STORY: ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL 2005
Some of your parents probably waffle on about the kind of festivals they went to when 'they were youngsters'. Maybe they went to Woodstock, an early Glastonbury or even the annual cheese and wine festival in Gloucester Although one festival which was pretty blooming popular was the Isle Of Wight festival. Years back when the invention of a mobile phone looked a million years away and the price of a ferry from Southampton would set you back a few shillings. My how things have changed. Now a mobile phone can take photos, wash your car and put the kettle on and a trip across the Solent will set you back a small fortune as it's now famously recognized as the most expensive stretch of water in the world, or Europe or maybe England - we aren't too sure! Anyway it's blooming pricey, but a small price to pay to enjoy the ever growing NOKIA Isle Of Wight Festival...
FRIDAY
Why don't they sing it anymore? Look, if you were in a really popular band all because of a really popular single wouldn't you play the track which made you famous to a field packed with festival lovers? Gaz Coombs and his band, Supergrass now refuse to play 'Alright', which is pretty blooming annoying. We caught them on tour a couple of weeks earlier and did they play it then? Did they hell! In an interview a last year they admitted that they were 'bored of singing it!'. It's a shame, because what an ideal opportunity it would had been for them to cunningly change the lyrics to 'It's Isle of 'right!'. On the other hand maybe not, that would had been plain stupid. Anyway we should had told the band later when they had a drink in the Carling VIP area after their set. The hospitality enclosure (one of three) was situated to the left of the stage giving guests a clear view of the acts and a paying bar. Luckily the sunny evening gave the punters the opportunity to sit outside on benches. Or stand on them as in most cases much to the annoyance of the Security guards.
Next on the bill were Razorlight, who played 'all' their hits. The band have recently been confirmed to play Live8 in a few weeks (Don't miss our 'exclusive' backstage report coming soon!) Even though the band haven't changed their background set for a year, which kinds of represents a Japanese room they managed to capture the attention of the crowd. By the way, if you are thinking What the hell does a Japanese room actually look like? Think the setting for Kill Bill and if that doesn't help just go and see Razorlight on tour! You won't be disappointed! The band had to make a swift exit as they were off on a plane to South Africa to play in front of Nelson Mandela the following night.
To end the first day, Faithless performed their amazing tracks which were made for events like these. The crowd 'gave it large' and the soil was given an hour to restore itself thanks the the jumping around. The band recently played a secret rave organized by their record label, Sony two weeks ago at London's Trocadero centre. Just thought we'd let you know!
Afterwards the night continued in the pub backstage where the organizers watched the coverage on TV which was also going out on Channel 4. Also in the pub was 'our mate' John Giddings. Giddings in the festival organizer and also introduced a few bands on stage. Fingers crossed we will be interviewing him sometime this year in a feature we are planning to be printed at the end of the Summer, more of that later. At 2am we decided to call it a night and head back to the campsite. On our journey back we worked out that the festival site had grown quite a bit, probably thanks to the sponsorship of NOKIA. To be honest we only stayed in one area on the Friday, although being the respected journalists we are ABLE2UK knew we had to venture out and explore the whole site over the weekend! Bugger!
Oh, other acts which played on Friday were Idlewild, The Black Velvets and The Mighty Roars.
According to John Giddings, Morrissey is 'a wanker'. This outburst appeared in the pages of NME, whist Giddings is now in danger of being beaten to death by gladiolas and daffodils Travis should be rewarded by a bouquet of red roses as they stepped in at the last minute to headline the Saturday night slot. We caught up with the band backstage who told us they were pretty nervous about playing LIVE8. The Scottish fellas have every reason to be as lead singer Fran forgot his lines on stage and had to be prompted by a front row fan.
Roxy Music delighted the old foggies in the crowd with Bryan Ferry showing he is still with it, despite being the ripe old age of 105. There was no sign of his son, Otis so foxes living the island were completely safe to creep out on the riverbank with some other strapped for cash Isle Of Wight residents and enjoy the set. Another guest to keep the pensioners happy was Kink singer, Ray Davis who highlighted his set with 'Lola'. With at least two acts old enough to be applying for a disabled car parking badge and The Caravans on the lineup for Sunday it's little wonder the home for the elderly a few doors down was fully booked!
From the old people who need drugs to stay alive to the young who take drugs which nearly kills them, Pete Docherty actually turned up on time to play his one hit nested between loads of tracks off the Babyshambles album. More drug references could be heard when Goldie Lookin' Chain bombarded the stage and just for their information my mother hasn't got one!! Feeder also rocked the festival with all their old classics and never fail to entertain their audience, today was no exception.
Other acts were, Festival Atmosphere, los fantasmas, Nine Black Alps, Tara Blaise and The Jackson Analogue. All of which we are sure you have heard of!!
Gary from Snow Patrol was happy today, very happy in fact. It was him which told the crowd that the world debt had finally been dropped. After making the announcement the Patrol carried on with their setlist. It their first UK appearance this year and they were made to feel very welcome. We manage to catch the boys at Somerset House last summer and it was actually our favorite concert of the year, with such high personal expectations we were worried that we would be disappointed, but we weren't. The band are now currently supporting U2.
Another band who could well become the next big thing are The Magic Numbers. They had name checks from various bands over the weekend. Even though they were fairly low down the running order this year expect these guys to be supporting a stadium band in the not too distance future. After the Numbers, IOW veterans, Starsailor returned to the site for a third year bringing their 'feelgood' atmosphere with the tune about a father being an alcoholic and other good old wrist slitting numbers. Mind you, they are pretty damn good!
Embrace are still going strong and thanks to Chris Martin giving them a helping hand with 'Gravity' its unlikely their feet will touch the ground before Christmas. Talking of feet being lifted off the ground that leads us quite nicely to Danny making the whole crowd bounce to one of the tracks. Hopefully the floorboards at Alexander Palace will stand the same kind of pressure in December when the band play their biggest London date.
Of course the day, if not the festival itself belonged to one band; REM. The rock legends made grown men weep, women bawl their eyes out and that was before the played their first number! Stripe wore a um, stripe over his eyes which you may have seen pictures of earlier in the year when REM played a warm up gig in Hammersmith. It probably signifies something deep and meaningful knowing Stripe. There again maybe it's just a blue permanent marker which he can't rub off. Although, just one little criticism. Back in February we met the band at their party in Home House and personally asked Stripe why he never plays 'Stand'. He told us that the band haven't played the track live for a number of years and it was about time they did, he also told us that a Summer festival may be the best place. Well guys, there's still Hyde Park next month!
Other acts on Sunday were, Caravan, The Subways, Kate Aumonier and Countermine.
The weekend ended with a spectacular firework display and it was yet another great experience to tell the grandchildren about when the IOW festival stops for another thirty years or so!
NOKIA are one the most popular phone services around the world. There's so much great gizmos on offer we would need a whole website to tell you all about them. Luckily NOKIA have done just that! Click on their site and check out what is available also after all the Summer activities we are attending we are hoping to compile a whole feature on mobile phones for disabled people. How considerate of us! More news will follow.
Fran from Travis had a few drinks with us backstage Saturday night and after a few beers we persuaded him to whip off his pass and scribble on it so one of our readers can own it. Fancy winning this money can't buy prize? Well just answer the question below, email your entry heading it 'TRAVIS COMP' before 8th July 2005 and it could be your lucky day.
Q. WHICH YEAR DID JIMI HENDRIX PLAY THE ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL?