The Isle of Wight Festival for 2015 is coming, meaning this year’s festival season is just getting started.

 

It’s now 47 years since the festival was first held and things have changed a lot since then!

Initially held as a counterculture event in 1968, the IoW Festival grew slowly in the years that followed. It was regarded at the time as Europe’s equivalent to Woodstock.

By 1970, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Supertramp, Leonard Cohen, Procol Harum and The Doors were just some of the big names in the line-up that was spread across five days. More than 600,000 people flocked to the island to enjoy the show.

Unfortunately, the 1970 event was so popular that the government passed a special Act to limit gatherings on the island. Although this stopped the event for more than three decades, it was revived in 2002 and has continued to grow since.

It is Britain’s first major festival of the summer and music promoter John Giddings is still at the forefront of organising it – just as he did when he revived the concept of the festival 13 years ago.

The biggest names from the music world have flocked to the IoW festival – back in 2002, The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Bruce Springsteen, Kings of Leon and Pearl Jam were all on the bill.

The festival targets people of ages and musical tastes and for a few days every year the small town of Newport is flooded with people.

The biggest names from the music world have flocked to the IoW festival – back in 2002, The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Bruce Springsteen, Kings of Leon and Pearl Jam were all on the bill.

The festival targets people of ages and musical tastes and for a few days every year the small town of Newport is flooded with people.

But that’s all part of the festival experience right? Headliner Pharrell Williams will certainly be hoping to ‘get lucky’ as far as the weather is concerned!
The 2015 headliners include The Prodigy, the Black Keys and Fleetwood Mac, alongside Paolo Nutini, Jess Glynne and James Bay.

Music lovers certainly pay for quality too, as the headliners at this year’s festival have more number one albums between them than any other major festival on the circuit.

The Charlatans return for another performance while Groove Armada and Paul Oakenfold provide music lovers with something a bit different.

Now attracting more than 55,000 people every year, the Isle of Wight Festival is one certainly not to be missed.

Just pack your wellies if you’re planning to go because it could get muddy!