Isle Of Wight 2024 - The Review

Forget Glastonbury or Woodstock, the Isle Of Wight Festival boasts iconic and legendary sets from artists that its peers would ever dream of. Woodstock never had Dylan, never had The Doors, never had Joni, and Glasto never had Fleetwood Mac, after John Giddings famously poached the band from the Eavis’ clutches in 2015. 

Based on the picturesque Seaclose Park in Newport, the festival’s calendar placing in mid-June always places it in the weather gods’ mercy; some incarnations of IOW fest have been gloriously sunny - some have also found floods and wash-outs. The British summer does what it wants and on its own terms. 

It’s no surprise that the UK summer concert schedule is completely saturated and hugely competitive. Festivals are seeing lineups decline year after year due to lucrative stadium tours returning more of the financial compensation back to the artist. Whilst Glastonbury often relies on artists reducing their fees, how does Isle Of Wight Fest compete in the modern landscape? Reading Festival sells out every year but is more feral - now almost singularly targeting the A-Level results crowd whilst abandoning the Dad Rockers. 

The 2024 iteration of Isle Of Wight festival establishes itself as a five-star family festival on the mainstream summer calendar. Friday and Saturday headliners Prodigy and Pet Shop Boys delivered on their musical powerhouse statuses effectively, and The Darkness thrilled with musical theatrics and charismatic enthusiasms. The highlight of the weekend, and certainly the biggest draw, is Sunday’s coup of landing Green Day - who play a sold-out Wembley a few days later (and they’ve never played Glastonbury). The band send on a roadie dressed as a punk bunny rabbit to excite the crowd whilst he girates to a Ramones song, and then Billie Joe Armstrong and co launch themselves into a two-hour rock singalong under the spectacular pink sunset of the island. Swelteringly hot and intensely pretty, the island landscape adds a touch of summer solstice to the aesthetic; not least due to the Midsommar vibes of many wearing daffodils in their hair. The light of the sun shone until at least half ten.

Earlier, Beverley Knight’s powerhouse vocals setup the Sunday lunchtime stirringly, and prettyboy pop darlings McFly treated their 3pm slot like they were headlining - and so did the crowd. Fun, energetic and incredibly endearing - the band are made for sunkissed summer festivals (and they never seem to age). 

 

The Big Top tent stage had an interesting inclusion of Robert Fripp, guitar virtuoso and his wife, eighties punkpop star Toyah Wilcox performing; they’d gone viral often in lockdown with their home musical broadcast performances. Toyah balanced out Fripp’s stationary position by throwing herself in front, around and behind him in her glittering spangly outfit. Fripp has worked with so many artists that it’s quite legitimate for him to play Lenny Kravitz during his set. 

Meanwhile, back on the Main Stage, Swedish pop starlet Zara Larsson delivered a crowd-pleasing set equipped with well-choreographed backing dancers and multiple cooling fans on stage. It really was starting to feel very hot indeed. Nu-metal / dance / rock angry Nothing But Thieves were low on theatrics but high on rage - and felt like a natural support for Green Day. Which made the sandwich act inbetween of Scottish rockers Simple Minds a curious one. But Jim Kerr gives it everything and certainly enjoys walking down the runway into the crowd, even if it’s setup for the headline act. Simple Minds have quite a few recognisable hits and many of the (much) younger crowd are singing along. 

The festival itself felt very busy on the Sunday. There were a few pinch points in the crowd where bottlenecking occurred because nearly all the punters had sprawled out around the Main Stage area. The general sentiment was that those who remained on the Sunday evening had remained for Green Day. Providing the festival can get the balance correct regarding headliners and lower-bill acts, and providing the weather can play ball - there’s no reason why the Isle Of Wight festival can’t cement itself as the ultimate powerhouse family ticket for the British summer. It has the heritage, it has the big names, it has the glorious location - and only the mild inconvenience of relying on a ferry crossing to get there. Without the stress of the Glastonbury ticket lottery and the grottiness of Reading Festival - this is the ultimate weekend to take in authentic musical surroundings on a heritage location with tremendous artists performing.

 

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