Good news everybody, the Isle of Wight Festival 2021 lineup hasn't changed beyond all recognition. Let's all put on our masks and take a collective sigh of relief.

Of course, many people will complain about X being replaced with Y but I have already expressed my views about these whinge bags.

So, who is in and who is out compared to the June 2021 planned lineup? This will read like a football transfer deadline day summary, but stay with it.

Thursday

Thursday is the campers' night at the Isle of Wight Festival, when the festival has sort of started but not completely. The lineup has changed significantly with The Happy Mondays and Natasha Bedingfield being replaced with Scouting for Girls and Sophie Ellis Bextor. 

Friday

Friday's Main Stage lineup has probably had the most changes with the three main acts changing.

Lionel Richie and Lewis Capaldi have been replaced with Liam Gallagher and Tom Jones. So, you can still throw your knickers at a legend if you really want to.

​I'm a bit disappointed that I won't see Lionel Richie but we'd been warned that it would mostly be British acts performing. Liam Gallagher has played the festival before, most recently in 2018 but Tom Jones hasn't appeared since 2011.

Spare a thought for Jess Glynne fans, as she has disappeared from the lineup. I suspect that a tabloid newspaper journalist is furiously bashing away at their keyboard right now to make this into a story, even if the most likely reason is that she had something else booked.

James has taken Jess Glynne's place. Personally, I like James a lot so I don't mind although they have played at the Isle of Wight Festival before in 2008, 2010, 2015 and 2019.

The Big Top lineup is mostly the same, except for a couple of the opening acts changing (Joy Crookes and Donna Missal have been replaced with Lucy Blue and Charlotte Jane).

Saturday   

Saturday night on the Main Stage looks pretty similar. Pete Tong has been replaced with David Guetta so there's still a massive dance act. Apart from that, it is just the opening acts which have changed - Rothwell and Asylums have been replaced with Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly and The Ks. 

The Big Top on Saturday night is exactly the same, except Stone has been added to the lineup.

Sunday

Sunday's Main Stage lineup hasn't changed much, except Carly Rae Jepson has been replaced with Chinchilla. 

Sunday's Big Top has changed a bit. Mavis Staples has been replaced with Imelda May. Balcony has been replaced with Jasmine Jethwa, Lawson and er, Wet Leg.

All in all though, the changes to the lineup are not as major as I was expecting. I'm sure some people will be disappointed but there are still lots of acts I'm keen to see and as long as I get a bit of sunshine and a ride in the big wheel I'll be happy.

You can buy tickets here:

If you're interested, here are the two lineups next to each other.

Mrs Guru is excellent at buying presents. In fact, she's excellent at birthdays generally and has managed to rustle up some outstanding gifts and activities despite the obvious challenges of the last year.

One of her favourite present-buying sites is Etsy, which is full of artsy stuff, including a good choice of Isle of Wight related artwork, soft furnishings, birthday cards and other stuff (2334 search results at the time of writing).

Here's my choice of five of the best Isle of Wight themed things you can buy on Etsy.​ All images are from Etsy.

Mrs Guru bought this print for Guru Towers for my last birthday. Up close you'll see it's made up of Isle of Wight place names and buildings. The top right hand corner of the 'W' is Sandown Pier whilst the bottom right of the 'W' is Carisbrooke Castle. Personally, I think they've made a good job of it and have included lots of places which Islanders are fond of but which usually get missed off touristy souvenirs (Military Road, The Longstone etc.).

Mrs Guru tells me that the artist who created it put out a request for UK places that they could create an artwork for. Mrs Guru suggested the Isle of Wight (obvs) and a short time later they had produced it.

I think I'm right in saying that this style of poster is known as a 'travel' poster. There are several good Isle of Wight ones to choose from on Etsy. You can get a digital version for a few pounds or buy a framed print for more. My favourites are the ones of The Needles if you want an obvious choice or the Pepperpot or the beach huts at Gurnard if you're looking for a slightly less obvious choice for an Isle of Wightophile.

This 3D map showing the hills of the Isle of Wight isn't the cheapest gift on Etsy but it's clearly labour intensive and it's pretty unusual. As you can probably tell, the whole thing is made from layers of wood which are numbered to show height.

There's a huge amount of detail with pretty much every beach being named around the edges of the image.

There are a few different Isle of Wight Festival themed artworks on Etsy. They're mostly focused on the 'original' festivals which ran from 1968-1970 but there are also some nice ones from the more modern festival which has taken place annually since 2002...apart from 2020.

I've picked out this modern one showing the main stage at around sunset which has got to be one of my highlights of the year.

This map of Ventnor from above wouldn't appeal to my mother as it's not exactly a pretty seaside scene, but I quite like it. You can choose from various contrasting colours but I think this yellow and grey version works well. 

I'm going to stick my neck out and make a prediction about four things that will happen in the next few months, following the announcement that the Isle of Wight Festival 2021 is moving to mid-September. 

1. Over the next few weeks, several of the acts which had been booked to appear in June 2020 and June 2021 will be replaced due to diary clashes. Some musicians will have other gigs or just won't fancy the increased risk of rain at a September festival.  
2. Someone on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/MySpace will be furious that their favourite act has been dropped from the lineup and declare it the 'Worst. Lineup. Ever'. 
3. Someone else on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/MySpace will say that there are far too many old bands/new bands/bands we've seen before. The angry face emoji will be used repeatedly by Some Angry Guy from Shanklin. Someone else will call for a fixed link to the Island, even though it doesn't seem to have any relevance to the original post. 
4. Tens of thousands of people will turn up at Seaclose Park and have a great weekend. Everyone will get a bit cold, because they didn't pack enough warm clothes for being outdoors at midnight in September. It might rain.

As I've said on many previous occasions, the Isle of Wight Festival is a huge cultural boon for a small Island. It is also good value, as the tickets have been stuck at around the same price for a decade. 

Honestly, after spending a year mostly pottering around the house, I am not going to be complaining if it isn't my dream lineup. The Isle of Wight Festival is a business, its future is not guaranteed and we should be grateful that the Festival is taking place at all, considering that Glastonbury and Download have both been cancelled. 

I haven't sifted through the accounts for the Isle of Wight Festival but I don't imagine it is a huge leap to say that this last year has been tough. Live music has taken a battering from the Covid restrictions and if we want these events to still exist in five years' time we need to support them if we can afford to (of course, this rant doesn't apply to anyone who is suffering financially due to Covid).

This is only a very short blog post but I thought it was worth an update as a lot of people are trying to find out the answer to the question of whether the Isle of Wight Festival 2021 is going ahead with the recent Covid announcement from the government.

The short answer is that we don't know but that we're expecting an update in early March. This is based on this Facebook post on the official Isle of Wight Festival page:​

I could fill the rest of this page with pointless speculation but I'm meant to be running a primary school and a preschool at the moment.

If you want more information on the Isle of Wight festival, such as lineup, accommodation and ticket news please see our Isle of Wight Festival 2021 page.

That's it.