August 1968 saw the first ever iconic festival on the Isle Of Wight with a stage made out of two trailers! Jefferson Airplane, The Move and T-Rex performed to a crowd of 10,000 fans. 1969 saw the event grow with an audience of more than 150,000 people with Bob Dylan headlining the two day event. By 1970 this was THE festival to be at and a splendid 5 day extravaganza was arranged with major acts of the time lined up including the late great Jimi Hendrix. Such was its attraction that in excess of 600,000 people turned up to the event - many declined to buy a ticket and chaos ensued - as a result the infamous 1970 'Isle of Wight Act' banning all future festivals was passed in Parliament - the fun was stopped in its tracks! See the festival website for more history - including how Dylan came to play there.
In 2002 after an enforced absence of 32 years the festival was re-established with a line up that included Robert Plant, The Charlatans, Ash, The Coral, The Bees and Starsailer. Although there is a much reduced capacity of 35,000 the Isle of Wight festival has now been re born.
Now the festival has REALLY established itself as a must for festival fans and continues to go from strength to strength - it always has a great line up and is so popular that it sells out really quickly. It's a great festival - highly recommended.
Seaclose ParkFairlee Road
NewportIsle of Wight
PO30 2EA
(3.67 / 5) Votes: 3
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Seaclose Park
Useful Contacts
Want to contact the festival organisers?
Solo Promoters Ltd
55 Fulham High Street
London
SW6 3JJ
T: 020 7384 6644
W: Solo Promotions
The Council is responsible for granting and enforcing the license - they can be contacted at:
County Hall
High Street
Newport
Isle of Wight
PO30 1UD
T: 01983 821000
Website: www.iwight.com
The festival website: http://www.isleofwightfestival.com/
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