Peter Crouch recorded a podcast in the Big Top on Thursday evening before the Denmark versus England game in the Euros. He was one of the tallest pro footballers and played for a number of clubs including Tottenham, Liverpool, Southampton and two spells at Portsmouth. He played for England on 42 occasions including the 2006 and 2010 World Cups
As the teams were shown on the big screen singing their national anthems the massive inside and outside Big Top crowd stood up to sing the national anthem and prior to this Peter entertained the crowd with some football banter prior to the game starting.
Volunteers from Mountbatten were out in force with their ever popular sunflowers, now in all shapes and sizes. One of the volunteers said that festivalgoers were very generous in their support of the charity.
Hundreds are employed as on-site workers during the festival. On site catering was provided by Eat to the Beat who have been catering for 40 years. Each day 2000 + meals were supplied using fresh ingredients sourced in the main from Island firms and providers including Isle of Wight Cheese and local fish. Those who were entitled to meals each day had a choice of cooked or continental for breakfast and there were several choices for main and sweet courses at lunchtime and in the evening including a salad bar and fresh fruit. Undertaking catering for 2000+ a day is no easy task and a team of chefs & catering staff work really hard to see that everyone is fed well.
In the Guest Village guests could sample a number of Isle of Wight products including Mermaid Gin and Mermaid Rum. Goddards Beer, Isle of Wight Tomatoes, Minghella Ice Cream, goodies from Calbourne Classics, Isle of Wight Cheese and Elixir pressed juices. Most of these products are well known to Island residents but this was a chance for some of the artistes or visitors to the Island to sample our local produce with hopefully orders coming this way. Following their main stage performance on Saturday members of Yotkshire based Apollo Junction seemed keen to try Island products. Prior to the Festival, Elixir had been approached by the festival production team with requests for local items to appear in the Green Room hospitality for artistes to enjoy including requests from Pet Shop Boys and Green Day for their Island pressed juices.
Other Island companies providibg services at the festival included Westridge skips which were widely used on site and Top Mops did a sterling service keeping Seaclose clean and tidy.
On Friday afternoon The Bootleg Beatles gave an authentic 40 minutes rendition of 13 well-known Beatles numbers calminating with Hey Jude which had the audience singing along.
On Saturday Keane celebrated 20 years in the business when they gave a well received set as warmup act for headliners Pet Shop Boys with Tom Chaplin lead singer with Keane revealing that Pet Shop Boys were heroes of theirs.
In the warm sun of Sunday lunchtime Beverley Knight was well accepted by the large early afternoon crowd in the main arena. Following her performance she was interviewed backstage by Sky Arts revealing prior to the on air interview that she was so happy with the audience reception that she felt like performing for longer. Sky Arts covered most performances over the festival weekend with evening long shows for those unable to attend the festival in person. Insider interviews gave background to some of the performers and their performances. These were broadcast from the Sky Arts pop up studio which proved a popular venue for interviews, complete with its purple toadstools.
Scottish rock band Simple Minds fronted by Jim Kerr were the penultimate act to grace the Seaclose main stage.
They were able to draw upon their 45 years back catalogue which boasts 5 number one albums.
Green Day made their only UK Festival appearance with a high energy performance consisting of 2 hours of pyrotechnic-heavy antics.
Songs included Holiday, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and the epic Jesus of Suburbia.
Although it had been rumoured that they would be no firework display at the end of the festival the usual splendid display took place over the site bringing the 2024 event to a close.
From 12 noon on Friday 28th June 2024 you will be able to purchase Early-bird tickets for the 2015 IW Festival. With the 2024 festival a great success due to the number of bands/single artistes, the excellent weather and the full amount of festival fun to be had the next edition in 2025 could be the next not to miss event.
Following last weekend’s festival fun, Isle of Wight Festival organisers have announced dates for next year’s event: 19th – 22nd June 2025. Early bird tickets are available from 12noon on Friday 28th June. from www.isleofwightfestival.com
The 2024 festival was a triumph, with artistes and fans alike expressing their love for the festival.