‘Gut feeling more important than social media likes’, says festival promoter

A leading music festival promoter has said “gut feeling” is more than important than social media likes when booking headline acts.

John Giddings, who has run the Isle of Wight Festival since it restarted in 2002, said performers need to be able to “deliver” to a crowd and not just keep their attention on a phone screen.

The 72-year-old, who represents artists ranging from Blondie to Phil Collins, told the PA news agency: “It’s gut feeling, really. I’ve learned the hard way in my years in the music business that some people might have sold a lot of records, but they’re useless when it comes to performing.

“You want to book acts that have a catalogue that’s going to entertain an audience for an hour, hour and a half, and, secondly, someone who’s capable of performing to an audience of 50,000 people in a field, because they need to be able to project to entertain.

“When you look back on who we’ve had – Blur, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, the (Rolling) Stones – they’re all capable of delivering, even if it’s pouring with rain, which it doesn’t that much on the Isle of Wight, thank God.

“But you’ve got to be prepared for everything and it’s quality of performance, really.

“I do know artists who’ve had a million views on TikTok who can’t sell 300 tickets at a club in London. Just because all these people want to watch them on socials doesn’t mean they’re going to pay money to go and see them in a field.”

Mr Giddings – who also manages through his Solo music agency touring shows for some of the world’s biggest names such as Madonna, U2 and Beyonce – said that as well as classic acts, he needs to keep an eye on the breakthrough bands.

He said: “Because I’m older, we book acts from past, present and future, there’s a discussion in the office as to what new bands are coming up, and you’re projecting as to what they’re going to be doing in the year’s or nine months’ time.

“I’ll never forget when I booked The Darkness when they first started out, they were supporting someone at Brixton Academy, and I went down there, and I walked in, and Justin (Hawkins) was sitting on the shoulders of his roadie, walking through the audience, playing the lead solo.

“I thought, ‘blimey, this is the music I grew up on’, and then they came and played the Isle of Wight and blew everyone away.”

Mr Giddings said he was always on the lookout for new acts, adding: “If the truck driver comes up with a good idea and it’s a better idea than mine, then go for it, you can’t be that arrogant to just believe what you think yourself.

“We’ve got 15 stages on the Isle of Wight, so whatever stage you’re at in your career, you can play one of those stages.”

Mr Giddings said one of his highlights from the Isle of Wight Festival was Jay Z and added: “I remember thinking 50,000 people couldn’t go wilder, and then Kanye West walked on with them and it exploded, and I turned to my left, and there was Beyonce standing there – I thought ‘It couldn’t get better than this’.”

Mr Giddings said that he remembered the classic Isle of Wight Festival of 1970, which saw 600,000 hippies descend on the island causing the event to be outlawed for 32 years, and added: “I remember walking over the hill, it was like going to the Battle of the Somme and you could smell them before you saw them.”

After 23 years of organising the Isle of Wight Festival, he said: “I absolutely love it, which is my downfall because I work all the time, I never think I’ve actually had a job.

“There’s nothing better than sitting in an office in Fulham in November and it’s wet and windy outside, and you’re imagining putting an act on in a field on the Isle of Wight in June, and then you see it nine months later and people are going wild to it.

“It’s the most satisfying thing ever to provide entertainment for people.”

The Isle of Wight Festival 2025, which is being headlined by Sting, Stereophonics and Justin Timberlake, runs from June 19 to 22 at Seaclose Park, Newport.