I had spent the week leading up to the Isle of Wight Festival fretting over how the weather was going to pan out, why? Well I have no idea why because the sun is always shining at the Isle of Wight Festival (well at least in my experience). This was my third consecutive sunny IOW Festival and I’m certain it won’t be the last.

Day One

After arriving in the town of Newport on the Thursday I was surprised to hear that people were having difficulties getting into the festival campsite, I had heard a rumour that this was down to very strict security checks. So when Friday came and I arrived at the festival gate with tent in hand I was expecting long queues, this however, was not the case at all. We were welcomed by an extremely friendly security team who went about their business as usual and we were on site in no time.

However once on site we did encounter a problem…lack of space to pitch even the smallest of tents. We were informed by security that this was due to people setting up picnic areas outside of tents and erecting gazebos. This was at 1pm on the Friday so an early arrival maybe something worth bearing in mind for those of you planning a visit next year. Eventually we did find a very tiny spot to pitch our tent and by the time we’d finished that it was time to head off to the arena to watch some music.

The surprise package for me on the Friday evening would have to be Pendulum. After hearing one or two of their songs played on Radio One over the past year I have to hold my hands up and admit they are a band that I have never really paid much attention to. All this will change the next time they come on the radio. Their stage presence was quite literally bursting with hyper-electro craziness, which to be fair I had expected. But what I maybe did not expect was their ability to get the massive crowd so fired up. This was a great bit of thinking by the people behind the festival, Pendulum come on, grab everyone’s attention and get things warmed up for the almighty Basement Jaxx and of course, the incredible Prodigy.

And almighty and incredible they both were. Basement Jaxx walked on to the stage and made the festival their own spectacular gig for the next 50 minutes. They played all the classics from their back catalogue including ‘Romeo’ and ‘Where’s Your Head At’, ending the set with ‘Rendez-Vu’. By the time they had finished doing their thing the crowd were left gagging for more!

More and then some is exactly what they got as Keith Flint took to the stage to do what he does best, fire the place up! The entire field went berserk as the band began their opening track ‘World’s On Fire’. The set concluded with ‘Comanche’, before they returned to the stage for an encore, which included ‘Invaders Must Die’, ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, ‘Diesel Power’ and finally ‘Out of Space’. One hour later it was time to wipe off the sweat and marvel at what you had just witnessed…sheer brilliance.

Day Two

Day two saw Maximo Park, White Lies, The View and The Zombies take to the main stage. Paolo Nutini dueted with The View before returning to the stage to sing some of his big hits as well as some material from his new album.

The Rakes, Will Young, McFly, Calvin Harris and Ultravox took over the Big Top stage making for a real mix of music and a bit of something for everyone .

The highlight of the day for most was the sharing of top-billing on the main stage by Razorlight and Stereophonics . Both bands were in great form and gave great sets, the only issue I had was with Razorlight being on stage before Stereophonics. I personally would like this to have been in reverse as I believe Razorlight could have offered slightly more as the last act. Either way the crowd didn’t seem to mind as they devotedly sang along to both band’s hits.

Razorlight played several tracks from their latest album Slipway Fires as well as plenty of crowd favourites including ‘America’ and ‘Golden Touch’. After speding some time in the studio frontman Johnny Borrell seemed to be enjoying being on stage at a festival again.

Stereophonics opened with ‘The Bartender And The Thief’ and went on to play a greatest hits set that included ‘Mr Writer’, ‘Handbags and Gladrags‘ before ending the set with ‘Dakota’. The band also treating the crowd to new track ‘Innocent’ which according to lead singer Kelly Jones was only the second time the band had ever played it live.

Truly a great way to end day two.

Day Three

Playing the final day of Isle Of Wight 2009 were Black Lips, The Pigeon Detectives, Simple Minds, The Rumble Strips, The Horrors, Pixies and headliner Neil Young.

Young came on stage at 9pm and began his set with ‘From Hank To Hendrix’, performing with his acoustic guitar and harmonica. He also played ‘Heart Of Gold’ which got a great reaction from the crowd as they sang along word for word. He ended his set by covering The Beatles ‘A Day In The Life’.

Tim Burgess was put in charge of the Big Top line-up and his band The Charlatans had the duty of closing the show. A massive crowd opted to see the 90’s indie band over Neil Young, meaning the crowd were literally spilling out of the tent.

What I love about this festival is the simple set up and arrangement. It is difficult, virtually impossible in fact to get lost because it is not a massive site. You can walk from the main stage to the Big Top stage in less than 5minutes.

I also love the diversity of the music that festival organiser John Giddings manages to recreate year after year, and finally the atmosphere that comes with it.

The festival provides an enjoyable weekend of live music and entertainment for people of all ages, which is something that not many (if any) major UK festivals can brag about.

If you have not already sampled this fantastic festival that is steeped in British music history, then I highly recommend that you talk your mates into booking up for next year’s event, I guarantee you won’t be left disappointed and I’m sure the sun will be shining again!