OASIS has knocked back the chance to play at the proposed return of the ISLE OF WIGHT festival this summer, the event promoter has claimed.
John Giddings of organizers the Solo Agency said the Gallagher brothers balked at the fee he offered them. "They said they were washing their hair that evening," he explained. "They obviously weren't interested in the history."
As previously revealed on NME.COM, The Strokes, White Stripes, Pulp, The Charlatans and Placebo have all been approached to play the festival. Organizers plan to hold it on June 3 at 20,0000 capacity Seaclose Park, Newport. Now Rollingstone.com claims the names of Ash, Manic Street Preachers and The Hives can be added to the list.
The festival was last held in 1970 when 600,000 people, mostly ticketless, flooded onto the island to hear the likes of The Who, Jimi Hendrix (in his final UK show), Miles Davis, The Doors (in their final UK concert with Jim Morrison) and Sly And The Family Stone. "It's taken 30 years for the people of the Isle of Wight to recover from the amount of people that descended on them in 1970," said Giddings. "But they now realize that the name Isle of Wight is synonymous with music festivals worldwide, right alongside Woodstock and Glastonbury. They see this as a great asset for the island to sell for tourism."
While Giddings is keen to see the festival become a regular fixture on the UK circuit, he is keen to point out that there will be no dance acts. "I don't want any dance music," he insisted. "I don't want any of that crap. We want real songs played by real people. Anyone with a cassette machine can go away."
