11 June 2006: Isle Of Wight Festival, Seaclose Park, Isle Of Wight
From WikiColdplay
Setlist
- Square One
- Politik
- Yellow
- Speed Of Sound
- God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
- X&Y
- How You See The World
- Don't Panic
- White Shadows
- The Scientist
- Til Kingdom Come
- Ring Of Fire
- Trouble
- Clocks
- Talk
Encore - Swallowed In The Sea
- In My Place
- Fix You
Reviews
Coldplay close Nokia Isle Of Wight Festival Coldplay have closed the Nokia Isle Of Wight Festival tonight (June 11), paying special tribute to England striker Peter Crouch.
Including songs 'Yellow', 'Swallowed In The Sea', 'Fix You' and 'The Scientist' in their set, frontman Chris Martin unveiled his tribute to the lanky footballer. "I've got a secret to share with you," Martin told the crowd. "If England do well in the World Cup we're going to release a single called 'Do The Crouch'. So if England win the world cup we're going to get our first number one."
Calling the song "very simple", Martin then revealed the lyrics: Get up off the sofa/ get up off the couch/ stop what you're doing and do the Crouch/.
The band then worked the song about the former Queens Park Rangers man into several of their own tracks. On 'Don't Panic', which saw guitarist Johnny Buckland sing the second verse, Martin worked the lyrics into the final chorus, he did the same during 'Talk' and copied the striker's robotic dance during 'In My Place'.
Coldplay also paid tribute to Lou Reed covering his classic 'Perfect Day'. Earlier with the sun-setting, Reed himself played a well-received evening set. Joined on stage as usual by his Tai Chi master, the former Velvet Underground leader revisited early parts of his career including 'I'm Waiting For My Man' and 'White Light/ White Heat'.
Following Reed, Richard Ashcroft took to the stage with a politically charged performance. Before playing a note the singer voiced his opposition to the Iraq war and Tony Blair shouting "Bring the boys home, Tony, live in peace!"
The set, which mixed songs from his former band The Verve and his solo work, included 'Lucky Man', 'Music Is Power' and 'Drugs Don't Work', as Ashcroft then took aim at the Conservative Party. "Don't vote Cameron," he declared referring to new Tory leader David Cameron before adding. "Don't vote for Blair either. Whatever you do don't vote Tories, never ever! Fuck Cameron it's all spin, bullshit!" Closing with a rousing version of 'Bitter Sweet Symphony', Ashcroft twisted the Verve's songs lyrics, thanking the crowd for "letting me be myself".
To revisit all the weekend's action, plus for news from all of this year's major festivals go to NME.COM/FESTIVALS for the ultimate coverage of the summer.
Source: NME
Coldplay performed Lou Reed’s Perfect Day during Sunday’s headline set after the Velvet Underground legend asked Chris Martin to do him the ‘favour’ during a backstage chat.
During his own set, there had been murmurs of disbelief within the crowd as Lou Reed departed the stage without having played his best known song. But disappointment turned to delight when the Coldplay frontman revealed that Reed had cornered him backstage and asked him if he’d perform the song instead, to placate the crowd.
“When Lou Reed asks you for a favour, you do it!”, said Martin on-stage during his band’s headline set at the end of the night.
Coldplay’s version thrilled the crowd but was anything but perfect with Martin laughing and swearing repeatedly as he fluffed up his lines. He made up for it by attempting to recreate M People’s Heather Small’s famous warble on the more recently released all-star version of the song and later he revealed that the band had only had 20 minutes to rehearse it.
Throughout their set, Coldplay were on inspirational form with Martin rolling, diving and crabbing his way around the stage. He was happy to share the limelight, though, inviting guitarist Jonny Buckland to sing on ‘God Put a Smile on Your Face’ and inventing his own UK Festival Award, dubbed ‘Festival Fan of the Day’ to a young girl who was invited up on stage and presented with a bottle of Champagne to glug whilst she watched the band perform at point blank range.
Highlights from the set included ‘Talk’, ‘In My Place’, ‘Politik’ and ‘Yellow’ with the band finishing on their now customary closer ‘Fix You’. The set capped an already perfect day at the festival with the crowd lapping up afternoon sets by Delays and Kubb.
