With this year’s headliners consisting of The Who, Queen + Adam Lambert, Faithless and Stereophonics, Isle Of Wight Festival 2016 promises to bigger and better than ever! But with so many acts already announced, there are bound to be some hidden gems and other exciting artists for you to catch at one of the UK’s premier festivals. I am therefore going to take you through my personal picks of the line-up so far in the hope that you’ll go and check them out and hopefully find a new favourite artist or band!
Arguably not a hidden gem, but still a band to get excited about this summer, especially if you’re a kid of the Noughties. Matt Willis, Charlie Simpson and James Bourne announced their return back in November of last year and teenage girls and young women in their twenties went crazy!
Since their split back in 2005, the trio partook in various different projects. Most notably Simpson spent a lot of time with Fightstar, the band he joined at the tail end of Busted’s first stint, and enjoyed a reasonably well-recieved solo career, whilst Willis and Bourne joined up with the lads in McFly to create the McBusted supergroup. But now the original line-up is back together, fans will be able to reminisce and sing along to hits such as ‘Year 3000’, ‘Air Hostess’ and ‘That’s What I Go To School For’.
The Manchester-based quartet have enjoyed a commercially successful past couple of years. Their sophomore record Arc reached number five in the UK album charts back in 2013, whilst their third studio album, Get To Heaven, was released last year and reached number seven in the charts.
The band are known for their eclectic and dynamic rock sound, using approaches used in contemporary R&B, glitch pop and electronica. Their songwriting reflects those of psychedelic and progressive rock groups, with dense and detailed lyrics and complex song construction. The four-piece are bound to go down a treat on this summer’s festival circuit.
Easily the least known band on this list, the Southampton-based four-piece have been making waves on the local scene over the past few years and are undoubtedly going to be moving into the mainstream and onto bigger and better things in the very near future.
The self-professed indie-britpop group are fuelled by a love-hate relationship for all things British, with a particular love and admiration of English music scene, and a hatred of all things synonymous with the X Factor generation and pop puppets. These lads are definitely ones to look out for this summer both on the festival and local circuits. They’re worth checking out, particularly in a live setting where they are greatly underrated.
The Glastonbury-based band had a highly successful first stint together between 1993 and 2003 before a seven-year hiatus. The quartet released four highly successful albums in the form of 1995’s Replenish, 1997’s Glow, 1999’s Rides, and 2000’s Getaway. All four of their records recorded a placing in the top 20 of the UK album charts, with the first three all placing in the top ten, whilst it was their sophomore record Glow which was their most successful, topping the charts in the UK and going on to receive a Silver certification.
Since their revival in 2010, Reef have released two brand new singles, ‘Barking At Trees’ and ‘How I Got Over You’, but it will be the content from their first decade together that will get festival goers jumping like crazy this summer. Who could forget the anthem that is ‘Place Your Hands’?
The Glaswegians have enjoyed a very fruitful couple of years, with their third studio album propelling them into the mainstream in 2014. ‘Heart And Soul’, the lead track from Great Divide, helped create the buzz around the album with the help of Zane Lowe, when he had the track as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record back in the March of that year. Great Divide was then released in the August and rocketed to number six in the UK album charts.
The group played their biggest headline show ever last year when they played the SSE Hydro in their home city. This only cemented their place in the British music scene and only helped the band to develop their already exceptional live performances. As a result it is safe to say that Twin Atlantic are sure to put on a great show at Isle Of Wight this year.
Lastly, but by no means least, we have The Costellos, a group well known to those at The Edge and in Southampton. Back in November the four-piece headlined The Edge Introducing gig at The Joiners in Southampton, which was very well received. The group will now be heading to Isle Of Wight for the second year in a row and will undoubtedly be putting on a stereotypical high energy set for those in attendance at the Jack Rocks stage.
2016 will see the boys spread their wings beyond the usual headline spots in Southampton, with their first headline show in Brighton confirmed for the 23rd July. Watch this space, these lads are going places.
