I've been trying to write this post for a while now and honestly I'm finding it difficult because it wasn't the best of weekends but I don't want this to be a negative post. I've decided I'm going to just be honest about it and write exactly what my experience was like whether that be negative or otherwise. On Monday night (June 15th) I got back from what can only be described as an average at best weekend at the Isle of Wight festival. I'll start off by saying it wasn't entirely a disappointment 'cause I enjoyed seeing the acts I wanted to see but there wasn't a great deal of things to do in my opinion. Unless of course you're happy watching bands you've never heard of before because the main stage was the only stage with acts that were widely known on it.
On Thursday we arrived at the festival at around 12 in the afternoon after a long 12 hours of nightmare travelling. The queue was a mile long so we decided to sit on the grass for a bit until it'd gone down. About an hour later we decided to join the queue (we weren't in it long and whilst we were waiting I decided to buy a program) and after having our bags searched we headed for our camp site Love Your Tent. About 15 minutes later we arrived at Love Your tent camp site 1 to be told we weren't on that list and would have to head to camp site 2. So we had to carry heavy bags another 10 minutes walk to camp site 2 to then be told we weren't on that list either. At this point I was pretty irate and Ry was sick of carrying heavy bags, we were both fed up and tired. One of the members of staff phoned the manager of Love Your Tent camp and it turns out we were actually in camp site 1 all along and the idiots over there just hadn't bothered to check the list properly so we had to carry our heavy bags back over to camp site 1. I was told when we got there to ask for the manager and I did so to have some snotty member of staff grill me about why I wanted to see him so I had to explain and this increased my levels of anger and frustration. The manager came over to us and apologised for what had happened (we were too furious to care for an apology) and found us on the list, he also showed us to our pitch. By the time we'd set our tent up we were so fed up we just wanted to go home, not a great start. We went for a little explore but Strawberry Fields and the main arena were closed meaning there wasn't much to see so we just headed back to the camp site until strawberry fields opened and on our way back bought 2 sassy chairs so we weren't sitting in our tent the whole time. At around 5pm we headed back over to strawberry fields and did a little exploring of Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and just generally where things were and what food was on offer. Not a lot happened really, we both got a pulled pork sandwich, did some more exploring, saw a band we'd never heard of called The Sherlocks at the Jack Rocks tent (and they were actually really good!), and then watched UB40 and Billy Idol at the Big Top. After Billy Idol finished we headed back to our tent and hoped the weekend couldn't get much worse.
Friday, the day we had been waiting for cos The Black Keys, and we discovered that our campsite had it's own van that served breakfast and breakfast in bed, so we both had a bacon, sausage, and egg bun for breakfast. Today was the day the main arena was open so we decided at around 3ish to pop over and see what was what. We again explored what other tents there were and what food was to offer and then headed to the bar to get a pint (or 2) of cider and blackcurrant. We wasted a bit of time and then headed to the main stage for Kodaline to start. Kodaline were really good, it was my second time seeing them, and Ry was really impressed with their performance. He said he was very surprised at the fact they sound exactly the same live as they do on record, looks like Kodaline have bagged themselves a new fan! It then started to rain, and I don't mean slightly, it was lashing it down and Ry didn't have a rain poncho so he got soaked. We waited at the main stage through Counting Crows set and then You Me at Six's set for the one reason we went to this festival, The Black Keys. I felt so awful for Ry he was dripping wet but The Black Keys were amazing and I hope he thought it was worth it bless his cottons! If it wasn't for the fact he was soaked through we'd have stayed to watch The Prodigy just to see what they're like live but they weren't on our list of must see's. We headed back to the tent and on the way I stopped and got us a domino's (yes much to my joy there was TWO domino's vans at the festival) to try and make us feel better about the rain situation.
We woke up bright and early (lol 10am) on Saturday morning, and were met with disappointment when the breakfast van had run out of bacon so were stuck with sausage and egg. A small qualm, not too bad. We headed over to the arena at around 2ish, did a bit more exploring and I discovered a Pimm's bar! More joy. I bought a pint for a steep fiver and then we headed to the main stage and sat through Ella Eyre's set whilst waiting for James Bay. He was honestly fab. We bought tickets to see him in Newcastle and thought we'd see what he was like at the festival and if we weren't impressed we'd sell our tickets but he was really good, very excited to see him in November. Anyway, there was nobody on for the rest of the day that we were particularly bothered about until Blur at 10pm so we headed back to the campsite and I stopped at a place called The Mac Shack for some Macaroni and Cheese and it was the best Mac and cheese I've ever had. I can't find this place anywhere to relive my experience so I'm guessing it's a festival only thing. We also quickly popped to Domino's for some dinner, of course. I haven't mentioned this yet but our campsite had it's own 'mini stage' and luckily for us it was situated right near our tent so we didn't have to move, the entertainment came to us! On the stage were new artists (unknown to me and Ry) that were on smaller stages but all of the acts were good entertainment. So we sat in the camp site and watched the acts that were on our 'secret stage' and just chilled out until we headed back over to the arena at 10 for Blur. We stood right at the back for Blur, I'm talking right next to the food vans at the back but to be honest it was a good view and I enjoyed their set. Damon tried his hardest to get the crowd going for the songs off the new album, and even attempted to get the southerners to do our northern 'here we, here we, here we fucking go' chant but unfortunately they didn't get the hang of it but perked up when the greatest hits they'd waited to hear were played. They played Parklife and Phil Daniels made an appearance that was both hilarious and brilliant at the same time. We left the arena and headed back to the camp site before the encore, we'd had enough and it was almost midnight so being the oldies we are, we were getting tired.
Sunday, our last day had arrived. Fleetwood Mac were to be the highlight of my day and I was very excited to see them. We had our morning sandwiches, bacon was back in stock, so bacon and egg it was! We just lounged around the campsite for most of the day until it was time to head over to the arena for half 4 for the Courteeners starting at 5. I wanted to try and get near the front in advance for Fleetwood Mac because I was seating for my show in Leeds so wanted to have the experience of close to the front standing. Imelda May was just finishing and I kid you not, we waltzed right down to the front and were second row from the barrier. Crazy right?! I was thrilled and I think Ry was thrilled for me. We saw the Courteeners, First Aid Kit and the fabulous Paolo Nutini and then it was time. Fleetwood Mac were due to come on and I could feel the excitement in the air. They came on stage at 10 past 9 and their set was wonderful. They played the classics like The Chain, Don't Stop, Everywhere, and Tusk but also played oldies like Sister's of the Moon, and I Know I'm Not Wrong AND to my joy they played my favourite song, Gypsy. There was an acoustic section where Stevie and Lindsey played/sung Landslide together and it made my heart so happy to see them performing together. Christine McVie is also back with the band for their current tour and it was so nice to see the line up as we know it to be (since Nicks and Buckingham joined). Fleetwood were the highlight of my weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to see them at this festival and then again a couple weeks later in Leeds.
Overall I've got mixed feelings about the festival because the acts we wanted to see were amazing and none of their sets disappointed me (can't speak for Ry) so I did really enjoy myself, but the festival as a whole in my opinion was an absolute disaster and I won't be returning. I hope others had a better experience than I did and I also hope this post of my experience doesn't put anyone off from going to the festival. Remember, everyone handles/see's things differently.
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