Isle of Wight Festival 2003

Line-up

Bryan Adams Countermine Counting Crows Hell is for Heroes Iggy Pop Jimmy’s Big Fish John Squire Paul Weller Starsailor The Basement The Burn The Cooper Temple Clause The Darkness The Raveonettes The Thrills

Iggy Pop 2003
The man who invented punk rock, Iggy hits the stage in a blaze of feral energy. The giant video screens pick up every tic, glare and leap, as – stripped to the waist – he hollers out classics like 'The Passenger' and 'I Wanna Be Your Dog', threatening and seemingly not of his world. The crowd had been dozing in the afternoon sunlight, but rush the stage, drawn to his wrecked presence, like lemmings.

Onwards and Upwards for the Isle of Wight Festival
Isle of Wight Rock.

The first Solo organised Isle of Wight Festival brought thousands of people in a field but, not as Jarvis Cocker once wrote -in Hampshire-, this was on the Isle of Wight. Two days of Iggy, sun, beer, shades, Justin, tents, noodles, Thrills, cream, Bryan, toilets... Far too much to mention, except:

Saturday

The Thrills - promising Irish band. Who did the lead singer remind you of? Some said Mercury Rev, others said Steve Forbert. I thought they were a bit like the Kinks.

Iggy Pop - was, in the words of his own song, 'Raw Power'. Fine version of 'Passenger'. This man is the Duracell of the rock world.

Starsailor - A favorite of the 2002 Rock Island, front man James Walsh greeted us with 'Good Evening, Isle of Wight' - politeness costs nothing you know. Their set included a short extract of Neil Young's 'The Needle And The Damage Done'. A great set.

Paul Weller - top act for me this year and top man to boot. Steve Craddock from Ocean Colour Scene on guitar, and Damon Minchella, also from OCR, superb on bass. Opened up with 'Out Of The Sinking'. Did a joyous version of 'That's Entertainment'. Good to hear other Jam tracks 'Man In The Corner Shop' 'Tales Of The Riverbank' 'In The Crowd' and 'A Town Called Malice' which was the last song of the set. Switched between electric guitar, piano and acoustic guitar and kept everything moving merrily.

Sunday

More wonderful weather. People with Rock Festival wristbands sitting out in St.Thomas' Square, Newport enjoying our beautiful Island. Highlights today?

John Butler Trio - a surprise package for many, this three piece Australian band played great acoustic blues with slide guitar which drew a very favourable crowd reaction. More please for 2004.

The Raveonettes - from Denmark, an up and coming band to watch out for. Opened up with a version of Buddy Holly's 'Everyday' which didn't work for my liking, the bass was too loud. I'm sure they would rock in the right place at the right time, but with the sun shining on a perfect summers day...

The Darkness - What the hell can you say about these guys. They're from Kent; they're Spinal Tap, no Queen; Justin, the lead singer, is a performer, no he's taking the piss; if one band has caused more arguments than any other in recent pop history, I'd like to know who? But the truth is that they put out a fantastic show, get more people standing than most others on the bill and have some 'in-yer-head-and-won't-get-out' songs. The Darkness will be huge, and remember where you saw them first.

Counting Crows - a very professional performance by front man Adam Durvitz and the rest of the band. Fine version of 'Big Yellow Taxi', last sung at an Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 by Joni Mitchell. Long, passionate version of 'Round Here' with Van Morrison's 'Sweet Thing' in the middle of it. Left the stage to a tape of 'California Dreamin'. Spot on.

Bryan Adams - Some think Bryan Adams is a bit too 'showbiz', but proved very popular and ended the Rock Festival in style. He invited a lady called Lindsay from Scarborough out of the crowd to sing 'When You're Gone' with him - a nice touch which was a popular part of the evening. It's hard not to be won over with hits such as 'Summer of 69', 'Run to You' and the rest, and you can always go and get a burger when the Robin Hood thing comes on (everyone in the UK has heard it about 1,000,000 times already). A real entertainer.

Before we move any further, a quick mention for the two week programme of 'youth music' that runs right through the Isle of Wight Festival. Called 'Wight Noise', many of the younger bands from the Island get to play in pubs and clubs across the Island, with one getting the chance of a lifetime to play on the mainstage at the Rock Festival.

It was so good to see that so many people had traveled over to the Island to enjoy a music festival -something that a whole generation has not had the opportunity to do until last year. Thirty years of hurt never stopped us dreaming - and we dream again, of what 2004 might bring.

Major thanks go to Vic King for help with this piece.

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