Amid a strong line-up including Primal Scream, Foo Fighters, Lou Reed and The Prodigy, you might not have bet on Coldplay sweeping away the competition in their closing set at the 2006 Isle of Wight Festival. But there was no doubt of Chris Martin’s rapport with the crowd on Sunday night and the band was rapturously received.

 

The singer was on playful form, at one point inviting a young blonde woman whom he called “crowd member of the year” to sit on stage for a few songs and drink champagne. He also entertained the crowd with an attempted Peter Crouch dance.

 

The set progressed from anthem to anthem – through “Politik”, “Clocks”, “Yellow” and “In My Place” – suggesting that in just three albums the group has built up perhaps the best-known contemporary musical repertoire in the UK. During the ballad “The Scientist”, the band was almost drowned out by thousands of voices.

 

Earlier in the evening, an uninspired Lou Reed had resolutely walked on the mild side, refusing to play the crowd-pleaser “Perfect Day” and leaving the audience bored at best. Coldplay, in a deft touch, gave an imperfect but apt improvisation. “He didn’t play it so we had to,” said Martin. That he didn’t appear to know the central guitar solo seemed irrelevant.

 

Until the Coldplay set, the three-day event – blessed with a perfect combination of hot sunshine and cooling sea breezes – had produced two main highlights. One was Friday night’s head- liners, The Prodigy, insanely energetic against a glowing full moon, winning over a new generation with old tracks such as “Firestarter”. Another was Richard Ashcroft singing an acoustic “The Drugs Don’t Work”. Alone in front of a sea of people he gave the song true poignancy. You didn’t need to know that it was about his dying father to be moved by the occasion.

 

Ashcroft was one of a handful of singers with anti-war stances reminiscent of the Isle of Wight festivals in the late 1960s. “Bring the boys back home, Tony,” he implored. It’s not clear, though, what the hippy generation would have made of an on-site Marks and Spencer stall selling prawn sandwiches and mango smoothies.

 

Saturday night began well with a chirpy set from the currently much-favoured Kooks and reached a peak with Editor’s post-Joy Division melancholy. “Speak When You’re Spoken To” was a masterpiece of bleak grandeur and a cover of Talking Heads’ “Road To Nowhere” lent an air of existential angst to this once-chirpy number.

 

From there, however, it was all downhill as Primal Scream – introduced by a purring Kate Moss – failed to sustain the opening high of “Movin’ On Up”. Lead singer Bobby Gillespie was the epitome of studied nonchalance throughout but the set sagged in the middle with a string of more obscure material and only really recovered at the end with “Rocks” and their recent hit single “Country Girl”. Later Foo Fighters, the headliners, put in a strong showing but were fatally undermined as some of the speakers conked out.

 

The revived Isle of Wight festival has allowed numbers to grow substantially each year. With no Glastonbury this year, the crowd was swollen even further, with long queues late at night to get into the dance tents. It’s hardly 1970 – when 1m people overran the island, prompting an Act of Parliament banning future festivals – but the organisers should think hard before any future expansion. If they do decide to make it bigger, a second music stage would be a smart idea.

 

On Saturday afternoon the crowd thinned out. With only one TV set in the whole site, at Virgin Radio’s backstage area, an estimated 10,000 people surged into Newport in search of somewhere to watch the football. As it was, given the dreary England match, they would have been better off catching a few musical acts instead.

 

The 747s delivered an intriguing set of summery Beatles-style psychedelic pop. They were followed by Suzanne Vega, now resembling Yoko Ono but fortunately with better vocals. “Caramel”, a song about love deliberately lost, was a beautiful moment. And as England ploddingly held on to their 1-0 lead, music fans gave Scottish rockers The Proclaimers a cheery reception, in particular for “Five Thousand Miles”.

 

With performances like this, the Family Church of Newport – which had set up turntables playing Jesus rave in a bid to entrance passers-by – didn’t stand a chance.

 

Source: Financial Times (ft.com)

Earlier in the evening, an uninspired Lou Reed had resolutely walked on the mild side, refusing to play the crowd-pleaser “Perfect Day” and leaving the audience bored at best.

My goodness he was boring....I lost the will to live at that point!!!! His songs went on forever!!!!

^LMAOOOO that was the most painful thing i've ever had to stand through in my whole life. It was SO boring. :snore: Plus we were all excited waiting for Coldplay and he was just making the time go a million times slower...I swear to go he just played one continuous song for an hour.

 

Oh my god. The flashbacks!!! :stunned: :uhoh2:

I remember at one point after that other dude with him had sung, everyone cheered and he said, "you dont wanna hear Lou sing?" and noone in the crowd said anything!!!!! lmao!!!!!!

LMAOOOO!!!! :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:

 

At first I clapped a bit and tried to look atleast mildly interested, cos I didn't want to look rude....but then after about 20mins I just put my head down and almost fell asleep!!! :lol:

 

I think Chris was right when he said "lou was in a strange mood today"!!! :lol:

Chris invited a blonde woman on stage?!!?!?!?!

^LMAOOOO that was the most painful thing i've ever had to stand through in my whole life. It was SO boring. :snore: Plus we were all excited waiting for Coldplay and he was just making the time go a million times slower...I swear to go he just played one continuous song for an hour.

 

Oh my god. The flashbacks!!! :stunned: :uhoh2:

 

I was beginning to wonder when he was going to play anything I knew. After a while I decided to check out the eateries, because that interested me more!!

:lol: Haha!

 

Oh and I forgot the whole 'lets bring a chinese man on stage do to some martial arts, that'll make my set better' :laugh4: Wtf was that about?! So random.

Oh god it was awful! :laugh4:

I must of not been watching at that point - oh dear what a shame!!

:lol: Haha!

 

Oh and I forgot the whole 'lets bring a chinese man on stage do to some martial arts, that'll make my set better' :laugh4: Wtf was that about?! So random.

Oh god it was awful! :laugh4:

oh hahahahha!!!!! that was hilarious! he didnt even stay on the whole time. "master yan chi" or something :laugh3: :laugh3: :laugh3: