Isle of Wight Festival 2006
Friday 9th to Sunday 11th June 2006Seaclose Park, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 2DN, England MAP
w/e £85 (under-12yrs £42.50), £105 with camping (under-12yrs £52.50), campervans £60 - SOLD OUT
Daily capacity: 35,000
Last updated: Tue 16th May 2006
Im still sweating over the footie and the lack of coverage, although I loiter near to someone with a radio and strain to hear broken coverage while feeling assured groans or cheers will herald any goal action.
Meanwhile The Upper Room saunter on stage, they look indistinctive from any one of hundreds of bands around at the moment and sound no different either. They are drums and bassline with jangly guitars and a fairly bland vocal for first tune Combination. Its pretty mediocre and much the same as all those hundreds of bands and I have no idea why they are flavour of the month. Or possibly the organisers could only get them to play during the football.
Speaking of which after being happy to see Suzanne Vega the act on before The Upper Room Im now gutted Im not quaffing a beer watching England in the World Cup. The band introduce their first single All Over This Town and its well received by the two rows of fans at the front. Portrait sounds no different its only the fact they stopped for a ripple of applause I realise theyre actually now delivering it from the huge stage. Looking out most are prone enjoying the sun and at least the beat has improved and its got a bit of bounce to it.
Next up the guys rip off a cover of U2s I Will Follow but as though The Edge hadnt turned up! Truly woeful. Vocal is good, drums okay but the guitarist seriously lets the side down and Im hoping the band stop soon. But then they play Black and White and its pulled them out of the mire slightly. Its the strongest number of their set and shows possibly they could develop a maturity. But they havent yet and why they were on such a big stage instead of playing local pubs is beyond me.
All in all pretty uninspiring and unless they manage to develop something distinct theyre destined to return to obscurity.
review by: Scott Williams
Latest Updates
Isle of Wight Festival 2024
festival details
festival details
last updated: Mon 5th Feb 2024
Isle of Wight Festival 2024
line-ups & rumours
line-ups & rumours
last updated: Mon 5th Feb 2024
Isle of Wight Festival 2023
festival details
festival details
last updated: Tue 13th Jun 2023
Isle of Wight Festival 2023
line-ups & rumours
line-ups & rumours
last updated: Thu 4th May 2023
Isle of Wight Festival
festival home page
festival home page
last updated: Mon 30th Jan 2023