With the news coverage that the Isle of Wight festival was a wash out and with festival goers having to spend the night in their cars, our journey on the Friday was sure to be a traumatic one. Thankfully our trip down the M3 to Southampton docks was uneventful and our ferry set sail on time. Once on the island there were no signs of the traffic queues that had made the headlines the previous day and we quickly found ourselves in one of the newly opened car parks. With just over a 15 minute walk to the camp sites we quickly had our tent up in what can only be described as a mud bath. The festival organisers had done a great job with the arena, and kept it in good shape for our arrival, alas the campsites had too much footfall / rainfall the previous day

First up on the main stage were Feeder, Grant Nichols and the boys are such a good choice to open the festival with their catchy guitar based poprock songs. Current single 'Renegades', previous hits 'All by Myself' & ' Buck Rogers' give the crowd the perfect start to the festival. Noah and the Whale were next up on the main stage, and as the sun shone on the main stage so did their music, highlights of their folk / indie set included ‘Tonight’s the Kind of Night’ and L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

With a short walk to the Big Top to see the sensational Kelis, dressed in what can only be described as a Queen Latifa outfit she quickly got the crowd up to speed with her catchy mix of rave, R&B and pop. Mixing old and new songs and keeping the audience engaged is a difficult task but one she achieved easily. The highlight of her amazing set was mixing Madonna's hit ‘Holiday’, Cindy Lauper’s ‘Girls just Wanna Have Fun’, Nirvana's ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ with her biggest hit Milkshake and then seamlessly breaking into Donna Summers ‘I Feel Love’.

Example is a crowd pleaser and the huge crowd swell just as he takes to the main stage to what has to be the heaviest bass we will hear all weekend. His short career has produced some huge hits and he storms through his set at a super speed. The biggest cheer is reserved for his biggest hit to date ‘Changed the way you kissed me’

Lana Del Ray is taking the pop world by storm, and on this performance you can see why. She enters the stage at The Big Top to rapturous applause, she sings so softly at first you can hardly hear her but she grows in confidence and the crowd warm to her. Yet again we are in the presence of a superstar in the making, long may her reign as the princess of chic continue.

Elbow are a band on a mission tonight, their sheer determination to put on a show that everyone remembers is so evident that they could be seen as trying too hard. Slow rising indie anthems are their forte and they soon have the crowd in the palm of their hands. Lead singer Guy Garvey prowls the stage giving advice at every opportunity and tonight’s message is simple 'don't let others tell you what to do', unless of course it’s singing along with Elbow. On the verge of super stardom Elbow have produced some of the best indie tracks in recent times, the powerful ‘Grounds for Divorce’ is greeted with a defining wall of sound from the crowd, but the band save the best till last with ‘One Day Like This’. 

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers take to the stage as darkness falls, the crowd are in awe of this living legend, and opening with ‘Listen to Her Heart’ you can see why. With a huge back catalogue it was always going to be a hard task to pick a set list as everyone has a favourite Tom Petty song, but he chose very well for his first appearance at IOW. The Heartbreakers offer Tom the utmost respect as he does to them on every song they play together. Even when they play the Traveling Wilbury’s classic ‘Handle with Care’,  they treat it as one of their own. ‘Free Fallin’, ‘I won’t Back Down’ and ‘Learning to Fly’ get the full IOW audience sing a long treatment as does the irrepressible ‘Runnin’ Down a Dream’. Getting the encore he so richly deserves Tom Petty saves his best for last, and as ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ makes way for ‘American Girl’ tonight’s crowd leave with a spring in their step and a puddle of mud to jump into.

Saturday sees the sun breakout of the clouds for James Walsh, the ex-Starsailer frontman, he plays to the early morning risers who really enjoy his acoustic, melody driven songs. Next up are Big Country who are now fronted by ex-Alarm front man Mike Peters. With Celtic overtones to their guitar based rock the band play some of their best known 80’s rock anthems, ‘Steeltown’, ‘Chance’ with Downton Abbey actress ‘Elizabeth McGovern’ and ‘Look Away’ before playing crowd favourites ‘Fields of Fire’ & ‘In A Big Country’.

Hue and Cry really still know how to put on a show. The Big Top erupted when the Kane brothers walked on with their backing band. Starting with the opening track off their excellent album ‘Hot Wire’ ‘Duty to the Debtor’ the band quickly work the crowd like the professionals they are. Lead singer Pat asks the crowd if they are ready to “Skank” as they play one of their biggest hits ‘Looking for Linda’ in a Caribbean style, which is so far from their 80’s jazz influenced pop but works so well. With the inevitable ‘Labour of Love’ as their final song the crowd make the most of it and turn it into a great 80’s sing along.

