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Isle Of Wight Festival To Mainly Feature 'British Talent'

The Isle of Wight Festival will be a mainly British affair this year - according to event organiser, John Giddings.

This year's music extravaganza has been moved form June to September, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Government announced that major events could return on June 21 - but with the Isle of Wight Festival originally scheduled for June 17-20, it meant it wouldn't be viable.

Speaking to Access All Areas, John said he is excited for this year's festival, but admits many of the acts will be British based.

He said:

“The good news is that there are British bands out there desperate to play and entertain people.

"It is going to be the great British music festival.

“We spent a couple weeks dealing with authorities, including Public Health England, to see if we can make it happen later in the year. I wanted it three months later because I didn’t want to be the guinea pig – the first show out. We’ve always been the first show of the season, we are now going to be the last show of the season."

The capacity is also likely to be reduced to 50,000.

Last month, John told Isle of Wight Radio:

"All the Government instructions will be in place to make it as safe as possible for people, and by then the whole of the UK will have been vaccinated.

“We are going to have a really robust COVID plan in place. We have experts dealing with those issues. I don’t want to be responsible for a fourth wave.”

Isle Of Wight Festival Organiser Chats To Isle Of Wight Radio

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW "The summer of fun is going to return!" The Isle of Wight Festival is back for 2021! Organiser John Giddings chats exclusively to Isle of Wight Radio's Oliver Dyer about this year's line-up, the logistical challenges and ticket sales.

Posted by Isle of Wight Radio on Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Acts are due to be announced soon.

The Isle of Wight Festival 2021 will happen on September 16-19.

Ticket information can be found at https://isleofwightfestival.com/info/tickets

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