Welcome back to Seaclose Park, where the beers are warm, the outfits loud, and the line-up is stacked enough to make mainland festivals sweat.
Kicking off with a bang on Friday, Sting – yes, that Sting – took the Main Stage and reminded everyone exactly why he’s still headlining festivals in 2025. Trading “Fields of Gold” for a field of muddy revellers, he ran through The Police hits (‘Message In A Bottle’, ‘Roxanne’) and newer solo cuts, while fronting a leaner, meaner three-piece set-up for his STING 3.0 World Tour. It was his first Isle of Wight appearance since 2008, and the crowd lapped it up.
Before Sting took over, Friday’s main stage action included upbeat sets from Lottery Winners, Amy MacDonald (yes, she played that song), and a nostalgia-heavy singalong with The Corrs. Faithless then closed the night with a full-on rave featuring ‘Insomnia’, proving the old guard can still crush it.
Over in the Big Top, Twin Atlantic, Dean Lewis, The Lathums and Clean Bandit kept the energy high, with Clean Bandit whipping through their usual hits and turning the tent into a bouncing mass of neon-lit chaos.
Speaking of neon – this year’s theme is Neon Jungle, and if you’re not already dressed like a club kid who got lost in a rainforest, fix that immediately. Head to Strawberry Fields at 3pm today (Saturday) for the best-dressed comp, judged by Miss Molly McQueen of Cirque de la Quirk fame.
The party doesn’t stop there. Across 13 stages and four days, over 55,000 punters will catch performances from Stereophonics, Justin Timberlake, The Script, Razorlight, Yard Act, Pale Waves, Busted, Jess Glynne, James, and way too many others to list.
Whether you’re here for the throwbacks, the fancy dress, or just the chance to scream along to ‘Rockabye’ with 20,000 strangers, Isle of Wight 2025 is shaping up to be one for the books. Strap in.
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