My favourite time of the year has started ! Festival season for me has kicked off my all time favourite festival that is Isle of Wight Festival. There was a lot of worry about it not going ahead but it went ahead and needless to say it was a pretty dramatic experience this time around. I got to see some of my favourite bands again including Nothing But Thieves and Bastille ! Yup I saw Bastille again and also saw Rag n Bone Man , The Kooks , Catfish and the Bottlemen and Kaiser Chiefs for the first time. Here is my as always really , really honest thoughts on this years festival.
Friday
I have to admit my anxiety was off the rails. I was terrified going to the festival this year due to not knowing what my anxiety would be like. My tummy hurt a lot due to anxiety too so that was absolutely wonderful. We got there an hour earlier before the music started and I was already anxious before even getting in there which was also an excellent help. We went down the front as it doesn't usually get that busy until some of the more popular acts come on. the Sex Pissed Dolls opened the main stage this year and honestly I have no words for what the hell I watched on Friday. If you remember my post about bestival you would remember that I went and watched an act that was literally a circus on acid , they were worse than the circus on acid. The Sex Pissed Dolls are basically an all female tribute to The Sex Pistols.
Nothing But Thieves are always one band that I look forward to see live because of how effortless their live performances always are. They debuted a new song that I can't remember the name of and they also played Amsterdam from their new album 'Broken Machine' , that is out in September. The last time I saw them was also at the festival but the crowd they were playing to wasn't as big as it was in 2015. After they had performed the crowd started building for Rag n Bone Man. This is when the initial worry started to settle in as I get pretty claustrophobic and crowds are not my thing.So as Rory took to the stage I was having a great time and taking a lot of photos as that eases my anxiety a little bit. Rory has such an incredible voice ! Towards the end of his set We ended up leaving the front of the crowd because I was close to having a panic attack. A few seconds later , I had a panic attack. It was something that I knew was going to happen as I seem to have one every year I go but this one was really bad.
Saturday
I was pretty excited for the Saturday as I was finally going to be seeing Catfish and the Bottlemen for the first time ! I have wanted to see them for ages and finally did on Saturday. Definitely worth the wait to see them for sure. Our day started off with seeing Tom Chaplin who was fab. If you don't know who Tom is then basically he's the frontman of the band Keane who were literally my childhood. Tom was really good and his solo material is bloody great and if you haven't listened to it and you like Keane then I strongly suggest you give his album 'The Wave' a listen. After him was Jack Savoretti and oh my god the crowd absolutely loved him. Everyone was just dancing and it was wonderful. We also Texas before The Kooks who I'd never really listened to before but she was very good.
Where do I start with The Kooks ?!?! I mean Luke (vocals , keyboard & guitar) called Theresa May a twat which everyone absolutely loved. The Kooks have been another band i've been listening to since I was very young so it was very nostalgic hearing the songs that I used to listen to when I was younger. Honestly The Kooks were incredible live. I'm literally so happy that I got to see them. Catfish and the Bottlemen have been a band I have wanted to see and play the festival for a long time and I'm so glad they finally played IOW this year . There was a lot of older people around me who had no idea who Catfish and the Bottlemen were and didn't like them but then again I didn't like Rod Stewart much but more on that later. Catfish and the Bottlemen are definitely a band that everyone needs to see live at some point even if you don't like them because they are actually really good live.
Where do I start with The Kooks ?!?! I mean Luke (vocals , keyboard & guitar) called Theresa May a twat which everyone absolutely loved. The Kooks have been another band i've been listening to since I was very young so it was very nostalgic hearing the songs that I used to listen to when I was younger. Honestly The Kooks were incredible live. I'm literally so happy that I got to see them. Catfish and the Bottlemen have been a band I have wanted to see and play the festival for a long time and I'm so glad they finally played IOW this year . There was a lot of older people around me who had no idea who Catfish and the Bottlemen were and didn't like them but then again I didn't like Rod Stewart much but more on that later. Catfish and the Bottlemen are definitely a band that everyone needs to see live at some point even if you don't like them because they are actually really good live. 
