Vital Spark are the main electrical contractor for the Isle of Wight Festival which is held in Newport, Isle of Wight every June. The Isle of Wight Festival of the Noughties is very much in homage to the original famed festivals which took place from 1968 with Jefferson Airplane headlining that year to an audience of approximately 10,000 people. In 1969 Bob Dylan was the star attraction and the audience swelled to a massive 150,000. Of course the final IOW festival of that era was Jimmi Hendrix’s swan song 1970’s event which attracted well over 200,000 people to become one of the largest live music events in UK history.
The festival was resurrected in 2002 and Vital Spark were brought in to provide the electrical infrastructure. The Vital crew have had to work overnight on many occasions to meet the power requirements of bands such as The Stereophonics, Kasabian, The Police, Jay Z, The Prodigy, Faithless, Muse, The Rolling Stones, Pink, Paul McCartney and many more
There are 150 generators in total powering the huge campsites and production for the Main, Big Top, Acoustic and River stages and all the other themed stages throughout the site. We have 35 trucks of generators, electrical distro and lighting equipment shipped over to the Island which is a major logistical challenge. The festival attracts around 60,000 visitors across the weekend and is a massive project for VSL involving over 20 crew members being on site for a total duration of 4 weeks from start to finish.