But the most anticipated star was Lou Reed who played as unpredictable a set as you’s expect, frequently deviating into experimental jams, sandwiched between classics such as ‘Waiting for my Man’ and ‘White Light/ White Heat’.
Richard Ashcroft followed with an impassioned set packed with songs from his latest album including ‘Keys to the World’ and ‘Music is Power’. But the highlights inevitably came with Verve songs ‘Lucky Man’ and a solo acoustic ‘Drugs Don’t Work’, with Ashcroft baring his soul concerning his depression, at one point telling the crowd how he almost killed himself last week. The crowd responded supportively to his honesty and were rewarded with perhaps the moment of the weekend - an epic extended ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’.
The only rival to that crown would be Procal Harem’s ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’, performed earlier in the day, the Isle of Wight veterans returning to the festival after last playing it in 1970. All in all, a spectacular and memorable festival weekend.
Source: http://www.virtualfestivals.com
Chris Martin and co catch World Cup fever
Coldplay have closed the Nokia Isle Of Wight Festival tonight (June 11), paying special tribute to England striker Peter Crouch.
Including songs ‘Yellow’, ‘Swallowed In The Sea’, ‘Fix You’ and ‘The Scientist’ in their set, frontman Chris Martin unveiled his tribute to the lanky footballer.
“I’ve got a secret to share with you,” Martin told the crowd. “If England do well in the World Cup we’re going to release a single called ‘Do The Crouch’. So if England win the world cup we’re going to get our first number one.”
Calling the song “very simple”, Martin then revealed the lyrics: Get up off the sofa/ get up off the couch/ stop what you’re doing and do the Crouch/.
The band then worked the song about the former Queens Park Rangers man into several of their own tracks.
On ‘Don’t Panic’, which saw guitarist Johnny Buckland sing the second verse, Martin worked the lyrics into the final chorus, he did the same during ‘Talk’ and copied the striker’s robotic dance during ‘In My Place’
Coldplay also paid tribute to Lou Reed covering his classic ‘Perfect Day’.
Earlier with the sun-setting, Reed himself played a well-received evening set.
Joined on stage as usual by his Tai Chi master, the former Velvet Underground leader revisited early parts of his career including ‘I’m Waiting For My Man’ and ‘White Light/ White Heat’.
Following Reed, Richard Ashcroft took to the stage with a politically charged performance.
Before playing a note the singer voiced his opposition to the Iraq war and Tony Blair shouting “Bring the boys home, Tony, live in peace!”
The set, which mixed songs from his former band The Verve and his solo work, included ‘Lucky Man’, ‘Music Is Power’ and ‘Drugs Don’t Work’, as Ashcroft then took aim at the Conservative Party.
“Don’t vote Cameron,” he declared referring to new Tory leader David Cameron before adding. “Don’t vote for Blair either. Whatever you do don’t vote Tories, never ever! Fuck Cameron it’s all spin, bullshit!”
Closing with a rousing version of ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’, Ashcroft twisted the Verve’s songs lyrics, thanking the crowd for “letting me be myself”.
Amid a strong line-up including Primal Scream, Foo Fighters, Lou Reed and The Prodigy, you might not have bet on Coldplay sweeping away the competition in their closing set at the 2006 Isle of Wight Festival. But there was no doubt of Chris Martin’s rapport with the crowd on Sunday night and the band was rapturously received.
The singer was on playful form, at one point inviting a young blonde woman whom he called “crowd member of the year” to sit on stage for a few songs and drink champagne. He also entertained the crowd with an attempted Peter Crouch dance.
The set progressed from anthem to anthem – through “Politik”, “Clocks”, “Yellow” and “In My Place” – suggesting that in just three albums the group has built up perhaps the best-known contemporary musical repertoire in the UK. During the ballad “The Scientist”, the band was almost drowned out by thousands of voices.
Earlier in the evening, an uninspired Lou Reed had resolutely walked on the mild side, refusing to play the crowd-pleaser “Perfect Day” and leaving the audience bored at best. Coldplay, in a deft touch, gave an imperfect but apt improvisation. “He didn’t play it so we had to,” said Martin. That he didn’t appear to know the central guitar solo seemed irrelevant.
