ONCE again the Isle of Wight retains its place as the lucky festival, due to an uncanny knack of escaping the summer showers.

Looking bigger and better than ever with tents and stalls stretching as far as the eye could see, revellers bathed in the glorious sunshine and enjoyed Friday night’s entertainment as the Ting Tings got the music underway.

Demure lead singer Katie White bopped around the stage and led a rousing sing-a-long to Shut Up and Let Me Go and That’s Not My Name.

Nicely warmed up, this first night had a distinctly dance music flavour. With heavy drum and bass beats and fizzing electric guitars, Pendulum caused some serious head bobbing in the crowd. Following up, Basement Jaxx took to the stage with an array of colourful characters and proceeded to get everyone dancing with tracks like Where’s Your Head At? For anyone with any energy left, resurgent dance music veterans The Prodigy destroyed the main stage with the performance of the night.

Saturday and grey, ominous clouds threatened to spoil the party. Fortunately, these only resulted in a few spots of rain and Paulo Nutini had more than enough sunny happiness onstage. With the skies clearing, the Red Arrows made an appearance to wow the festival with a painted heart in the sky and mind-bending loops and rolls.

Capitalising on the adrenaline rush of the RAF’s finest, Razorlight and the Stereophonics continued the feel-good factor with anthem-packed sets.

Sunday saw a line-up of acts from yesteryear that proved good and bad in equal measures. Ultravox and Simple Minds were forgettable and borderline embarrasing. While Neil Young and the Pixies proved they’ve still got the magic on stage and held the audience captivated.

If the Isle Of Wight festival is anything to go by, this should be a great summer for music lovers