Friday at Sky Presents Isle of Wight Festival 2026

2026 is the 27th Isle of Wight Festival, or possibly 28th if you're being picky

I always feel a mixture of (1) relief (2) familiarity and (3) excitement as we arrive at Friday night at the Isle of Wight Festival (now known as the Sky Presents Isle of Wight Festival).

The relief is that we’ve actually made it, which has always been a little up in the air since children started to arrive 13 years ago. We’ve made it to most of the Isle of Wight Festivals in the intervening years but it tends to be a little more complicated than it was before they turned up. We sometimes end up compromising by skipping a day or missing a headliner, which we never would have done in the earlier years.

In one traumatic experience a few years ago we missed a Wet Leg set and went to Pizza Hut instead. I was very much against this, but sensed that I was outnumbered on a hot afternoon by the rabble.

This year, child one joined me, whilst Mrs Guru stayed behind and took on childcare responsibilities with child two. It’s certainly a family-friendly festival, but a combination of competing events meant that we decided that 'divide and conquer' was the best strategy this year. We have an informal credits system, whereby she will be entitled to request that I do bedtime for several nights to make up for it.

Everything In Its Right Place

The familiarity came from arriving to find everything just as we had left it. The main stage is where it was when we left on Sunday night in 2025, the Big Top hasn’t budged an inch, the big wheel is still rotating in the same place and so on. I expected to see the same security guards stood at the same exits but that was probably pushing it. I am unsure if it's the same ferris wheel that garnered some attention last week at Download Festival...

The Big Wheel was back at the Isle of Wight Festival

The Isle of Wight Festival really does feel very well oiled now, which isn’t always the case with other big events that I’ve been to over the years.

Beyond the music this year it’s worth saying that there’s a new deal where you can get 20% off food and drink if you signed up for a Paypal debit card (no, I'm not sponsored by them). I got the impression online that some people found this a little newfangled but it also means that the beer prices are reduced to something approaching Isle of Wight pub prices, rather than London prices. I mention this as I am the sort of person who is willing to endure a little bit of newfangled faff to get a good deal.

This photo - and most others in this blog are official ones kindly provided by the Isle of Wight Festival

Friday’s Festivities

The excitement came from Friday night’s lineup, which included a good mix of music and mirth across several stages.

We arrived a little too late for Ash on the Main Stage, which caused me a little consternation. 1977 was one of about 10 or 20 albums that I discovered in that thrilling time of life when you are falling in love with music for yourself, rather than enduring your parents’ cassette collection.

We also saw Ash at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2002, when it was first revived by John Giddings et al, so I would have liked to have seen them belting out the classics again.

Ash were playing for the fifth time at the festival - they previously played in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2015

Also on the Main Stage as the festival opened on the Friday were Alessi Rose, who we had seen a year or two ago on the Big Top. In the Big Top this year as the festival opened was The Guest List and Overpass, followed by Chloe Qisha. Tom Grennan and Perrie were the closing acts. For Tom Grennan, it was his third performance at the Isle of Wight Festival after 2018 and 2022. He seems to be booked to coincide with World Cups, so will presumably return in 2030.

The Guest List were one of the earlier acts in the Big Top

Can you guess the name of this band in the Big Top?

Not sure I could get away with a similar outfit

We particularly enjoyed Good Neighbours in the Big Top, who have something of a MGMT quality about them.

We greatly enjoyed Good Neighbours in the Big Top, although there was no sign of Harold Bishop

In between the acts we saw, child one showed much interest in the various stalls selling hats, jewellery and trinkets. I’ve never shown these any interest at all, but I was happy to do my fatherly duty of patiently standing outside a shop.

We then moved on to the Main Stage, which had already seen Two Door Cinema Club and Alessi Rose, the latter of which we had seen on the Big Top last year.

Alessi Rose was promoted from Big Top last year to Main Stage this year, much like Coventry City

Our trip to the Main Stage was for the Isle of Wight's Wet Leg, who famously decided to form a band whilst sat on the Isle of Wight Festival big wheel. They have played the Isle of Wight Festival since then, but this was the first time on the big stage, so it was a nice moment to witness. They were suitably thrilling and I was pleased to see child one enjoying it as well, perhaps even more than she had enjoyed shopping earlier.

A terrible photo of a great performance from Wet Leg (apologies, I took this one)

After Wet Leg, I debated whether we should stay for Lewis Capaldi’s set. Back in the day, there wouldn’t have even been a decision to make. Child one was keen to stay, but I took the responsible parenting decision and headed home for our beds, after stopping off for an irresponsible Mayo Chicken in Newport. As I say every year, pacing yourself is important at a festival, or you’ll be groaning in a camping chair by Sunday afternoon.

Lewis Capaldi closing the night at Isle of Wight Festival 2026