Until the Coldplay set, the three-day event – blessed with a perfect combination of hot sunshine and cooling sea breezes – had produced two main highlights. One was Friday night’s head- liners, The Prodigy, insanely energetic against a glowing full moon, winning over a new generation with old tracks such as “Firestarter”. Another was Richard Ashcroft singing an acoustic “The Drugs Don’t Work”. Alone in front of a sea of people he gave the song true poignancy. You didn’t need to know that it was about his dying father to be moved by the occasion.
Ashcroft was one of a handful of singers with anti-war stances reminiscent of the Isle of Wight festivals in the late 1960s. “Bring the boys back home, Tony,” he implored. It’s not clear, though, what the hippy generation would have made of an on-site Marks and Spencer stall selling prawn sandwiches and mango smoothies.
Saturday night began well with a chirpy set from the currently much-favoured Kooks and reached a peak with Editor’s post-Joy Division melancholy. “Speak When You’re Spoken To” was a masterpiece of bleak grandeur and a cover of Talking Heads’ “Road To Nowhere” lent an air of existential angst to this once-chirpy number.
From there, however, it was all downhill as Primal Scream – introduced by a purring Kate Moss – failed to sustain the opening high of “Movin’ On Up”. Lead singer Bobby Gillespie was the epitome of studied nonchalance throughout but the set sagged in the middle with a string of more obscure material and only really recovered at the end with “Rocks” and their recent hit single “Country Girl”. Later Foo Fighters, the headliners, put in a strong showing but were fatally undermined as some of the speakers conked out.
The revived Isle of Wight festival has allowed numbers to grow substantially each year. With no Glastonbury this year, the crowd was swollen even further, with long queues late at night to get into the dance tents. It’s hardly 1970 – when 1m people overran the island, prompting an Act of Parliament banning future festivals – but the organisers should think hard before any future expansion. If they do decide to make it bigger, a second music stage would be a smart idea.
On Saturday afternoon the crowd thinned out. With only one TV set in the whole site, at Virgin Radio’s backstage area, an estimated 10,000 people surged into Newport in search of somewhere to watch the football. As it was, given the dreary England match, they would have been better off catching a few musical acts instead.
The 747s delivered an intriguing set of summery Beatles-style psychedelic pop. They were followed by Suzanne Vega, now resembling Yoko Ono but fortunately with better vocals. “Caramel”, a song about love deliberately lost, was a beautiful moment. And as England ploddingly held on to their 1-0 lead, music fans gave Scottish rockers The Proclaimers a cheery reception, in particular for “Five Thousand Miles”.
With performances like this, the Family Church of Newport – which had set up turntables playing Jesus rave in a bid to entrance passers-by – didn’t stand a chance.
Source: http://news.ft.com
‘Thank you everyone for waiting for us’ are Chris Martin’s first words to the already fired-up Nokia Isle of Wight Festival revellers. Clearly, most people are actually here to see this English world-wide sensation anyway. But Chris and the other members in Coldplay don’t care. They know where they’re from and they also know who got them where they are right now; at the pinnacle of musical superstardom.
This is the culmination of three days of music in the sun – a festival experience you normally wouldn’t dare dream of in this country. No mud, no rain, lots of lobster-tinged punters who didn’t think suncream was a staple for a festival over here.
There’s no big fuss. Coldplay take to he stage, the audience is ready – flags bearing the band’s latest album’s title, ‘X&Y’ are being held up and pig and horse shaped balloons floating are off into the near night sky. And the odd inflatable ‘air guitar’, too. If you can spot a pair of available shoulders, now is the time to claim them and salute the boys on stage.
‘Square One’ and ‘Politik’ kick off the set but Coldplay could be playing a nursery rhyme right now and it would all be fine. ‘We’re Colplay and we’ll try and make you enjoy the end of the festival as much as the rest of it’. As if they even have to try!
‘Yellow’ is next. No introduction needed, every single person knows every single word and is singing it. There is clearly no need for Chris Martin anymore and he gives everyone what they want – to make the song their own, belting the chorus out, back to its creator.
