I'm heading to the Isle of Wight Festival again for the 5th time ! I've been coming to this festival since I was 14 and ever since i've only missed one year which was 2013. Even though I'm a festival blogger this and Bestival have only really been the only big festivals I've ever been to which might come as a shock but as they are festivals that are local even though Bestival isn't that local anymore. I'll admit that this years IOW Festival line up is a weird one and I feel like the headliners are a bit strange but we'll get into that in a bit more detail in a moment. The Isle of Wight Festival was revived by John Giddings in 2002 after it got stopped in the 70s. I think its crazy to think that some of the biggest names in the world have played a festival on the island that I call home.
Headlining this years festival is Razorlight on the Thursday in the big top , co-headlining the Friday is hip-hop legends RUN DMC and everyones favourite tribute to the most iconic scene from the titanic , DJ and producer David Guetta. Saturday is a UK festival exclusive which happens to be Arcade Fire and closing the festival on the Sunday will be Rod Stewart. Right heres my honest opinion on the headliners.
What the hell were they thinking with Rod the Hedgehog ?!?! I jokingly said to my mum one that i'd like to see Rod Stewart and now its actually happening. As for Arcade Fire I think I'm going to see what they are like but the amount of people I have seen complaining about how much of a boring headliner they're going to be is actually pretty annoying really like if you don't like a headliner or the line up in general then don't go. Thursday I'll probably give a miss but I think its definitely worth going if your camping or not. Friday is just hilarious really I mean David Guetta waving his arms will be the highlight of the festival season for sure.
The rest of the line up looks pretty exciting though thats for sure ! Friday on the main stage will be opened by the Sex Pissed Dolls who are an all female tribute act to the Sex Pistols. I managed to catch a tiny bit of their set on one of the smaller stages last year and they had such a huge crowd so I think they're deserving of that main stage slot. Joining them will be Nothing But Thieves who I'm seeing for the 3rd time which i'm so excited to see them again because both times i've seen them before they absolutely smashed it. Rag n Bone Man will also performing on the main stage and I've been waiting since 2014 to see so I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also getting to see a childhood favourite of mine and thats the Kaiser Chiefs ! They've been a band I've liked since the age of 9 so it will be interesting to see what they are like live.
Saturday on the main stage looks pretty great not going to lie. Opening the main stage in the afternoon will be My Baby and after their performance , Slow Readers Club will be playing the main stage. You will also find the front man of Keane ,Tom Chaplin playing the festival again but this time he's alone as he recently released his debut solo album. Jack Savoretti , Texas and The Kooks will also be playing the main stage too. Before Saturdays headliners a band that I've wanted to see for ages will be finally coming to the festival and oh my god I'm so excited ! Catfish and the Bottlemen will be playing before Arcade Fire and I'm literally so excited to finally see them. So closing the musical extravaganza will be a wide range of acts that everyone will love. I'll probably be seeing The Vamps again depending who's on at the time which shall be good as the last time I saw them was in the big top and of course we had to leave early along with the fact that I had a panic attack so it will be great to see them on the main stage if I can.
I'm finally getting to see Scouting For Girls who were the band I grew up with and i'm pretty sure loads of their songs used to get played at school disco's too so thats going to be a huge throwback. Scouting For Girls are also celebrating 10 years since their debut album so expect a lot of songs from that album.George Ezra shall be playing too which I'm also looking forward to as myself and my mum have been wanting to see George for a while so it will be great to finally see him play live for the first time.Also playing the Sunday will be : Jon Stevens , The Shires and Imelda May.
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| Conor from Nothing But Thieves at Isle of Wight Festival 2015 - Photo taken by Chloe Maria Snow |
This next band I'm about to talk about get their own paragraph because there is no way I can say a little bit about Bastille because they're my favourite band ever. I haven't shut up about it since they were announced and I think I woke up shouting "BASTILLE" because I was that excited about seeing Bastille again. I've also not shut up about it on Twitter by using gifs of Bastille to show how stupidly excited I am. This will be my 3rd time seeing them and I can't really believe it. A few years ago I thought I'd never get to see them live and now i've seen them twice and I'll be seeing them again next month ! Of course they are the one band I'd love to meet so hopefully I'll end up bumping into one of them or something because its literally one thing i'd love to happen one day.
Thursday will be the opening of the festival as all the campers arrive for the weekend. Performing on the Thursday in the big top will be : Starsailor , The Alarm and The Sex Pissed Dolls who are also playing Friday too. Friday in the big top has been called 'Girls Night Out' and will see Paradisa , Lucy Spraggan , Ward Thomas , Alison Moyet and The Pretenders play. And there will be a DJ set by Jonas Blue.
Saturday in the big top is called 'Pop Goes The Big Top' which seems pretty decent. Playing the big top on the Saturday will be : Victoria , The Geremin Sisters , Alex Francis , Bang Bang Romeo , Elle Exxe , The Showhawk Duo , Space , Melanie C and Zara Larrson. The Saturday night will finish with Example + DJ Wire. Sunday will be the day of 'Rock The Big Top' which will be headlined by Clean Bandit and the other acts that will be playing the big top are : Duke of Wolves , Wild Front , JUDAS , Asylums , The Amazons , The Sherlocks , The Undertones and The Strypes.
There is a huge selection of other stages from Cirque De La Quirk , The Hard Rock Stage and the Jack Rocks tent which has recently just announced its line up. Some of the bands playing this years Jack Rocks stage will include The Wytches , Superfood and many other up and coming names that you need to keep an eye out for in the future. In one of the tents called Kashmir Cafe , Wheatus will be making a special guest appearance. That tent is literally the smallest thing I've stood in so I can tell its going to be absolutely packed when they play.
My overall thoughts of this years line up are very mixed. I think its a good mixture compared to last year but the headliners are nowhere near the standard they were last year but I reckon they'll probably be great live. They've also done that thing again where all the female acts get shoved in the big top but thats not my problem to worry about. If your heading to this years festival it's going to be a fun weekend for sure ! If you want to find out more about this years festival or if you want to by tickets you can go to http://isleofwightfestival.com for more information.
Speak soon ,
