general review

FRIDAY
One tip for if you are going to IOW is to get there early. Despite arriving on site as the first act started, by the time we’d parked, hauled our stuff to the campsite, got our wristbands en route, got the tent up and walked from the campsite to the arena (a much shorter distance this year) Supergrass were just finishing. A sultry evening in the arena followed with Razorlight and Faithless headlining.

The site had been slightly re-designed the arena seems twice as big this year with the addition of a skate arena, with small stage where Naked Apes and Skankt were often seen pleasing the crowd. Then there was the wonderful looking Bollywood Café and Kids area. Plus more funfair rides. This playing field area was still happening after the bands had finished and it was nice to chill watch people on the trampoline and eat free cakes and tea courtesy of the local churches.

SATURDAY
Saturday was hot and I’d not slept well, we’d camped next to the late night DJ party at the Red Bull tent in the campsite and a mini fun fair, which kept me awake ‘til dawn on the plus side was the late night campsite bar selling drinks 50p cheaper than in the arena and for cash not tokens.

We entered the arena after making ourselves some coffee and passing the sniffer dogs on the way in and the police wearing body armour and jeans! The efestivals meet was on at 11am so we sauntered down to the café to put names to faces and enjoy a glass or two of Bollywood cocktails while I nursed my hangover.

I was then dragged off to the kids tent to make sandcastles, badges, masks and a cool dreamcatcher in between the space hopper races, poi and circus skills. We were also able to view some amazing extreme skating and cycling on the big mountain and in the bowl.

Food was expensive at around £6 or £7 for a proper meal so we avoided it and the £3 a 300ml bottle beer tokens having iced lattes instead of the lager. We sit down in the heat to watch the bands. The arena was filling fast and the heat was too much so we went in search of shade and wandered about the larger market area and searched for sensibly price food, resorting to nachos and a Cornish pasty while listening to the beep beeps and flashing lights emanating from the Strongbow rooms. We consider going on the big fairground rides but £20 seems a little too steep. Although we do find a Nokia booth Theme Park style photos in frames, we get one of us and it’s free, result!

Then it’s back for more bands until the finale of Travis, who make us aware of the large number of people viewing the festival from outside the fence. Then we make an attempt to return to our tent, but the narrow wristband check means a huge bottleneck, it gets crushed and our daughter’s a bit scared so we retreat to the kids field, but unlike the night before it’s shut down so we walk out to the main road and around.

We return to the campsite to find it’s been taken over by class A drug fiends who again keep us up all night with their shouting abuse and gibberish, it’s fortunate my daughter still drops off to sleep. Here’s hoping as the organisers want to attract families they consider a family camping field next year. Worse was to follow with a drunken bloke invading our tent in the early hours, accidentally I may add and thus preventing any thoughts of sleep. All credit to the stewards though who arrived on the scene in seconds. In fact both the security and stewards were helpful and friendly all weekend.

SUNDAY
With hours to kill until the arena opens we take the tent down and pack light bags for the night and possible rain and head into the arena, which has been pristinely cleaned and comes as a surprise. The inflatable White Cube has a DJ on and he’s attracting a good crowd. In fact I loved some of the tunes dropped on the decks there whenever I passed it diverse as they were from Bob Marley to Queen to Dolly Parton.

We settle in front of the main stage once again in the sun and watch the big screens pump out the advertising for Nokia and the sometimes hilarious adlibs of the presenters between acts. Our money runs out and we stand in the huge queues for the one block of cash points, some already out of order and wish they’d put more on site, heading for Newport instead after half an hour of getting nowhere fast.

A powerful line up keeps us in front of the main stage until the finale of REM, fearing we’ll miss our ferry we leave before they finish. The festival is improving year on year and we’d had a great weekend we chat to fellow ferry passengers about the festival everyone’s suntanned (or red) and we all agree it’s been fabulous. Everyone said they’ll be back next year.

Hats off to the organisers, a much improved site with better facilities with more of a festival feel rather than a big outdoor gig - made even better by the wonderful weather. Better security, access and marshalling were all bonus points as was the whole School fields area.

Further improvements would be better plans for those leaving the site for the campsite the bottle neck on Saturday was horrendous and leave the playing fields running later to further reduce the problem like Friday night. More regular toilet cleaning, showers and sorting out the loss of water would also help things out, as would more cash points. Can I also suggest the addition of a family or quiet field for those with children too please.

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