Big yellow ballons are being carried and pushed up into the air by now and then it’s time for ‘Speed Of Sound’. Rid of the guitar he’s been sporting for the past few songs, Martin makes the stage his own. Left, right, serenading his own image on the big screen behind him.
And then, in the middle of the song, our very own DJ Ben get’s a ‘Ben Jones Virgin superstar’ worked into the lyrics. We couldn’t believe it either but it we all heard it and he clearly is a friend of the stars (he apparently also had a few sneaky tears in his eyes when he heard it backstage). Not to mention the second time it happened during another track later on!
‘God Put A Smile Upon Your Face’ got a ‘this is probably the longest and most boring into you’ve heard all weekend’. As if!
A few tracks on and who are Coldplay to ignore the most happening event this week (apart from this festival obviously). Of course, conversation turned to the World Cup and we were probably the first human beings to be introduced to Coldplay’s ‘first Number 1’, should England win the tournament – apparently (according to a slightly inebriated colleague of ours) the words will be:
Get up off your sofa Get up off your couch Stop what you’re doing And do the Crouch!
We’ll see. Anyway – let’s not ignore all the other great stuff Coldplay also managed to serve up tonight, including a rendition of ‘Perfect Day’ (without Lou Reed – what happened there?) and what would a Coldplay gig be without ‘Clocks’ and ‘Talk’.
They go off, they come back. ‘Swallowed In The Sea’, ‘In My Place’ and last song of the night ‘Fix You’. The crowd want more. There is no more time. Another great weeken comes to a close. Coldplay were the ones to round it up in the perfect way. Until next year…
Source: http://virginradio.co.uk
Last night (Sunday 11th June) Coldplay performed back on home soil at the Isle Of Wight Festival. The mood throughout was light and Chris made references to the England football team invoving robotic dance movements as homage to Peter Crouch (later replicated with Vicki, the band’s P.A, who’s birthday had been the previous day). Their set was very similar to the Twisted Logic tour with only a few changes (see below).
A female fan was invited on stage and given a bottle of champagne while the band performed the acoustic part of the set. Starting with ‘Til Kingdom Come as usual they continued with a homage to Lou Reed. Lou had performed earlier in the evening omitting the classic ‘Perfect Day’ but the inclusion of it later proved a popular decision.
The crowd were treated to the usual playful banter, lyric changes to accomodate the festival, the enormous Yellow balloons were ever prevolent and the lasers made a welcome return. A great closing set and a well received homecoming show.
The band leave these shores next Monday to complete the final leg of the tour, starting with Australia. (See TOUR for dates).
The complete set list was as follows: SQUARE ONE POLITIK YELLOW SPEED OF SOUND GOD PUT A SMILE UPON YOUR FACE WHAT IF DON’T PANIC WHITE SHADOWS THE SCIENTIST ‘TIL KINGDOM COME PERFECT DAY CLOCKS TALK
SWALLOWED IN THE SEA IN MY PLACE FIX YOU
Source: Coldplay.com
Well, I thought I’d treat myself to seeing Coldplay at the Nokia Isle of Wight Festival as a birthday present to myself and boy, they did not disappoint…
The whole festival was a blast and I was there with some other Coldplayers - namely Steph [coldplay_steph], Jen [Fudgie], Kara [crazyduckette] and her mate Kaz. We also met up with Graham [jonnybucklandhasnicehats], Louise and Carly [who won the Radio 1 competition to see Coldplay live in Toronto] and Kash [who I met at Earls Court - hey duder!]. The weather was gloriously hot [not to everyone’s liking] without a cloud in the sky. The only negative I have was about the toilet facilities. Boy, they were grim [I shan’t go into detail - not pleasant at all].
We got up extra early and I was at the gate about 7.30am and already Graham was there waiting. In the queue we’d met this man that had an awesome custom made Coldplay flag - it was huge! It must’ve cost an arm and a leg and when they were letting us through, the stewards said he couldn’t take it in - neither could I take the flag that I’d made [well, not the pole]. I was slightly gutted.
