By Mal Butler
IW Festival organiser, John Giddings, looked around the site, watching a small army of workers setting up various stages, bars and stalls, and said: “It’s as if last year’s event was yesterday; it’s like it never went away.”
John, who has run the event since it’s revival in 2002, added: “I still get the same buzz every year. You plan it all throughout the year and suddenly there is a freight train coming at you.
“There are 15 stages and we have two new areas, ‘Steelers Wheel’ and ‘Jumping Jack Flash’, which will feature entertainment and DJs.
“I feel you have got to provide entertainment as well as music, and we’re putting on cheap entertainment.
“Over the course of the weekend we have 150 groups playing; how much would it cost to see them all individually? We have a huge variety of acts and the fans are very knowledgeable; they know all the songs and the lyrics. I get great pleasure out of the audience enjoying the music.
“They are the most important part of the festival; without the audience there is no show. We will have 50,000 here over the weekend; it’s a sell-out.
“The Festival is the most famous event on the Island; it used to be Cowes Week but now it’s us. There is so much going on with the crowds singing and the sun shining, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
After Sunday, John will be spending time at his home in Ryde, added: “Normally, I have to rush off somewhere around the world to promote another show but I love it here. Eventually I would like to do something for Ryde, maybe help to get the Town Hall redeveloped and turn it back into a music venue with a restaurant and office.”
But that’s in the future, for now John is already planning next year’s event, saying, with a smile: “I’ve already booked two headliners, but if I told you who they were, I’d have to kill you!”
Isle of Wight Observer