Isle of Wight spectacular gets festival season off to sunny start

Festival-goers enjoyed a day of sunshine before headline acts Run DMC and David Guetta took to the stage at the first major music festival of the summer.

Before the good weather on the first full day of the Isle of Wight Festival, revellers had to cope with muddy conditions after rain came down as people arrived on site on Thursday.

Long queues were also experienced at the campsite as security was stepped up with metal detectors at every gate as well as explosives detection dogs and armed police.

Hampshire Police said they were providing a “heightened presence” at the event at Seaclose Park, Newport, in response to the recent terrorist attacks and have advised the public to be “alert but not alarmed”.

Other acts taking to the stage during the four-day event include former Spice Girl Melanie C, The Kooks, Razorlight, Alison Moyet, Rag’n'Bone Man and Clean Bandit.

Festival organiser John Giddings said the line-up was “one of the best” in the event’s 16-year history since he relaunched the legendary festival of the early 1970s.

He said he had been first made aware of Saturday night headliners Arcade Fire by David Bowie, who headlined the festival in 2004.

He told Absolute Radio: “They seem like really nice people but to namedrop, the first person that told me about Arcade Fire was David Bowie, years and years and years ago.

“He said ‘John, you should check out this band’. And, I mean, they’ve gone from strength to strength haven’t they?”

Rod Stewart, famous for his songs spanning five decades including Sailing and Maggie May, will close the festival on Sunday.

As well as music spread across several stages, the festival features the Octopus’ Garden, an area selling food from around the world including garlic mushrooms from the island’s Garlic Farm as well as craft beers.

Festival-goers can also enjoy a touch of luxury in the hot tubs provided by Bathing Under the Sky as well as glamping options including Tangerine Fields, which provides standard tents as well as Bedouin and cube-shaped tents.

The festival also features performances from Bastille, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Zara Larsson, The Vamps, The Amazons, Starsailor, The Pretenders, Kaiser Chiefs, Imelda May and Scouting For Girls.

Since the festival was relaunched in 2002, world-famous headline acts have included The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, REM, Coldplay, Blur and Foo Fighters

The Isle of Wight Festival became famous when it hosted a series of events which culminated in 1970 with 600,000 hippies descending on the island to see Jimi Hendrix and other legendary acts.