Isle of Wight Festival boss John Gidding won't give into 'greed' as he makes ticket rule
John Giddings has revealed why he does not want to sell more tickets for next year's Isle of Wight festival.
The music agent and producer, who has run the iconic festival since 2002, welcomed over 55,000 music fans to Seaclose Park over the weekend. The Prodigy, Pet Shop Boys, and Green Day headlined four incredible days of music and entertainment.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror on Sunday, Giddings revealed that he has already booked two headliners for next year's festival and explained why, despite the venue having the scope to host thousands more ticket holders, he always wants to stay within the 55,000 mark.
In 2002, the 1971 Isle Of Wight Act, which prohibited events on the island with more than 5000 attendees, was repealed just in time for the Queen's Golden Jubilee. Giddings, who first attended the Isle Of Wight Festival as a teenager in 1970, was brought in to resurrect the festival.
Taking over the festival's management from the council in 2003, Giddings turned around its fortunes despite an initial loss of an estimated £500,000 that year. The festival has since evolved into a multi-day event, attracting between 50,000 and 60,000 attendees annually and contributing between £10-15m to the local economy.
"This is my hobby," the music mogul explained backstage on Sunday. "I don't like gardening. I don't like golf. I've got a real job in London where I book worldwide. [The Isle of Wight Festival] is just the best thing I've ever done. You always get anxious, you always get tense [when it comes to the planning].
"But my doctor said to me that I enjoy stress because I enjoy the anticipation of making something happen. You spend all year planning it, and you pray and you've made the right decisions, and when you see the audience enjoying this line-up, I appreciate it. The thrill is incredible, the sensation... I always say the audience [are my favourite act], because I pay the artist to come, the audience pay me to come. So the audience are more important than the artist. When you see the audience, you know, going wild. It's wild."
John Giddings, director of the Isle of Wight Festival on Day 3 of the Isle of Wight Festival at Seaclose Park on June 13, 2015 in Newport, Isle of Wight.
And he's happy with his audience at the size it is. Chatting about the importance of keeping his festival value for money, including not extorting punters when it comes to food and drink stalls - Giddings stressed the importance of not selling over 55,000 tickets. "I've been a punter, and I know what it's like," he explained.
"I grew up going to the Bath Festival, the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 and if you treat an audience nicely, they'll come back. We sell half the tickets without announcing the line, because people find it entertaining. There's 150 bands, on 15 stages, plus all the other areas of entertainment. You don't want to stand and watch a group all day long. You want to do different things, and you meet different people.
He continued: "It's a shared experience to go and see music in the open air. You can talk to a stranger and not feel threatened. You just get along because you're all enjoying the same thing. We don't want to sell any more tickets. We sell 55,000 and that's the most we want to do because then it's comfortable. More than that, you're pushing it up, and that's just based on greed, really. This is my hobby."
Over the years, Giddings has been instrumental in booking headline acts such as Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and David Bowie. On 5 November 2007, the Isle of Wight Festival was honoured as the 'Best Major Festival' at the UK Festival Awards. At the same ceremony, Giddings received the award for 'Outstanding Contribution to UK festivals..
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