Now, we weren’t allowed in until 11am and when they let us in it was a mad sprint across 3 fields to get to the barrier. Now I knew I wasn’t gonna make that [not without keeling over anyho] so our champions were Graham and Kara [who are both runners]. They saved spots for us [thanks a lot!!!].
So it was 10 hours of waiting in the sweltering heat trying to keep our spots as there were certain ones who were trying to muscle in. I really don’t know why people bother. If you didn’t get there early, don’t even try it mate [not unless you want to wear the 5 litres of water I was carrying!]
We were just wishing for time to fly [which it did, except for when Lou Reed was on stage…]
I believe Coldplay were slightly late coming on stage. We knew this because ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ came and went and they didn’t arrive. The paps were getting on my nerves, blocking our view. I just wanted to see the guys coming on stage. I had a lamp plonked right in front of where Guy was going to stand [gee, thanks] and a cameraman too [I’m just so lucky…].
‘Square One’ kicked in and I couldn’t see where Chris was until he jumped out at us. Apparently, they had built an extended, rounded stage in the night just for Coldplay [see what you can get done when you ask…]. I’m so glad because they were so far away and quite high up on stage. I couldn’t see Will at all [expect on the giant screen].
‘Politik’ had the joint jumping. People were going crazy for that song.
I don’t remember seeing any balloons during ‘Yellow’. That’s probably because some of them had ‘escaped’ during Maximo Park’s set [that was hillarious! I popped a balloon and everyone went ‘ooh!’]. I wonder who’s head was rolling last nite.
During ‘God Put A Smile Upon Your Face’ Chris said ‘We’re just four guys filling in for ‘The Darkness’ and ‘This is probably the longest and shittiest intro you’ve ever heard’ and kept rambling on. I love this guy!
He also said that if England win the world Cup he’s gonna release a song called ‘Do the Crouch’ and started singing and doing the ‘Peter Crouch’ dance.
Get up off your sofa Get up off your couch Stop what you’re doing And do the Crouch!
Gee that man is hysterical!
I’d never heard Jonny sing during ‘Don’t Panic’. I’ve always heard/seen clips of him doing it at other shows, but to have him there singing live was so wonderful. Geez that man is such a sweetheart. And he looked great. What am I saying. They all looked great. Chris with his short hair, Guy with his out of control curls - looking heavenly [*big sigh*]. We were yelling to try and get his attention, but he ignored us [as usual…LOL]. I think these guys have to concentrate on the set, not some crazy ass fans.
I really wanted the boys to pull something out of the bag and they did by covering Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ [I was wondering why Lou never sung it]. Chris said that they only had 20 minutes rehearsal and it showed coz he fucked it up. That was too funny. They did a good job of it though. I would’ve liked maybe if they had split the parts between the guys. That would have been awesome.
And some lucky gal got dragged out of the audience to sit with the guys during their acoustic set and was given some champagne [which Chris deftly opened]. You could tell he’s done it before. He mentioned something about if she got pregnant it would be Jonny’s fault.
SETLIST
Square One Politik Yellow God Put A Smile What It Don’t Panic White Shadows The Scientist
Til Kingdom Come Perfect Day Clocks Talk [which was particularly awesome!] Swallowed In The Sea In My Place Fix You
Also, the lighting was awesome with green and red lasers during ‘Clocks’. And during ‘Fix You’ there wasn’t any fireworks, just two lamps that went off. It was quite effective.
When Coldplay had left the stage there was a neat firework display, but because it was at the back of the stage, we couldn’t see it that well.
I had an absolute blast. I was so emotional after the set had finished and was just hugging everyone. Who knows when we’ll see Coldplay again. I hope it’s sooner rather than later.
[Thanks Nettie]
Chris shines the brightest
OH we do like to be beside the seaside… especially when the sky is blue, the temperature's topping 30 degrees and England have just won their first World Cup match.
OK, so the Nokia Isle Of Wight Festival wasn't actually ON the beach but at what other concert can you paddle in the sea one minute, sunbathe the next and then spend the day watching some of the world's best bands?
And it's unlikely we're going to see weather as glorious or three headline acts so strong, and diverse, again this summer.
