The Specials shine on Saturday at the Isle of Wight Festival

Isle of Wight Festival 2014

Thursday 12th to Sunday 15th June 2014
Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 2DN, England MAP
£190

Daily capacity: 90,000

One of the pleasures of living in the British Isles is that no matter where you are, or who you are with, you are guaranteed a topic of conversation - the weather. You can even bond with complete strangers quickly by simply making an observation about the weather, to which the officially sanctioned reply is to point out that it will change later. For example: if you tell someone it is sunny, they will usually respond by telling you "yes, but it will rain this evening/tomorrow/next week". From there you can then develop the conversation and quickly make new friends.

If you're at a festival this is a very useful tool, as inevitably when your camping amongst so many people it is of vital importance to know whether your festival experience is about to include a recreation of the battle of the Somme at any point. As the final notes of Calvin Harris faded on the Friday, the unpredictability of the weather proved itself as the rain began to fall, and even a small thunderstorm passed over. This gave way to intermittent showers that continued through the night and into the next day, leading many (ourselves included) to wonder whether this would see the beginning of another wet and muddy festival. Fortunately as the worst of it passed while most were sleeping it didn't have a great effect on the weekend. At the few points that did threaten to turn muddy, straw was quickly deployed to soak it up.

One of the places that, while not actually muddy, was soft underneath was the Big Top, but this didn't deter a large crowd - made up in the main of teenage girls and bored-looking parents - gathering for The Vamps. It would be easy to dismiss them as just another teen-friendly pop act following in the well-trodden footsteps of McFly or Busted, and certainly it's a justified comment. However, you could also look at them another way, as a bunch of kids picking up instruments and having a bit of fun - something that I can't fault them on, as I couldn't fault their energetic and bright performance - even the most bored parents were paying attention, especially when a cover of The Killers Mr Brightside, gave one of the first sing-alongs of the day in the afternoon heat.

Raising temperatures of a different kind on main stage was Taylor Momsen, front-woman of The Pretty Reckless, coming on stage to the sound of a women having sex, and with a stage routine that bought to mind Blondie at the start of their career, this was a women (and band) determined to sell their sexuality. Often this is a way to mask what is lacking in the music, but while not an original sound, their take on bluesy heavy rock had enough passion and energy to entertain the crowd.

A band I've long admired and was hoping would produce a memorable festival moment were The Waterboys. With a back catalogue of classic songs with plenty of sing-along choruses, they should have had the crowd eating out of their hands, but a subdued Mike Scott meant that they just didn't engage with the crowd as they could, their biggest hit 'Whole of the Moon' got a reasonable reaction, but the rest of the show was fairly pedestrian.

One of the great strengths of a festival is the opportunity to stretch your taste buds and try some new cuisines, or you could just live off burgers and pizza, the choice is yours. The Isle of Wight Festival is fairly typical in that most of the food options fall into the latter, but there are a few places if your prepared to spend some time hunting around.

Prices seemed to be a bit cheaper when compared to previous years, as it was possible to get a decent meal for around £6, I had a decent Thai green curry with noodles, which was a cut above what you usually get at festivals. Drinks however had gone up with a bottle of coke setting you back £2.20, and a pint of beer or cider costing £4.80. On the plus side as well as the usual festival staple of Strongbow there had been the addition of Bulmers this year - definitely a step in the right direction, they just need to do something about the Fosters that had replaced Carling or maybe it's just the paper cups that give that flat taste...

For the rest of the evening the attraction was focussed on the main stage with indie pop band The 1975 providing an impassioned performance which while it got the crowd going didn't really do a great deal for me. What it did do was warm up the crowd nicely for The Specials. Ska is a music form that is possibly unique in transcending generations and groups, from young to old; the biggest pop fan or rock chick all seem to unite when a ska band come on stage, and the now packed arena was testament to the draw of one of the best. Despite missing Neville Staple from the lineup, the remainder of the band gave the best performance of the weekend thus far, with the contrast between Linvyl Goulding's hyper performance and Terry Hall looking typically bored with the whole thing only seeming to improve the whole show. By the time they got round to Ghost Town, the audience seemingly exploded - providing the kind of unifying sing-along moment that makes festivals special and no band up to now had really managed to achieve.

Being the only first time headliner to the Isle of Wight a lot was riding on Red Hot Chili Peppers to provide the classic headliner that is part of the festivals signature. Over the years the likes of David Bowie, The Who, REM, The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen have all performed barnstorming sets that have entered into the history of the festival.

Certainly Red Hot Chilli Peppers were bringing all their energy to the set with Anthony Kiedis and Flea leaping around the set like the floor was electrified. The start certainly promised the makings of another classic show with 'Can't Stop' and 'Dani California' promising a hit-filled set. Sadly the band seemed to lose their way in the middle by playing a lot of early album tracks, that, while pleasing the hardcore fans, visibly lost a lot of the audience. Rallying towards the end for 'Californication', 'By The Way' and the encore of 'Give It Away' wasn't quite enough to regain the audience who had either left, or were chatting amongst themselves oblivious to the band. It's a shame as the makings of a classic show were there, but it was missing some of the big hits that would have cemented it.

With the exception of The Specials, this is a festival that is shaping up to be a solid, if not a memorable weekend.

review by: Steve Collins / Marie Magowan

photos by: Steve Collins