Nokia Isle of Wight Festival 2004

With the feel and buzz of the original Isle of Wight festivals ringing in peoples minds and ears, the atmosphere was out of this world. Who could forget the legendary events in the late 60s with Bob Dylan, The Who, Free, The Doors, Joni Mitchell, Jefferson Airplane and culminating in 1970 with 600,000 hippies descending on the island to see Jimi Hendrix.

For this year, the sun was shining, the ferries were bringing over thousands upon thousands of festival goers and things were looking set for a great weekend of music and partying. The site for the festival is just about a 10 minute drive from Newport and Cowes and easy to get to from any part of the island.

The organisation was military like with well managed road blocks to ensure that festival traffic would cause the least disruption possible to the Islanders. Once parked the trek to your spot of land to pitch your tent began.

The camping areas were split into about 5 fields each with their own toilet facilities and fresh water, the sea of tents was quite literally staggering to look at. There were two campervan areas set aside and again these had their own toilets and fresh water supply. There were no showers available on the camping areas but you could use the showers in the leisure centre should you need to and these were about a 30 minute walk away, but hey man, this is a festival!

Be warned if you try to take booze into the arena they will confiscate it at the entrance. Alcohol was available in the arena and this was either bottled lager, some alco-pops, cocktails etc.

In the arena there were plenty of stalls selling merchandise, food, drink, and all sorts, for those who wanted a break from the music, there were rides to tickle the taste buds of all fancies.

The bands, well what can we say! Friday saw the Stereophonics headline, with the weekend getting better and better. The Manic Street Preachers, the Charlatans, Steve Harley, Suzanne Vega, plus so many more.

The Who wowed everyone, with Daltry and Townsend proving they've still got what it takes, with true rock and roll coursing through their veins. Then to top it all the England game shown live to 36,000, with David Bowie coming on to cheer the crowd and relieve the disappointment of another game lost to a penalty.

A real festival atmosphere, and the chance to say I was there. At the end, tired but ecstatic, knowing we had seen something memorable. Absolutely Unmissable.

Isle of Wight Festival 2005

Yes it is back and is on from Friday 10th - Sunday 12th June, camping is available again with arrival from the Thursday and leaving on the Monday.  You can find out more about the 2005 festival, including the Headliners here!

COMPETITION! Win a Pair of Tickets including Camping for the Nokia IOW Festival 2004

Courtesy of our great friends at the Nokia Isle of Wight festival 2004 we are offering you the chance to win a pair of tickets to the festival including on-site tent camping. Sorry Competition has now Closed!