Whilst we were waiting for the Saturday night headliners , Arcade Fire my anxiety suddenly got pretty bad. There was a group of people sat around in a circle and then the next thing I know , this really drunk man leaped over the barrier where I was standing and nearly kicked me in the face. I was absolutely terrified and I burst into tears. Not to mention earlier on I saw a man get his todger out and pee in a bottle which left me traumatised as the bottle of pee was right next to me but I ended up moving the bottle to elsewhere so it was nowhere near by me. Also another guy that was also pretty drunk asked my mums partner if it would be ok if he climbed the tower thing that a giant speaker was attached to and of course I freaked out again. Did I also mention that we had to wait half an hour for Arcade Fire to start because they brought a lot of stuff with them.
In my opinion I think booking Arcade Fire was a huge risk. Not many people had heard of them which is surprising but then again they're not constantly played on the radio like some of the bands that had been on throughout the day. I had no idea what to expect from Arcade Fire and the only live footage I had seen before is from when they headlined Glastonbury in 2014 and a video where they sang 'Wake Up' with David Bowie which reduced me to tears because like most people I absolutely miss David Bowie a lot.
They opened their set with Wake Up actually as well which of course I tried not cry and then they went into their new single 'Everything Now' from their new album under the same name. Everything Now might be my song of the summer I absolutely love it. One thing that really surprised me was the amount of people that were leaving. So many people were leaving that you could almost see the barrier at the front of the main stage. I absolutely loved Arcade Fire and I think they've been one of my favourite headliners I've seen since I've been attending IOW.
Sunday
Sunday was my favourite day for sure. I had no anxiety and we even made friends with the people behind us who were actually really nice. Our Sunday started off with Scouting For Girls and I wasn't impressed that they decided to cover Bon Jovi .... The rest of their set though was a proper throwback to 2007.
Last weekend was a proper throwback to my childhood I guess as I saw 3 bands that I listened to when I was younger which is pretty cool. So after Scouting For Girls had performed , Jack Maynard did a DJ set which was to get the crowd hyped for The Vamps I guess. If you didn't know I did the portrait that is on Jack's main channel on YouTube which is something that I did last year. The Vamps were actually one of my highlights of the Sunday. They were honestly so good. I wasn't to sure if I'd enjoy seeing them but I actually loved them a lot.
The Vamps were great ! Then they finished their set and on next was The Shires. I wanted to see The Amazons but because of all my anxiety I had on Friday we decided to stay in the same spot all day which meant I'd miss The Amazons as they were in the big top. I mean i'm a bit annoyed I missed their set but I can deal with it. The Shires are a english country band which consists of Ben and Chrissy. I'm not the biggest fan of country music but I had seen First Aid Kit before and thought they were wonderful so I had a slight idea of what The Shires would be like.
At this point though I was getting really impatient as I couldn't wait to see George Ezra and Bastille but after The Shires had finished Imendla May took to the main stage and i'll be honest she wasn't my cup of tea but everyone seemed to really enjoy her set.When the backdrop for George Ezra went up I thought I was going to go giddy with excitement. He opened his set with Cassy O. This might sound weird but I used to sing Cassy O to my dog Cass because her name was Cass.
George played a few songs off of his new album that is out at some point this year and oh my goodness they are all bloody great songs ! I'm literally so excited to hear the rest of the album as what I heard at festival sounded good. Everyone had a good sing a long when Budapest was played and everyone was having a great time. Budapest was George's last song but I'm happy I got to see him live. The next band that was on I couldn't really explain how I felt at the time because I was about to see Bastille for the 3rd time !!!
Not wanting to sound biased at all because I'm a massive fan of Bastille but once again Bastille have proved that they are bloody great live. The set list was ok , I think I preferred their Bestival set list from last year but I got to hear Glory this time around which was great so I won't complain about that one. We got talking to some people that were behind us who had never heard of Bastille before and were really impressed with them , needless to say I think Bastille gained some new fans at the weekend. Kyle chucked confetti in the air after Of The Night and I literally have no idea why but I can deal with that as it was wonderful. I've decided that Pompeii drives me up the wall because i've heard it too many times and i'm actually in love with how incredible Fake It sounds live.
