It's over for another year. Isle of Wight Festival 2026. Feeling pretty good this Monday despite the vigours of a long festival weekend ! So what did I make of it ? To give some context - I have been to most of the IOW Festivals since John Giddings revived the Festival in 2002 and the years I have not been was usually because I had a Glasto ticket. As such we are big supporters of the IOW Festival and consider ourselves very lucky to have it on our relative doorstep.
Below is a personal take - I have deliberately avoided much of the social media generated during and after the festival in order to retain some original thinking. So here goes.
The line up. To some extent my approach is pretty much laissez faire in as much as we buy our early tickets blind ie do not know the line up at the time of purchase. I know there will be stuff that appeals and other stuff that won't. Everyone is different and that is part of it. I was mega chuffed when it was announced the closing headliners were The Cure. That pretty much justified my ticket cost in itself for me and everything else would be a bonus. Great to be seeing them again.
We always go in on Thursday night through the camping gate. The weather is fine and the forecast is even better. The site is already very busy. What caught my attention was the number of established camp sites - the majority it seemed. Hundreds of neat rows of tents set up in advance for their occupiers to turn up to with all the hard work done. This is a good example of how the IOW Festival has changed. Not so much grunge now - more glamping. The Glasto type drop toilets and a cold standpipe for the weekend is no longer acceptable for the new breed of festival goer who have money to spend - middle class middle age middle England. People who would never go to a festival in the old terms can go now and they bring a different attitude and demand more. I will refer to this again.
The main arena is not open on Thursday but pretty much everything else is. There is a full music programme in the Blue Top - the festivals second stage.
The first act we see is a DJ set from Hot Dub Time Machine. Basically he plays bangers through time - starting in the 1970's and finishing in the 2020's. A simple fun start. Maximo Park have not moved on. Enter another DJ. Joel Corry. New to me. An Avicii type club set. The crowd loved it - so did I. Thursday night is a bonus night and combined with a couple of pints of Yachtsman's from Kashmir - a big bonus night.
Friday there is a buzz. The real opening day. We go in about 4pm. Some delays with real bag searches, sometimes pat downs and a drug dog.
Personally I am not into Lewis Capaldi but Cinema Club were fine and Wet Leg are original and authentic and I enjoyed their performance. While Lewis Capaldi was doing his thing I have a look around the site including a chilled stop over in my favorite watering hole - the Kashmir. (proper Real Ale available).
First impressions - the Festival is busy - apparently a sell out - about 50000. A lot put this down to a Glasto fallow year - but the feel is not so different from every year. I think the main factor this year is the forecast. A hot one.
Just a bit on prices. Unlike at Glasto there are strict controls over bringing booze and food into the site. If you are camping it is unrestricted - but when you enter the main site complex even from the camp site you are not allowed to bring in food or booze and they check you pretty thoroughly and confiscate. This is purely economics. The festival requires income from selling food and booze and if you could bring it in that income would be diminished of course. Consequently a lot of people pre load and then smuggle in booze if they can because the excepted understanding is we will be squeezed on food and drink prices once in. I had heard £8.75 for a pint. As it turned out a pint was £7.50 but Paypal were doing a promotion that if you used their debit card you would get 20% off all food or drink. It worked perfectly everywhere. This brought a pint down to £6 which while not Spoons prices was not too bad considering where we were. The food I had was ok - although I couldn't find a Cornish Pastie anywhere! With the Pay Pal discount a typical main meal was £11 to £13.
Because we live on the Island we go home each night and therefore have home comforts including a sea swim each morning. This is my preference now but the consequence of not camping on site is perhaps you are not as entrenched and committed to the festival as you are with "we are all in it together vibe" that you definitely get at Glasto and makes it special.
Saturday I planned an Indie day mainly in the Big Top - but Feeder pulled out and the programme got changed. It was a very hot day. Somehow I spent most of the day with the fam in the main arena apart from visits to Kashmir. The main arena list reflects the way the IOW Festival has gone. Very safe - middle of the road - note not a single rap artist / hip hop / drum and bass artist in the 3 day main arena schedule). I am not complaining about that. Teddy Swims has a big following but I could take it or leave it. But then joy of joys - Calvin Harris. It had got dark - we were down the front with atmosphere but not too crowded by any means. I had just the right amount of dance fuel and lovely extra company in the audience which made the set even more special. I love Calvin Harris's music - play it a lot in my car. Basically we danced (my version of) for the full 1hr and half or so. Never stopped. It was perfect - exhilarating - a great show with the lights and the whole audience really into it. I have never made an Ibiza Club - a regret - but this night made up for it. Memorable. Massive smiles. This is one of the things about a 3 day festival. Highs and lows. This was a major high and made all the effort worth it.
