew under the direction of future Academy Award-winning 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, Leonard Cohen, Jethro Tull and The Doors.

1968

Held on 31 August and 1 September 1968.

  • Attendance: 10,000 (approx)[8]

Site – Ford farm, near Godshill.

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]

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, due to an announcement by British Rail at that time concerning the amount of sold ferry tickets, although promoter Ray Foulk has said he believes it to have been only half of that.[8] It is arguably the best-remembered of the early versions of the IoW festivals, due to its line-up, attendance and news coverage. The line-up included Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Chicago, The Doors, Lighthouse, The Who (their set produced a live album), Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues, Joan Baez, Free, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Donovan, John Sebastian, Terry Reid, Taste, 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 notable artists have performed since its revival including The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Paolo Nutini, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Paul McCartney, Muse, Boy George, Stereophonics, Faithless, Donovan, Ray Davies, Robert Plant, Queen + Adam Lambert, David Bowie, Manic Street Preachers, The Who, The High Kings, R.E.M., Travis, Coldplay, The Zombies, The Proclaimers, Bryan Adams, The Police, Foo Fighters, The Killers, Nile Rodgers and Chic, Fleetwood Mac, Madness, Paloma Faith and Kings of Leon. It was sponsored by Nokia from 2004 to 2006. The promoters of the event now are Solo Promoters Ltd.

2002

Held 3 June 2002

2003

Held 14–15 June 2003

2004

Held 11–13 June 2004

2005

Held 10–12 June 2005

2006

Held 9–11 June 2006

2007

Held 8–10 June 2007

2008

Held 13–15 June 2008

2009

Held 12–14 June 2009

2010

Held 11–13 June 2010[14]

2011

Held 10–12 June 2011[14]

2012

Held 22–24 June 2012

2013

Held 14–16 June 2013

2014

Held 12–15 June 2014

2015

Held 11–14 June 2015

2016

Held 9–12 June 2016

2017

Held 8–11 June 2017

2018

Held 21–24 June 2018

Awards

On 6 November 2007, the Isle of Wight Festival was named 'Best Major Festival' at the UK Festival Awards. The performances by Muse and The Rolling Stones at the last festival were a major influence. At the same event, the coordinator of the festival, John Giddings, won the award for 'Outstanding Contribution to UK festivals'.[16] At the 2015 Awards, the Isle of Wight Festival won the award for 'Best Family Festival' and 'Headline Performance of the Year' for Fleetwood Mac.[17]

The Festival also won 'Best Event', Isle of Wight Visitor Attraction Association Awards, 2015 [18] and is nominated for Best Family Festival at the 2016 Family Traveller Awards. Results coming soon.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Isle of Wight Festival". festivalessentials.net. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  2. ↑ "History Isle of Wight Festival History | Red Funnel Isle of Wight Ferries". Redfunnel.co.uk. 1970-09-01. Retrieved 2014-06-28.
  3. ↑ Perrone, Pierre (24 April 2013). "Richie Havens: Folk singer and songwriter who became a hero of the counter-culture". The Independent. London.
  4. ↑ "Isle of Wight Festival History 1968-2013". Isleofwightfestival.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2014-06-28.
  5. ↑ "BBC Hampshire History – Isle of Wight Festival history". BBC. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  6. ↑ Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971, c.lxxi, ss.5-6
  7. ↑ "Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival". 21 February 1997 – via IMDb.
  8. 1 2 3 "2010 audio interview with Ray Foulk". Onthewight.com. Retrieved 2014-06-28.
  9. ↑ Hinton, Brian (1995). Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festivals, 1968-70. Castle Communications. p. 21. ISBN 1-86074-147-9.
  10. ↑ "Isle of Wight Festival History - 1968 to today". Isle of Wight Guru. Retrieved 2016-03-06.
  11. ↑ "Nokia Isle of Wight Festival 2006". Isle of Wight Council. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  12. ↑ "Isle of Wight Festival 2007". Isle of Wight Council. Archived from the original on 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  13. ↑ "Isle of Wight Festival 2008". Isle of Wight Council. Archived from the original on 2009-01-22. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  14. 1 2 Archived January 4, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ "Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers to headline UK festival". BBC News. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  16. ↑ "Top Awards for Island Festivals". Isle of Wight County Press. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  17. ↑ "The UKFA 2015 Winners | UK Festival Awards". www.festivalawards.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-18. Retrieved 2016-04-11.
  18. ↑ "Isle of Wight County Press".
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