Jessie J, the queen of pop arrives on the Main Stage to a wall of sound from her adoring fans, ‘Do it like a Dude’ sets the pace for the set which includes covers of ‘Ushers’ ‘Climax’ and Luther Vandross’s ‘Never Too Much’. Jessie J’s own material stands up to these and her huge hit ‘Price Tag’ is the real highlight of the set. 

Tinie Tempah has come a long way in his short career and playing 3rd from top at one of the UK’s biggest festivals is a real milestone for him. It’s a performance that is so good you can see him being one of the big headliners in a couple of years’ time. ‘Mosh Pit’, ‘Written in the Stars’ and ‘Miami to Ibiza’ are the real standout songs of the set.

Biffy Clyro are one of the biggest bands in the UK right now and their billing on the line-up reflects this. With the use of microphone camera’s the band are playing with visual senses as well as their undoubted musical ability. ‘Mountains’ is a wonderful set opener and from that point onwards the band get better and better.  Front man Simon Neil dressed all in white for tonight’s performance plays his guitar with all the power he can muster, his voice never lets him down as he goes from roar to whisper and back again. Highlights of the set include ‘Many of Horror’, ‘Who’s got a Match’, ‘The Jokes On US’ and ‘Glitter and Trauma’. The crowd play their part too supplying the bubbles for ‘Bubbles’ and as the set comes to an end the band and crowd are one as ‘The Captain’ fills the arena.

Pearl Jam take to the stage just as the rain starts to fall again. Dressed in grey just like the clouds, Eddy Vedder begins what turns out to be one of the best shows the festival sees all weekend. Opening with ‘Unthought Known’ is a master stroke and as Eddy’s guitar kicks in the crowd rejoice at the wall of sound presented to them. ‘Hail Hail’ soon follows as does a cover of The Beatles ‘Rain’ how very fitting! ‘Supersonic’, ‘Untitled’, ‘MFC’ and ‘Even Flow’ lead up to a glowing rendition of Joe Strummers ‘Arms Aloft’, ‘Jeremy’ and ‘Why Go’ follow before they leave the stage for what seems like an eternity. Coming back for a 5 song encore is something special and then they leave again but as before they come back and play arguably the best 3 songs of the night, ‘Blood’, ‘Alive’ and the formidable ‘Yellow Leadbetter’. On this evidence Pearl Jam will be back in the UK and we will welcome them back with wide open arms.

Sunday sees ex Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett take to the main stage with his band, heavily influenced 70’s prog rock fills the arena, the crowd that have gathered witness a master class in rock. Joan Armatrading is next up and rattles through some of her best known work, stand out songs are ‘Drop the Pilot’ and ‘Me, Myself, I’.

Spector take to the Big Top stage as if they own it and for the next 40 minutes they do, sharply dressed they quickly get down to business playing songs from their debut album (which is released August 13th). The crowd play their part by singing at every opportunity and with their time up Spector leave the stage knowing they have won many new fans.

The Virginmarys create a wall of sound so loud it knocks the socks off you, but this is no bad thing. The trio from Macclesfield play their instruments hard and fast and rattle through their set at break neck speed, the crowd really appreciate the ferocity of their music. Stand out track of the set has to be ‘Running for my Life’.  Other tracks included ‘Out of my Mind’ and ‘Just a Ride’

Black Stone Cherry stride onto the stage very casually, they acknowledge the crowd with a tip of their hats and then almost bring the Big Top crashing down to the sound of ‘Maybe Someday’ taken from their self-titled first album. With a southern drawl and a spring in his step, lead singer Chris Robertson thanks the crowd for their participation as they rattle through songs from their first two albums and their current offering ‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’ stand out tracks from the set include ‘In My Blood’, ‘White Trash Millionaire’, ‘Blind Man’ and the real crowd pleaser of the afternoon ‘Lonely Train’.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds draw a huge crowd to the main stage and as expected play quite a few Oasis songs, mixing his past with his present has never worried Noel Gallagher and nor should it. Highlight of the set has to be the mass sing along that is ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, and with his job for the evening done Noel quietly slips away to watch the England match.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are renowned for their Rock N Roll shows, playing for about 3 hours is the usual and tonight is no exception, with a huge back catalogue they pick their songs wisely, starting with one of their best songs ‘Badlands’. The band quickly move through their set, mixing songs from their new album Wrecking Ball ‘We Take Care Of Our Own’, ‘Death to My Hometown and ‘Shackled and Drawn’ with old classics such as ‘The River’ and ‘The Rising’. As the evening draws to a close it is the anthems that really get the crowd on their feet ‘Born in the USA’, ‘Born to Run’ ‘Glory Days’ and ‘Dancing in the Dark’ make way for a cover of ‘Twist and Shout’ as his final song and as the fireworks light up the night sky over Newport, it’s time to head off in search of summer. 

Photgraphs by James Gillham @ stillmoving.net