Flaws still scares the living shit out of me. If you've never seen Bastille live before then you'll have no idea what I'm on about but Dan jumps into the crowd during the song Flaws and I remember when I saw Bastille for the first time he ended up whacking some girl in the face with the microphone and the wire ended up getting stuck half way around the venue but luckily Dan now has a new microphone so he doesn't have to worry about getting stuck. I think this is probably the biggest stage I have ever seen Bastille perform on. I literally did not want them to leave that stage I could never get bored of seeing Bastille live they are literally incredible. I'm hoping they do another UK tour soon as I'm itching to see them again.
The Sunday headliner was Rod Stewart. Now I jokingly said to my mum " we should go and see Rod Stewart as a joke" and now I've actually seen him live purely because I couldn't be bothered with the big top and all the other stages would be hell because no one my age gives a hoot about seeing Rod Stewart really. I've seen Queen & Adam Lambert and Fleetwood Mac but Rod Stewart was no Sunday headliner for me. I know it probably takes a lot for them to book such huge names but I mean Rod is entertaining and can sing well live but I wasn't a fan of the 3 outfit changes , the instrument solos and his backing singers taking over for a song like I went to see Rod Stewart not his backing singers. There was also some Irish dancing thrown in too which of course I started cringing.
The big screens panned in on the crowd and I'm not even joking you could not see anyone that looked younger than the 40 , maybe 50+ age gap so of course I found that hilarious but also pretty cool. I think he was aimed more at an older audience than a general audience I think. He was also kicking out signed footballs out into the audience which are apparently collectors items. Although I only knew like 3 or something songs I thought he put on a good show. So he closed with Sailing and then came the fireworks which we saw as we were leaving the festival. They dedicated the fireworks to the tragic attack that happened in Manchester last month by playing Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis.
In my opinion I think booking Arcade Fire was a huge risk. Not many people had heard of them which is surprising but then again they're not constantly played on the radio like some of the bands that had been on throughout the day. I had no idea what to expect from Arcade Fire and the only live footage I had seen before is from when they headlined Glastonbury in 2014 and a video where they sang 'Wake Up' with David Bowie which reduced me to tears because like most people I absolutely miss David Bowie a lot.
They opened their set with Wake Up actually as well which of course I tried not cry and then they went into their new single 'Everything Now' from their new album under the same name. Everything Now might be my song of the summer I absolutely love it. One thing that really surprised me was the amount of people that were leaving. So many people were leaving that you could almost see the barrier at the front of the main stage. I absolutely loved Arcade Fire and I think they've been one of my favourite headliners I've seen since I've been attending IOW.
Sunday
Sunday was my favourite day for sure. I had no anxiety and we even made friends with the people behind us who were actually really nice. Our Sunday started off with Scouting For Girls and I wasn't impressed that they decided to cover Bon Jovi .... The rest of their set though was a proper throwback to 2007.
Last weekend was a proper throwback to my childhood I guess as I saw 3 bands that I listened to when I was younger which is pretty cool. So after Scouting For Girls had performed , Jack Maynard did a DJ set which was to get the crowd hyped for The Vamps I guess. If you didn't know I did the portrait that is on Jack's main channel on YouTube which is something that I did last year. The Vamps were actually one of my highlights of the Sunday. They were honestly so good. I wasn't to sure if I'd enjoy seeing them but I actually loved them a lot.
The Vamps were great ! Then they finished their set and on next was The Shires. I wanted to see The Amazons but because of all my anxiety I had on Friday we decided to stay in the same spot all day which meant I'd miss The Amazons as they were in the big top. I mean i'm a bit annoyed I missed their set but I can deal with it. The Shires are a english country band which consists of Ben and Chrissy. I'm not the biggest fan of country music but I had seen First Aid Kit before and thought they were wonderful so I had a slight idea of what The Shires would be like.