COLDPLAY closed the three-day event with a set to rival the legendary performances of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan in the festival's 1968-70 heyday.
Singer Chris Martin was all those things he's not meant to be - funny, lively and extremely charismatic.
The star - cheered on from the sides by gorgeous wife Gwyneth Paltrow - performed Peter Crouch's robot dance, tried to pair a lucky fan off with guitarist Johnny Buckland and did a rendition of fellow performer LOU REED'S Perfect Day "learnt in 20 minutes because he wouldn't f***ing play it".
Coldplay's songs sound every bit as good as you'd imagine live - Yellow, The Scientist, In My Place and Fix You so beautiful they had us shivering one moment and singing our hearts out the next.
Source - The Sun
It has been one of the most easily anticipated festivals of the summer and once again the Isle of Wight’s musical extravaganza delivered its promise.
Three days of glorious sunshine mixed with some of the biggest bands in the world provided the vital ingredients for yet another memorable event.
Dubbed the replacement for Glastonbury, Seaclose Park became home to thousands of happy campers who had travelled from all over to sample one of the most popular events on the music calendar. Topping the bill as the festival drew to a close last night were Coldplay, who had picked the Island as the venue of their only live UK gig this year. Arriving on stage shortly before 9.30pm Chris Martin and his band sent an excited crowd on their way home screaming for more. Other artists throught the weekend included Foo Fighters, who closed Saturday night with a stunning laser show that lit up the skyline and Primal Scream whose chart topping hit Country Girl sent the crowd into raptures.
The party had been kick-started on Friday night with Goldfrapp, Placebo and Prodigy took to the stage. Since the festival was resurrected four years ago it continues to get bigger and better. This year’s even will take some beating and poses a real threat to Glastonbury’s position as the country’s number one music festival.
Source: Daily Echo
As Coldplay frontman Chris Martin bounded on stage under the huge Isle of Wight banner, it was clear what a coup this was for the island's music festival.
The UK's biggest band headlining the last day of this year's festival proved what a major event it had once again become.
'Thanks for staying so late on a Sunday,' the singer said a few songs into their set. As he bounced enthusiastically, and rather alarmingly, on his piano stool during Politik, you couldn't help finding his humble statement unbelievable and totally unnecessary.
Martin was clearly enjoying the adulation of the crowd of tens of thousands and quite right too. As the band launched into one massive tune after another, you had to marvel at their consistently high-quality material.
Kicking off with Square One, they took festival-goers through a set well balanced with numbers from all their three albums. Favourites like The Scientist, Clocks, In My Place and Speed of Sound had most of the crowd belting out the words.
But not everyone was so enthusiastic. It was a bit disconcerting to see people buying baked potatoes during the gorgeous What If. A highlight was Yellow, during which huge balloons were released into the crowd. Guess what colour they were.
Coldplay kept hitting us with their hits and, ever the crowd-pleasers, even did a cover of Perfect Day, following a disappointing set from Lou Reed earlier in the day.
Coldplay provided a great finale to the festival's Sunday line-up, which also included great sets and performances from Richard Ashcroft and Maximo Park.
Source: http://portsmouthtoday.co.uk
More than £15 million may have been pumped into the Island's economy by the weekend's Nokia IW Festival, business leaders estimate
And the knock-on effect from the event, also hailed a success by organisers Solo, artists, police and the IW Council, should add further millions in coming years. More than 50,000 people attended the Seaclose Park festival, the fifth revived event, with police praising the behaviour of festival-goers.
Artists were among those to declare the event a success. Promoter John Giddings said: "Backstage, Chris Martin from Coldplay said the audience was phenomenal. He thought it was one of the band's best shows ever. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters has also been on Radio One raving about the event. "It was a bigger event this year and it was also better - that was the vibe I got. People said it was more like a festival. There was more to do and people had more fun. We put a lot of work into making the site the best we could. The campsite was like a village in itself."
But Mr Giddings said the decision to search nearly 360 people over the weekend was heavy-handed and said there were issues he would have to discuss with the police next year.
