We were unable to make it along to the Festival this weekend, so are pleased to publish reviews by those lucky enough to experience the weekend of music, fun and frivolity.
Our first review comes from regular forum contributor and VentnorBlog reader Linlin, who probably has a very different festival perspective than many.
As soon as the suggestion was made, I took it to heart. I couldn’t get no satisfaction until I’d found a way to achieve it. I imagined a girlie meet, pink thinks, wine and a lot of fun!
Nearly three months later, we were there in our “camp” on the riverbank opposite the festival. There were lots of people, many had camped in tents or vans with awnings and the remains of an open fire showed they’d had a good time and a BBQ the previous evening. The atmosphere was excited and the mood and friendliness of the “no wrist banders” was great.
Our situation couldn’t have been bettered and I felt sorry for everyone inside the festival grounds – they had no shelter from the blazing sun, crowds of people to contend with and (I’d been told) a forty minute queue to use inadequate and filthy loos! All that and minus £100! What a claustrophobic experience! In contrast, our riverbank was shaded by the overhanging trees, peaceful and friendly – there was no jostling for places and the woods provided necessary but natural facilities.
Although the view of the stage was distant, we’d brought binoculars, and these were loaned to neighbours, in turn trying their binocs, and discussing the merits of focus etc etc. Inroductions were made, names exchanged, drinks offered and arrangements made for meeting up in the future.
Red bunting flags had obscured the view of the stage when we’d investigated the location the previous day but it was excellent to see that some of these had been removed and only distance and a few yachts hindered our view.
The music was great, although we had to filter out other music coming from the festival site upstream. We could see the ferris wheel and various dare devil rides clearly. As we sat and listened, numerous other river craft turned up and we watched in amusement as they threaded their way downstream and roped up to others. They varied from “real” boats or yachts, to half
sinking tubs. Three kids in a tender – one rowing, two baling in “Oh Shit….Titantic”. Another craft “Wot’s happened” was throwing an onboard party. Even the Harbour Authority boat turned up with a party on board.
We’d arrived just in time to hear James Morrison’s last number and the subsequent acts were impressive. In the interval before the Stones appeared, we took to the water. Our boat was a small inflatable we’d had for years and had been hidden in the depths of our shed, only vaguely remembered. My sister (who is visiting from Canada for the occasion) and I managed to squeeze in and launch it, much to the friendly amusement and cheers from the crowd.
We rowed over, threading our way between all manner of anything that floats and roped up alongside one of the more substantial boats. While waiting for the main act to appear, yet another yacht arrived and attempted to thread through the other craft. Unfortunately this one was captained by a complete idiot and as we watched, he rammed into quite a number of inflatables, almost capsizing them. After a few choice words and a fairly scarey time for us, he motored off and we were gratified to see the police boat nab him upstream having been alerted by one of the nearly capsized inflatables.
Finally the Rolling Stones took to the stage and the forever youthful Mick could be seen leaping around. A couple of numbers into the act, the stage extended and our view was excellent. What can I say? It was sensational! Being so close to the stage, the music was loud and clear without being ear-shattering.
After a while we decided to head for dry land as the need to rock to the music isn’t suited to inflatables. More friendly cheers from the crowd greeted us as we approached the shore and we extracted ourselves inelegantly from the boat – but hey, who the heck cares, man! We knew we’d done the wight thing!
It was a wonderful experience and my thanks go to Annie for suggesting the idea. From now on I’ll be joining all the other “no wrist banders” on the north side – I’m already looking forward to next year. ………this won’t be the last time…….Wight on, man!
Linlin
