Saturday at Sky Presents Isle of Wight Festival 2026

Someone needs to tell those two blokes that they are facing the wrong way

One of the beautiful things about the Isle of Wight Festival is that it allows you to do a combi-festival, that includes days out on the Island with festival fun in the afternoon and evening.

In our case on Saturday, this included a morning at Compton Bay, followed by pressure washing my mum’s patio. I’ll admit that the second one isn’t a classic festival activity, but anyone who has pressure washed a patio that hasn’t been touched for years will understand the thrill.

After such activities had been completed, we were ready to head to Seaclose Park. The morning had been a bit misty and cooler but by the afternoon, things were hotting up with the likes of 5ive, KT Tunstall and Anastacia on the Main Stage and Freddie Halkon, Tom A Smith and Circa Waves in the Big Top.

Hot stuff on the Main Stage

By teatime, it was bordering on sweltering and I was feeling optimistic that we might be treated to an Isle of Wight Festival sunset.

Rick Astley provided much entertainment for us. Child one, who I was festivalling with (Ed: that’s not a verb) was excited to hear the one song she knew of his, which he wisely held off until the end. On three occasions, a disco beat began and she looked at me and said “Is this…?” before I shook my head. 

When we finally got there, Never Gonna Give You Up was indeed a memorable festival singalong moment, which I enjoyed greatly whilst tucking into a Korean poke bowl.

Rick Astley was a highlight for us on Saturday

Next up for us was a wander around the smaller stages where we caught a few minutes in the Hipshaker and Kashmir Lounge before finally making it to our planned destination – the Last Chance Saloon.

Here we were treated to an hour of line dancing to a pop medley including Sugababes and Shania Twain

Apologies to those who saw me dancing in the Last Chance Saloon

I dutifully agreed to join in and attempted to accompany my very coordinated daughter. My plan was to stand at the back so that no-one would see me dancing, which resembled what would happen if you gave a gin and tonic and a bucket of Skittles to a donkey.

The flaw in my plan of standing at the back is that a large part of line dancing involves turning round, so mid way through the first song I found that I was actually at the front, with a crowd of 100 other dancers watching me. I hoped that they wouldn’t attempt to copy my moves or the whole thing would descend into a farce.

Child one took to it much more readily, and seemed to instinctively understand what the caller was meaning when she bellowed ‘grapevine to the left!’ or ‘heel, toe shuffle!’. She was delighted to be picked out for her efforts and was rewarded with a free cowboy hat.

Regardless, I completed nearly an hour of line dancing, causing my step counter to show a considerable spike, whilst my Dignity Tracker dropped to an all time low.

Swimming in the sunset at Seaclose

We were treated to a Seaclose Sunset on Saturday

After this, it was time for Teddy Swims who drew a vast crowd and who we thought was a really good Main Stage choice. 

The hoped-for Isle of Wight sunset arrived as his set progressed and we were treated to reds and oranges over the River Medina.

To close the night, we toyed between staying for Calvin Harris and returning home to give us enough energy for Sunday.

In the end, we took the sensible decision but could just about make out the bass beats from Carisbrooke. Thanks to organisers for another epic festival Saturday.