Isle of Wight Festival 2011
Friday 10th to Sunday 12th June 2011Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 2DN, England MAP
£175 weekend with camping - SOLD OUT
Daily capacity: 60,000
It's been ten years since the Isle of Wight Festival was reborn, and the intervening years have seen it go from a one-day, 10,000 capacity, single stage show, to the four-day, 70,000 capacity, multi stage event it is now. The Isle of Wight Festival is known amongst festival-goers for three things Good weather, Insanely tight security, and being able to trade on its heritage as the 'British Woodstock' to draw in the legends for headliners. On Thursday night the second of these was still present as while getting into the site was fine, leaving proved problematic, as none of the entrances we were told to use were open to us, we eventually managed to get through a gate, but it's probably the first time I've ever had to blag my way out of a festival.
Elsewhere on site the stages were given over to local acts The Garden Stage (formerly the Acoustic Stage) featuring acts from the local music school, while the ever-brilliant Kashmir Café hosted the more established Isle of Wight acts If you're ever at the festival, make time for this venue, it's small but has some excellent bands each year and, more importantly, is the only place on site not held captive by the corporate sponsors of Carling and Strongbow, offering locally brewed beer!
They were followed by We Are Scientists, a band who's between song banter is sometimes more entertaining than the music this time they seemed to be taking the 'spoilt musician' route, with bassist Chris Lamb complaining about the position of the ferris wheel at the back of the arena, asking if "someone could move it please, as it's in my eye-line" and lead singer Keith Murray bemoaning the fact that he got a piece of gaffer tape stuck to his foot which "made him look like an idiot in front of the audience."
It was during her performance that the IW Festival's reputation for good weather fell apart, as the skies darkened and a persistent drizzle came over the site, threatening to turn the dusty site into a mud bath. Undeterred the audience pulled on plastic bags and coats and huddled down to watch Kaiser Chiefs, a band who have previously headlined the Friday night, but now relegated to the number two spot. Kaiser Chiefs are one of those bands that it's become cool to hate, but live they are still one of the most energetic and powerful acts around. Ricky Wilson seems to have a limitless supply of energy and enthusiasm and runs around stage working the crowd who are soon eating out of his hand.
The Kaiser Chiefs performance set a high bar for the headline act, the Kings of Leon. Arriving in the pit to take photos, the photographers were warned that they may have to be removed as security were worried about crushing in the crowd there was a constant stream of people being pulled out of the melee, while those who stayed had a dogged determination despite being obviously uncomfortable. Kings of Leon arrived promptly and and played a strong set, with 'Crawl' being the standout track for me. But whilst the crowd enjoyed the radio-friendly rock of the recent albums, particularly 'Sex on Fire' and 'Use Somebody', it didn't quite do it for me, I got the impression of a band that were coasting along on their success rather than still pushing to find that next level.
review by: Steve Collins / Marie Magowan
photos by: Steve Collins
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