Isle of Wight Festival, 13th June 2004

On the ferry, I was an Isle of Wight Festival virgin in search of new musical experiences, which revealed themselves in the best possible way. The festival was a cosy and intimate affair for music lovers, with only one stage and few areas of green to wander about. Hey, who cares about grass to roll on when you have David Bowie?

The festival's legacy was in the air, brought back by legendary performances by Jimi Hendrix and The Who on the big screens and by the great variety of people, from young music adepts with their Stereophonics t-shirts to retired hippies and to devoted Bowie fans of all ages (myself included). Musically speaking, it felt like having 3 different music tents compressed into one.

The festival kicked off with a percussion bonanza, Caribbean music performed by a local group, the right kind of music to warm you up for a day of intense bum shaking and jumping around, then followed by the jazz-ska sound of The Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club band.

The festival then proceeded into Indieland, interrupted only by the relaxing, acoustic songs of Susan Vega. Needless to say, 'Lukas' was the highlight of her performance.

There was anticipation in the air for the neighbours from Southampton, The Delays. Their songs were the perfect soundtrack to this summer day, with their Sixties melodic rock sound rendered distinctively by the voice of the lead singer, Greg Gilbert (believe me, there was not a girl at the vocals). The highlight of their performance was their top ten hit 'Nearer than Heaven' followed by potential hits such as 'Hey Girl' and 'Long Time Coming'.

It was Snow Patrol, though, that stole the pre-Bowie show with a storm of energetic rock sound which made the audience go wild. Bless the lead singer Gary when he said with a big grin on his face that he was playing in front of his biggest audience yet (grin which remained on his face throughout the gig and, I am sure, will stay throughout the summer festival season). The songs, mostly taken from Snow Patrol's third album, 'Final Straw', were a mixture of powerful rock and mellow sound with honest and touching lyrics echoed by the singing of the audience, which became even louder for their ultimate rock anthem 'Run'. They might have been struggling for ten years but it is good to see that it all paid back to such a massive extent.

The evening was building in trepidation for Bowie and for the England game. During the performance of The Charlatans, rumours of a score for England started circulating for the joy of the thousands of fans in their white and red t-shirts. Away from the football, The Charlatans' performance was a revival of their best hits, from 'The only one I know', 'Just looking' and 'North Country Boy' to the more recent songs from their latest 'Up at the Lake'. Their sound was powerful and many people couldn't help dancing and singing along. A great atmosphere full of memories of the 90s spent dancing at these songs and I can proudly say that it was the first time that I saw Tim Burgess sober on stage.

Obviously it was not 'va va voom' for England as the match progressed and many fans found the result changed twice in favour of France in the short space of time of going to the toilets and back.

Then the moment arrived and Bowie came on stage with 'Rebel Rebel'. Who cares about the football when you have Bowie on stage? The years in New York have not washed out his Cockney accent with which he greeted the audience to 'Hello Motherfuckers!'. With his latest album, Bowie returns with a more rock approach to his music, after his drum and base and experimental parenthesises. He played some classics that made the audience ecstatic, such as 'All the Young Dudes', 'Ashes to Ashes', 'Under Pressure' (minus Freddie for obvious reasons) and 'The Man who Sold the World'. The atmosphere was magic with the entire site drawn together to singing his songs, a sensation that the visual displays on stage contributed to create. The festival finished with 'Ziggy Stardust'. Maybe Ziggy could not score for England, but he can certainly play guitar!

Lis