Kevin Smith, chief executive of the IW Chamber of Commerce, said: "The way the festival has developed over the past five years to the point where it is not just nationally but internationally known is absolutely superb for the IW. "The Island can be proud that it can put on such a fine music festival that is rapidly becoming a global event. It's estimated last year's brought in £10 million to the IW. With the extra people this year — most, I suspect, coming from the mainland — I think £15 million would not be an unreasonable estimate. When you think of the return visits people will make as a result of their experience, the value will be greater still."
David Groocock, chairman of the IW Chamber of Commerce's tourism executive, said: "There's no doubt the festival brings many visitors to the IW and these visitors may not have come here otherwise."
IW Council leader Cllr Andy Sutton thanked Solo for creating the best festival yet. He said: "The event is rapidly developing a reputation as a safe, fun event for the family. "This is due to the professional way it is organised by Solo and partnerships with the police and council."
The near £100,000 the IW council said it will get from the festival means all but £130,000 of the £340,000 loss from its involvement in the loss-making two-week 2002 event has been wiped out, which should, at the current rate, be cleared within two years.
Both Mr Groocock and Mr Smith said the current success of the event vindicated the idea of staging a festival. Mike King, managing director of the IW Economic Partnership, said: "To have had an extra 20,000 visitors than last year, all spending money, has been a fantastic economic benefit."
Despite the blistering sunshine, the mood of the audience remained friendly throughout and there was very little trouble, said IW police chief Ch Supt Stephanie Morgan. Over the festival there were 27 arrests, 13 for drug offences, three for minor assaults, five for public order offences, four for theft and two for being drunk and disorderly. There were 358 drug searches, a ten per cent increase on 2005. Of those searches, 159 found drugs. Eight people have been charged with possession with intent to supply, 75 were charged with possession of class A drugs and 76 with possession of cannabis. Police said the value of seized drugs was £34,000. There were 125 reported thefts from the camp site.
The festival proved a success for the Earl Mountbatten Hospice. Staff sold around 4,000 sunflowers on site, raising £11,000. Among people to buy one of the £3 flowers was Coldplay guitarist Jonny Buckland.
The council said for this year's event it gave away 120 tickets to looked-after children, those receiving social service help or those who had excelled in school or college work.
Source: http://iwcp.co.uk
Sunday 11/06/06 Day 3 @ The Isle Of Wight Festival
What a feeling of ambivalence it is to be sitting in a sunny field in the Isle of Wight, knowing on the one hand you’re about to see another day’s worth of amazing music, but on the other you’re fast closing in on the last hours of an awesome weekend. Delays are the first to push the good vibes back to the fore – and though they’re on at 13.25, you can guarantee that next year they’ll be coming on much later. Their anthemic synth-pop wakes everyone from their morning drowsiness, with ‘Valentine’ getting the steadily-filling stage front clapping along as one. And from stars of the future we are whisked to those of the past: Procul Harem are the only band on the bill who can claim to have been at the festival in its original late ‘60s incarnation. When the timeless Hammond-strains of ‘Whiter Shade Of Pale’ start to pump out, however, that twenty-odd year generation gap may as well be seconds.
Such is the quality of the bill later on, we choose to use the appearance of the eternally-bland Kubb to have a wander and get refreshed. A few whirls on the dodgems and the worst samosa ever created later and we’re excitedly taking up our position for Maximo Park. Like Delays, the Newcastle-based quintet can reasonably expect to up their profile after this performance – for, typically, these boys really seize the moment. Paul Smith is at once the best dressed (ice white jeans – let’s hope there are no piss puddles backstage Paul) and most appreciative frontman at the festival (‘I just couldn’t get over that crowd. Where do you go from here?’ he later gushes). As well as the usual single and album cuts, we get two new songs in the shape of ‘By The Monument’ and ‘Four Times Five’ – both upbeat numbers with the latter introduced by Smith as being ‘about being ugly and wanting to go out on a date’. Closing with a rousing ‘Going Missing’, Maximo Park can strike the Isle of Wight from their growing list of conquests.
