New exhibition to celebrate Isle of Wight Festival's fabled history
Experience 25 launches at The O2 on 19th September
A new exhibition is coming to London celebrating the legendary history of Isle of Wight Festival.
Experience 25 will run at the Innovation Centre at The O2 in London from Thursday 19th September to Wednesday 13th November 2024.
The ‘25’ in the title references the 25th edition of Isle of Wight Festival that took place this year – the fabled inaugural events in 1968, 1969 and 1970, plus the 22 IOW weekends that have taken place since 2002 when promoter John Giddings revived the festival.
The grand exhibition space will document some of Isle of Wight Festival’s defining moments over the past 56 years including 150,000 strong crowd in 1969 (which included three of The Beatles), and David Bowie’s last-ever UK show in 2004.
A description of Experience 25 reads: ‘Visitors will travel back in time and be invited into the office of Ray Foulk, the original curator of the first three festivals. Step inside an authentic recreation of Ray's wonderfully creative and chaotic workspace and see how he and his team put together the historic events with a hippy ethos, overcoming a series of obstacles and dramas along the way.
'Joni Mitchell, and even Hendrix shredding in front a 500,000 strong crowd in 1970. Experience the atmosphere of a moment in time - an era of hope and innocence.
‘Guests will then be transported to 2002, when legendary promoter John Giddings revived the festival, beginning its hugely successful run to the present day. The Isle of Wight Festival now hosts 60,000 music fans a year.
‘Relive Jay Z’s dominating performance in 2010 and Dave Grohl cementing himself in rock history in 2011, all the way through to Green Day taking the reins as 2024’s unforgettable headliners.’
Commenting on the exhibition, John Giddings says: “The iconic Isle of Wight festival 1970 was the Woodstock of Europe, but the IOW Member of Parliament at the time, in all his wisdom, decided to ban it for 32 years in the form of an act of parliament - allowing others to pick up the baton…
“They let us restart it for the Queen’s jubilee, and it has gone from strength to strength - re-establishing this small island off the south coast of England as a worldwide brand.
“Here is a celebration of the last 22 years, with the original three years added by kind courtesy of Ray Foulk, without whom it, it would not exist…”
Ray Foulk, who organised the first three Isle of Wight festivals, adds: “My family is delighted to contribute to this commemorative show with historic items and archives as it travels from the Island to the O2. It is with great pride that our embryonic rock festivals of more than half a century ago have been so successfully and splendidly revived.”