The headliners and the other top artists for the Isle of Wight Festival 2026 lineup have already announced. Before you see who will be in the 2026 lineup, let’s share some key information about this festival.
This UK family-friendly music festival takes place on the Isle of Wight, where it unites its heritage of counterculture with contemporary, diverse musical performances, drawing about 60,000 music lovers and festival fans.
The coastal island setting of the venue produces a vacation atmosphere because visitors reach the event by ferry across the Solent while enjoying ocean views and participating in various activities beyond music performances, including artistic displays, dining establishments, amusement rides, and outdoor sleeping facilities.
The 2025 edition took place from June 19–22 with Sting and Stereophonics and Justin Timberlake as headliners alongside Faithless and The Script and Teddy Swims and complete performance schedules at the Main Stage and Big Top.
The US has a strong festival culture and large-scale music festivals, but Europe can compete with the largest festivals in the US. The Isle of Wight is one of them.
One more reason to go to the festival next year (2026) is that the lineup includes three artists who received a total of six nominations at the 68th annual Grammy Awards (The 2026 GRAMMYS nominations). Get an additional tease in the following official video for the 2026 festival edition.
Isle of Wight Festival 2026 Dates
The festival dates for the 2026 edition are 18-21 June.
Isle of Wight Festival 2026 Location
The Isle of Wight Festival 2026 will be held at Seaclose Park, Newport, UK.
Besides the festival, the Isle of Wight captivates tourists with The Needles, its dramatic trio of chalk stacks and iconic lighthouse rising from turquoise seas at the island’s western tip, offering breathtaking cliff-top views, a thrilling chairlift ride to Alum Bay’s multicolored sands, and nearby Victorian batteries turned museums, perfect for scenic hikes, wildlife spotting, and sunset photo ops.
Are you sure you want to travel, enjoy great music, and take in breathtaking views? Check out the options for accommodations on Booking.com (🛒) for the dates of the festival. If you need to book a flight, rent a car, or a bike, you can always find options on Alter Toruist.
Participants of the Isle of Wight Festival 2026 Lineup
The complete lineup has not been announced yet (Dec 12, 2025), but we have headliners and several top artists from the 2026 lineup. The notable detail is that the lineup includes three artists with a total of six nominations for the 68th annual Grammy Awards in 2026. Those artists are The Cure, Wet Leg, and Teddy Swims. Check out who the headliners and other top artists are who have already announced.
Who is Headlining in the 2026 Edition?
Friday 19, June
⭐ Lewis Capaldi
Saturday 20 June
⭐ Calvin Harris
Sunday 21 June
⭐ The Cure
Lewis Capaldi returned to music with success in 2025 after spending two years away from music to handle his Tourette’s syndrome and mental health through therapy, medication, and lifestyle modifications. The “Survive” EP emerged in late 2025 (Nov 14) with Capaldi sharing his personal struggles through unfiltered songs, which he identified as “The Day That I Die” as his most difficult musical creation. During the UI tour kickoff, Lewis hinted at a third album possibly in 2026. Capaldi wrapped his UK tour in late September 2025 and performed in Australia in December, including a strong show at Spark Arena in New Zealand on December 2.
The headlining performance of Calvin Harris at Creamfields Asia 2025 in Bangkok on December 13-14 and the Djakarta Warehouse Project (DWP) in Bali from December 12-14 brought out powerful dance music that generated intense social media discussion about the audience’s reactions. His current music output consists of 2025 singles, which he recorded during his Ibiza residency performances, while fans predict his upcoming album “96 Months” through social media hints, but he has not announced any release schedule. Key 2026 shows include XS Nightclub in Las Vegas (Jan 16, Feb 13, Feb 21), AT&T Playlist Playoff Live in Miami (Jan 17), Bahrain (Jan 29), 25N 51E Festival in Doha (Jan 30), Palm Tree Festivals in West Palm Beach (Feb 14) and Aspen (Feb 20), and India tour starting April 17 in Bengaluru.
The Cure released a recut, remixed, and remastered version of their “The Show of a Lost World” concert film from Troxy London 2024, now available in cinemas worldwide, on DVD/Blu-ray, streaming, and download, directed by Nick Wickham with new surround sound by Robert Smith. “The Show of a Lost World” live album and film capture the full 31-song performance from the Songs of a Lost World release day in November 2024, with all royalties donated to the War Child charity. The Cure announced an extensive 2026 festival-heavy tour across Europe, including Primavera Sound (June 3-7, Barcelona), Isle of Wight (June 18-21), Roskilde (July 1-4), three nights at Berlin’s Wuhlheide (July 10-12), and headline slots at Way Out West, Electric Castle, and Festival de Nîmes (three nights, July 24-26).
Other Top Artists At Isle of Wight Festival 2026 Lineup
Some of the top artists have already announced. The list of artists for the complete lineup poster has not yet been announced, but the following are not all of them.
- Anastacia
- David Gray
- Feeder, Five
- Jo Whiley’s 90s Anthems
- KT Tunstall
- Luvcat
- Rick Astley
- Sex Pistols (Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock) featuring Frank Carter
- Shed Seven
- Starsailor
- Suzanne Vega
- Teddy Swims
- The Kooks
- The Last Dinner Party
- Wet Leg
Isle of Wight Festival Tickets
There are two primary ticket types: Weekend and Islander. If you are from the Isle of Wight (Islander), then you can purchase a ticket for £289 (~$390). The regular Weekend price is £320 (~$433). The festival welcomes teenagers and kids. Tickets for children (ages 3-12) are cheaper (£25-£35). For Infants, the entry is free.