The same, it hurts to say, can’t be said for Lou Reed, whose pedestrian jams really come unstuck today. Lou himself is chirpy enough, but a killer set of classics is passed up in favour of extensive solos and less popular material. There’s no ‘Walk On The Wild Side’. There’s no ‘Perfect Day’, as Chris Martin dryly notes later on. There are only a couple of Velvets tunes (one of which, ‘Waiting For The Man’, is so withered that the only man you can presume Lou’s referring to is the one who changes his bed pan), which would be forgivable if he was picking the best of his solo stuff – but he isn’t. Of course, his fans may say that nobody else would have the balls to get up and simply play what they wanted to play in front of a crowd this big. Well, they’re right on one front: this was bollocks alright.
And so it’s down to Richard Ashcroft to bring this sedated crowd back to life, and it’s not a challenge he’s going to pass up. ‘Bring the boys home, Tony!’ he yells, fire burning in his eyes at the ineptitude of England’s performance in the World Cup yesterday. Or maybe he’s talking about Iraq, but one thing’s for sure; Dickie’s feeling very politicised these days: ‘Don’t vote Cameron. Don’t vote Blair either – they’re all fucking liars… …Rock and roll and politics don’t mix – that’s why I didn’t go to Number Ten when you asked me.’ Hmm, nice John Lennon cap you’re wearing there, Richard. When he’s not ranting, Ashcroft plays a few tunes, and it’s all surprisingly very pleasant. Admittedly, his solo material plods where The Verve would soar, and so it’s hardly unexpected that it’s two of his old band’s songs that shine out like beacons and provide us with solid gold IOW 2006 moments. ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ is delivered stripped down to Ashcroft and his acoustic, its fragility sending shivers down 50,000 spines, while ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ lives comfortably up to Ashcroft’s billing of it as his ‘symphony to the world’. If only Ashcroft could rediscover that populist touch with his solo output, he’d be second on the bill to no-one…
…except, that is, maybe Coldplay, who have taken that everyman torch(-ballad) on from the likes of Ashcroft and become the biggest band of a generation. Coldplay are now no strangers to holding crowds like this in the palm of their hand, and until you’re there yourself that can be a bit of a mystery. How can, for instance, Chris ‘the student-Bono’ Martin, swing from an embarrassing geek-come-good to rock legend in the time it takes for him to key the first chords of ‘Square One’? Well, the facts that his band are so tight they could suffocate, that his voice can deceptively outstrip even their heaviest moments, and that they’ve got a back catalogue so emotively powerful that they can leave out songs as moving as ‘Trouble’ and ‘Everything’s Not Lost’ and yet still wring every last emotion out of a 100-minute set are all good head starts.
But of course there’s more to superstardom than good guitarists, good singers and good songs. There has to be something extra, whether it be radical politics or simply bushy eyebrows, to make the step up from speaking to the hearts of indie kids in bedrooms to making a connection to a gathering as big (and bigger) than this. In Chris Martin’s case, it’s really fucking simple: he doesn’t try to be a rock star. When he dances all awkwardly, it’s because he’s, well, awkward. When he gets the band’s assistant onstage after ‘In My Place’ so they can celebrate her birthday by ‘doing The Crouch’, it’s because he, like the rest of us, finds it funny. And when he plays ‘Perfect Day’ (‘Lou Reed asked us to play it as a favour’, he smiles) and fucks it up, he just laughs and starts again, like he would if he was playing it to five of his mates in his bedroom. The fact that he mimics the ridiculous Heather Small part from the BBC cover just makes it even funnier.
It’s an honesty that gets people on Coldplay’s side, and reinforces the familiarity that most of this crowd already have with many of these songs. As for the songs themselves, it seems almost academic to pick out highlights. ‘Yellow’, once their stand-alone signature song, is casually thrown in four tracks into the set. ‘The Scientist’ becomes perhaps the most brooding call-and-response ever, while a pounding ‘Speed Of Sound’ takes on an almost Balearic dance energy. But we all know how a Coldplay show (the word gig doesn’t seem to suffice any more) ends nowadays: ‘Fix You’ brings a set, a day and a festival to a close, and as after any feast, we need time to digest. Off we head then to Strawberry Fields for the last time this year, the earlier feelings of ambivalence having given way to a certain euphoria. For now, we may be going home, but we’ll be on the first ferry back next summer.
Source: http://www.gigwise.com
