Experience 25, the exhibition celebrating the history of the iconic Isle of Wight Festival, opens at London’s O2 on 19th September 2024.
This year marks the 25th edition of Isle of Wight Festival, including the three original events held in 1968, ‘69 and ‘70. To celebrate this landmark in music history, Experience 25 – an exhibition dedicated to the festival’s remarkable history – will run at the O2’s Innovation Centre from 19th September – 13th November.
The grand space will play host to an archive documenting the festival’s most magical moments; from Bob Dylan’s 150,000 strong crowd in 1969 (which included three of The Beatles), to Amy Winehouse’s duet with Mick Jagger in 2007.
Visitors will travel back in time and be invited into the office of Ray Foulk, the original curator of the first three festivals. Step inside an authentic recreation of Ray’s wonderfully creative and chaotic workspace and see how he and his team put together the historic events with a hippy ethos, overcoming a series of obstacles and dramas along the way.
Also on display, original images and footage of performances by The Doors, The Who, Joni Mitchell, and even Hendrix shredding in front a 500,000 strong crowd in 1970. Experience the atmosphere of a moment in time – an era of hope and innocence.
Guests will then be transported to 2002, when legendary promoter John Giddings revived the festival, beginning its hugely successful run to the present day. The Isle of Wight Festival now hosts 60,000 music fans a year. Relive David Bowie’s stunning headline set in 2004, Jay Z’s dominating performance in 2010 and Dave Grohl cementing himself in rock history in 2011, all the way through to Green Day taking the reins as 2024’s headliners.
Experience 25’s London run finds its perfect home at the O2; a venue inextricably linked to the Isle of Wight Festival, where many of its artists throughout the years have graced the stage.
John Giddings said: “The iconic Isle of Wight festival 1970 was the Woodstock of Europe, but the IOW Member of Parliament at the time, in all his wisdom, decided to ban it for 32 years in the form of an act of parliament – allowing others to pick up the baton… “They let us restart it for the Queen’s jubilee, and it has gone from strength to strength, re-establishing this small island off the south coast of England as a worldwide brand.
“Here is a celebration of the last 22 years, with the original three years added by kind courtesy of Ray Foulk, without whom it, it would not exist…”
Ray Foulk said: “My family is delighted to contribute to this commemorative show with historic items and archives as it travels from the Island to the O2. It is with great pride that our embryonic rock festivals of more than half a century ago have been so successfully and splendidly revived”.