NOTE: An adult MUST accompany Teenagers.
The tickets are already available, and you can purchase them on Ticketmaster (🛒) (the official website will redirect you to Ticketmaster for buying tickets, but we recommend visiting their official website for more details about the tickets.
If the festival is already sold out and you desperately want to go, you can always check out the resellers such as Vivid Seats (🛒).
IMPORTANT: Please be aware that the ticket price offered by resellers is higher than the original price.
Tips For The First Timers
Here are some community tips for first-time festival-goers. In addition to community hints, we recommend reviewing the organizer’s official helper information on their website, especially the care and safety section. (source of the tips: Reddit Isle of Wight Festival community)
- Bring more money than you think you’d need. Nothing is cheap at festivals.
- I camped in the Respect field, which is quiet at night, but you need to reserve a place.
- You cannot take alcohol into the main arena, but there are free water refill taps.
- Sunscreen and hat!
- Free shuttle buses run to and from the festival site at all hours.
- Bring earplugs for sleeping, we were in the lovely love your tent area, however it was not that far from electric ladyland that went on to 2 in the morning, so earplugs are good for sleeping.
- The co op is great, we had breakfast stuff from there, ate well in the festival lunchtime, and topped up in the early evening with chips or something to see us through.
- The lockers are great; we had one in the main arena area. We could stick jumpers in for the evening to save going back to the tent, and it had a plug-in for charging.
The Festival Photo and Shorts Gallery
We love seeing photos and shorts from festivals, usually published on the festival’s official social media profiles and website. Isle of Wight Festival is not an exception. We selected a few moments captured by a camera or a mobile phone to share with you, so you can, as much as possible, feel the energy and mood of the festival through the photos and videos. Enjoy!
The Festival’s Previous Lineups
This festival has a tremendous legacy and a fascinating history, with a three-decade gap and a one-year silence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As we are interested in festival lineups, we try to track them and review them at least a few years back.
Isle of Wight Festival 2025 Lineup
The headliners of the 2025 edition of the festival were Sting, Stereophonics, and Justin Timberlake. Some of the other top artists who performed at the Isle of Wight Festival 2025 were Faithless, The Script, Jess Glynne, and Supergrass. See the complete lineup on the poster below.
Isle of Wight Festival 2024 Lineup
If you were born in the ’70s, it’s almost impossible not be excited about the lineup of the Isle of Wight Festival 2024. The headliners for the 2024 lineup were The Prodigy, Pet Shop Boys, and Green Day. Other notable artists and bands performing at the festival’s 2024 edition included Simple Minds, Nothing But Thieves, The Streets, Keane, The Pretenders, Suede, Jo Whiley’s 90s Anthems, and Scouting for Girls.
History of the Festival
Yes, we know the article focuses on the festival lineup, but we can’t resist telling you a bit about UK festival history. It tells a bit about the British culture.
The festival debuted in 1968 with about 10,000 attendees watching acts like Jefferson Airplane from a trailer stage, growing massively by 1970 to over 600,000 fans for headliners including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and The Doors. The 1970 event’s chaos prompted the Isle of Wight Act, banning large gatherings for 32 years until its revival in 2002 by promoter John Giddings, starting small with Robert Plant before expanding.
Isle of Wight Festival 1970
The Isle of Wight Festival 1970, which took place at Afton Down from August 26 to August 30, attracted between 600,000 and 700,000 people, who became the biggest music festival audience in history, while the event created extensive organizational problems for the tiny island. The promoters encountered three major problems during the event, which included anarchists who broke through fences, fans who wanted free admission, and audience members who disrupted the performance through their loud comments. The stage caught fire while the audience received substandard audio quality, which transformed the peaceful atmosphere of “peace and love” into a violent confrontation.
Iconic Lineup
Jimi Hendrix headlined Sunday night in one of his final UK shows (dying weeks later), joined by The Who (full Tommy opera), The Doors, Miles Davis, Emerson Lake & Palmer (early gig with explosive cannons), Sly & the Family Stone, Joan Baez, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Chicago, Free, Moody Blues, and folk acts like Leonard Cohen and Donovan.
The Doors Performance
The Doors played at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, taking the stage around 1:00 AM on August 29-30. Their 70-minute set was both subdued and intense, performed in near darkness because Jim Morrison did not want spotlights. The band also faced cold weather and jet lag.
Band members said Morrison’s voice was strong, but he barely moved on stage, describing him as “Dionysus shackled.” The show was filmed on 16mm and later released in 2018 as the official album and DVD, Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (🛒).
Lasting Impact
The financial losses at the event forced organizers to announce it as a free festival, which resulted in the Isle of Wight Act establishing a 32-year ban on big events until the festival returned in 2002. The event created Glastonbury and other free festivals through its anarchic collapse and Message to Love (1997), and multiple live recordings showcase its intense historical impact.
If you are interested in more about the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 edition, you can find more information on Wikipedia.
