By Mal Butler
Isle of Wight Festival organiser, John Giddings, looked forward to a packed weekend of music featuring Sting, Justin Timberlake and Stereophonics and said: “I’ve booked the weather – I’m the luckiest man alive!”
The IW Observer caught up with him on Wednesday evening as he attended the launch of ‘godfather of British music PR’ and long-time friend, Alan Edwards’ new book ‘I Was There – Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll’. He clearly enjoyed the talk about his life working with artists such as David Bowie, the Spice Girls, the Rolling Stones, the Stranglers, Prince, and Amy Winehouse. As the IW Festival opening approached, John was in a relaxed mood, and said: “It’s going to be brilliant.
We will have crowds of 50,000 a day there and, as far as I am concerned, this isn’t a job, it’s a hobby. “It makes it all worthwhile when you see the crowds in the field singing, dancing and enjoying themselves. “I’m very excited about the line up; it will be fantastic, although I’m now stressing out more when I think of who is going to play next year!” As well as the headline acts, there will be star turns like Faithless, The Corrs, The Script, Busted, Razorlight, Texas, and Olly Murs. John added: “It costs £12m-£15m to put on, but I’ve been in the business for 50 years and I know a lot of people personally.
The Isle of Wight Festival is on a lot of their bucket lists. They want to come here and be part of the occasion; it’s not like any other festival.” Did he want Oasis this year, the superstars who are reforming after last playing live together in 2009? John said: “I know how much it would cost for them to play here, but they were never part of it. They wanted to do the stadiums and I’ve never seen such a worldwide demand for tickets; there were 10 people applying for every ticket sold.
They will be great.” He also addressed the ticket prices saying: “Try going to the British Grand Prix or a Premier League football match and then compare it to three full days here. Everyone gets value for money. “The weekend will be incredible; the weather will be perfect but people must make sure they are protected against the sun and hydrate and probably take a top for the night when it will get cooler. I can’t wait for it to start!”
Isle of Wight Observer