Sunday was all about The Cure for me but I always enjoy the main arena Sunday afternoon. Sun out - chilled - the music is again middle of the road and harmless. Mark King form Level 42 is from the Island and the nostalgia came over. David Gray enjoyed himself - he has been around for a while too. The Last Dinner Party I decided to miss and my Spotify judgement was confirmed as I got out of the main arena area - their female lead is up herself - ha! Back for the Kooks - and pretty near the front. They are a legit big stage band. A big layered sound. Very enjoyable but for me not enough edge.
And then came The Cure. Closing headliners. A 2hr 15m set. After effectively standing in a field for 3 days that might seem a bit much to take. It wasn't. The crowd was huge. The audience knew The Cure. Of course they would - one of the biggest most influential bands in the world for a long time. It was Glasto all over again for me. Mega. Song after song. The big screen quality, the camera work, the sound quality and close proximity to the stage - combined with the dark and fantastic stage lighting and the at one crowd - time just flew by. What a character, a stage presence and a talent Robert Smith is. A fascinating watch.
It finished with fireworks on a balmy 11pm Sunday evening.
So that was IOW 2026. Really enjoyable especially with Rich, James and Kim and Connor.
However before I wind up I am going to make a few comments about the way the festival was run. Last year there were significant problems at the site that detracted from a lot of peoples pleasure and truly infuriated some. I wrote about it this time last year. A quick recap. The problem was the use of chairs. More specifically a lot of people bring chairs - increasing year on year and a few years back John Giddings introduced a chair free zone comprising about the bottom 1/3rd of the main arena to cope with their impact. However the new breed of festival goers increasingly started land grabs. They formed chair circles and even started lashing them together to keep others out. They used trolleys and blankets - created picnic sites and creches for their personal use - even if they were not there. In short chair use got out of hand and the atmosphere soured as people quite rightly tried to move around but found themselves deliberately blocked. Some people became greedily territorial and abusive. There was a huge social media outcry as a response with the debate polarising.
Prior to this years event new chair use guidelines were publicised. Trolleys were banned. It was clear to me the festival organisers understood the issue and were addressing it. Of course some festival die hards argued any chairs were anti festival and the common parlance is "chair wankers."
Eventually the organisers relented on the main arena ban on trolleys on protest from some ticket holders who stated they had been sold tickets on the understanding the IOW Festival was family friendly (as publicised) and they needed their trolleys to drag their kids around with all the required paraphernalia.
So how did it all work out this year ? Well definitely it was better. There were probably no fewer chairs but the message had got through that land grabs - especially chair circles were unacceptable. It was possible to move a bit freer through the chair area but still not easy - in fact hard. Realistically I think this is about as much as can be achieved because it would be commercial suicide to ban chairs because the new festival demographic want their comforts. The organisers had also introduced a couple of extra lateral paths made of plastic type membrane and this helped too. However despite these efforts crowd movement to and back from the front third when acts change were almost wholly dependent on using the designated paths that run down each side - what I refer to as the motorways rather than dissipating through the chair area as used to happen. Inevitably there are football crowd moments as a result but this is normal. Some of the new breed bang on that more health and safety is required and stewards are not doing there jobs - but I do not agree. If you want to go towards the front at a major festival it is your choice and expect to be jostled a bit at peak times. It is rarely if ever a mosh pit at the IOW. While I am writing about this stuff there are 2 groups I want to refer to because they were very vocal in their assessment (condemnation) of last year and in their social media input leading up to this years festival - claiming things were not safe for them. The first are those that want to bring toddlers and young kids to the festival. They have a right to but I cannot understand why they would want to. As far as I can see it is not for the children's benefit. The other group is people with disabilities. Of course I agree in principal with disability access and I know there are special areas set aside and special provisions already made for those with disabilities. But there must be limits - not least in practical terms as in who can climb Mt Everest. In my view these 2 groups should look at their own decision making and choices.
However to finish on a high note. This years festival was an undoubted success. For me there were two major highs at least and that just in itself was enough. Mix in with the chance conversations with strangers - usually fun - occasionally bizarre in a true festival spirit and an outrageous amount of dancing (thats what I call it !) makes attending something very different to normal day to day life. It was great to be with Rich and James. We have already secured early bird tickets for next year - this time for the whole fam including for my 2 teenage granddaughters attending their first major festival. All we have to do is to keep our fingers crossed for the line up but there will be something for everyone guaranteed.
Thank you John Giddings for once again bringing the festival to the Island. It is a privilege to have it on our doorstep.
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