Isle of Wight Festival

The first Isle of Wight festivals ran from 1968 to 1970. The last of them, with Jimi Hendrix, The Who and The Doors playing to hundreds of thousands at Afton Down, was so big that Parliament passed an act to limit large gatherings on the island.

Promoter John Giddings revived the festival in 2002 at Seaclose Park in Newport, and it has stayed there. It mixes current pop and rock headliners with heritage acts, draws a lot of families, and is one of the first big UK festivals of the summer. The ferry crossing is part of the ritual.