We always welcome a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers. This one from Mark Richardson. Unhappy about missing his son playing the main stage of the Isle of Wight Festival. Ed
My son plays in the Naked Fridays. They won the Battle of the Bands competition, so we were very pleased when he said that they would be playing the main stage on Sunday morning at the Festival.
On the morning, my wife and I, along with other band members parents and lots of friends, supporters of local music waited patiently outside the main festival entrance gate.
Heard the band sound checking
11am came and went, the gates didn’t open.
We all started to get restless and confused that the staff on the barrier didn’t seem to want to find out or care. We could hear the Naked Fridays carrying out their sound check.
Heard band playing in the distance
11.20am – the band came on and started their set, but we were still outside the barrier. Staff started saying that there was a technical problem with the main stage that my son was playing on!
11.40am – with the band already finished they finally allowed us up to the turnstiles, but no further. By now many of the parents were irate!
11.45am – finally we were allowed in, however the Naked Fridays had played to an empty field, no excuse was given!
One off chance missed
One thing is clear I missed my son performing on the main stage at the Isle of Wight festival, something he might never get a chance to do again!
Luckily we did get to see him in the Kashmir Cafe tent later thanks to Platform One and Quay Arts.