The Isle Of Wight Festival main stage arena officially opened yesterday (Friday 15th June) as the sun shone on Seaclose Park for the first full day of live music performances.
Lily Allen, Courteeners, James, Freya Ridings, Gerry Cinnamon, Hacienda Classical, Jax Jones, Sigala and a spectacular headline set from Noel Gallagher’s Highflying Birds left fans delighted.
James treated the crowd to a rare rendition of ‘Come Home’, evoking a mass singalong and stage invasion. Hacienda Classical celebrated seminal 90s dance hits, a special appearance from Bez, and Peter Hook joining for a rendition of New Order classic, ‘Blue Monday’.
Lily Allen, dressed in a vintage, colourful denim two-piece, opened with ‘Come On Then’ before launching into ‘LDN’, ‘Smile’. Midway through the performance, she called for silence for Grenfell. ‘F You’ was a barnstorming encore, as the crowd sang every word back.
Liam Fray and the Courteeners lads took to the Isle of Wight stage as the sun was setting. Tunes including ‘Not Nineteen Forever’, ‘Are You In Love With a Notion?’ and ‘What Took You So Long?’ were the perfect anthems for a Friday night party.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds returned to the Isle of Wight Festival for the first time since 2012. His headline set included new single ‘Black Star Dancing’, ‘AKA…What a Life!’, as well as Oasis classics ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, ‘Wonderwall’ closing on The Beatles’ classic, ‘All You Need Is Love’.
VIPs spotted on site include Lorraine Kelly, Fiona Bruce, Storm Keating, Susannah Constantine, Jack O’Connell and Ben Fogle.
In celebration of this year’s fancy dress theme of ‘Summer of ’69: Peace and Love’, festival goers were surprised to see John Lennon, Elmo and Neil Armstrong accompanied by a female ‘hippy’ exploring the site yesterday. For today (Saturday 15th June) will see those dressed in their 60s-best gather at 2.00pm in Strawberry Fields, where one lucky person will be crowned the “King or Queen of Summer”. The winner will receive an exclusive backstage tour and champagne picnic.
Today fans can look forward to performances from George Ezra, Garbage, Fatboy Slim, Bastille, Rick Astely, YungBlud, Anne-Marie, Miles Kane, Palaye Royale and many more.
