Thanks to Alan and Suzanne Whitewood for their take on the first day of the Isle of Wight festival. Ed
Following the horrendous weather conditions on Thursday the IW Festival was blessed with a sunny and dry Friday although the wind caused some problems. When the gates opened at 4pm Feeder were the first act on stage. Their biggest hit has been ‘Buck Rogers’.
Later, Mercury Prize winners Elbow performed. Lead singer Guy Garvey had the crowd with him during the act’s 75 minute set. Manchester based Elbow concluded with their most acclaimed hit ‘One Day Like This’.
Warm up at Royal Albert Hall
Friday’s headliner was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, purveyors of guitar rock. Currently on a World tour the group made two well received performances at the Royal Albert Hall before heading for Seaclose Park.
Their appearance was much anticipated with the earlier act Feeder staying on to see Tom and the Heartbreakers at the Island gig.
Tom was out front for most of their almost two hour show and was well backed by the five piece Heartbreakers.
36 year music career
With a career spanning 36 years Tom Petty, who hails from Gainesville, Florida, met Elvis Presley when Tom was a boy and after that could not contemplate any other career than one in music.
A succession of well known hits were performed taking in ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’, ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’, ‘I won’t Back Down’, ‘Running Down a Dream’, ‘Free Fallin’, ‘Learning to Fly’ and ‘Refugee’.
The Traveling Wilburys
Departing from his own catalogue of songs the group performed ‘Handle with Care’. This song is normally associated with the Traveling Wilburys of which Tom was a member.
After the group gave an encore consisting of ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ and ‘American Girl’ Tom ushered everyone forward for a collective bow. There was a very positive reaction from the crowd.
