Isle Of Wight festival organiser John Giddings has admitted he purposefully avoided booking pop acts for 2012, revealing he felt ‘uncomfortable’ doing so after dipping his feet into that world last year.
“This year I’ve deliberately avoided pop acts, X Factor type people,” Giddings told NME. “I did a couple last year, but I felt a bit uncomfortable about that this year. I don’t mind having R&B acts on the bill, I don’t having Professor Green or Wretch 32, but I don’t see them as straight pop acts. I think other festivals do straight pop acts and I was backstage at a couple of festivals and they seemed to be full of people I’d seen on TV.”
Later, Giddings also expressed his delight at securing both Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen for this year’s event after chasing their signatures for years.
“It just came together at once and was luck rather than deliberation, I’ve been trying to get Springsteen for years, Tom Petty, I’ve been trying to get him to come to the UK for the last 10 years,” he said.
This year’s Isle Of Wight festival will run from June 22nd-24th.