At this point though I was getting really impatient as I couldn't wait to see George Ezra and Bastille but after The Shires had finished Imendla May took to the main stage and i'll be honest she wasn't my cup of tea but everyone seemed to really enjoy her set.When the backdrop for George Ezra went up I thought I was going to go giddy with excitement. He opened his set with Cassy O. This might sound weird but I used to sing Cassy O to my dog Cass because her name was Cass.
George played a few songs off of his new album that is out at some point this year and oh my goodness they are all bloody great songs ! I'm literally so excited to hear the rest of the album as what I heard at festival sounded good. Everyone had a good sing a long when Budapest was played and everyone was having a great time. Budapest was George's last song but I'm happy I got to see him live. The next band that was on I couldn't really explain how I felt at the time because I was about to see Bastille for the 3rd time !!!Not wanting to sound biased at all because I'm a massive fan of Bastille but once again Bastille have proved that they are bloody great live. The set list was ok , I think I preferred their Bestival set list from last year but I got to hear Glory this time around which was great so I won't complain about that one. We got talking to some people that were behind us who had never heard of Bastille before and were really impressed with them , needless to say I think Bastille gained some new fans at the weekend. Kyle chucked confetti in the air after Of The Night and I literally have no idea why but I can deal with that as it was wonderful. I've decided that Pompeii drives me up the wall because i've heard it too many times and i'm actually in love with how incredible Fake It sounds live.
Flaws still scares the living shit out of me. If you've never seen Bastille live before then you'll have no idea what I'm on about but Dan jumps into the crowd during the song Flaws and I remember when I saw Bastille for the first time he ended up whacking some girl in the face with the microphone and the wire ended up getting stuck half way around the venue but luckily Dan now has a new microphone so he doesn't have to worry about getting stuck. I think this is probably the biggest stage I have ever seen Bastille perform on. I literally did not want them to leave that stage I could never get bored of seeing Bastille live they are literally incredible. I'm hoping they do another UK tour soon as I'm itching to see them again.
The Sunday headliner was Rod Stewart. Now I jokingly said to my mum " we should go and see Rod Stewart as a joke" and now I've actually seen him live purely because I couldn't be bothered with the big top and all the other stages would be hell because no one my age gives a hoot about seeing Rod Stewart really. I've seen Queen & Adam Lambert and Fleetwood Mac but Rod Stewart was no Sunday headliner for me. I know it probably takes a lot for them to book such huge names but I mean Rod is entertaining and can sing well live but I wasn't a fan of the 3 outfit changes , the instrument solos and his backing singers taking over for a song like I went to see Rod Stewart not his backing singers. There was also some Irish dancing thrown in too which of course I started cringing.
The big screens panned in on the crowd and I'm not even joking you could not see anyone that looked younger than the 40 , maybe 50+ age gap so of course I found that hilarious but also pretty cool. I think he was aimed more at an older audience than a general audience I think. He was also kicking out signed footballs out into the audience which are apparently collectors items. Although I only knew like 3 or something songs I thought he put on a good show. So he closed with Sailing and then came the fireworks which we saw as we were leaving the festival. They dedicated the fireworks to the tragic attack that happened in Manchester last month by playing Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis.
If anyone read my IOW post from last year you'll know about the sperm flag ... it came back for the 3rd year ... It's the most ridiculous flag I've ever seen.
Anyway I think next year i'll be going for a day if they do day tickets as I found this year an absolute nightmare with my anxiety and there is no way i'll cope with a whole weekend if I choose to go next year. Highlights for me this year include : Bastille , Arcade Fire , Nothing But Thieves , The Vamps , George Ezra , The Kooks , Kaiser Chiefs , and Catfish and the Bottlemen. Over the weekend I think I ended up taking probably over 1000 photos and honestly condensing it down to just a few photos in one post proved a challenge so I'll leave a few at the bottom of this post ! Heres to the rest of the festival season !
Speak soon ,
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