Isle of Wight Festival revellers enjoy England victory amid heatwave

Revellers at the Isle of Wight Festival have been basking in the heatwave and celebrating the England World Cup football victory.

Thousands of fans cheered and danced, with some letting off flares, following the match against Panama which was shown on large screens across the site in a break from the music which features headliners Kasabian, Liam Gallagher, Depeche Mode and The Killers.

One festival-goer, Dave Howlett, said: “It was a fantastic atmosphere, everyone was really excited, it was great being able to watch the match on the big screen with so many fans. People have been singing ‘football’s coming home’ for hours.”

The four-day festival at Newport is celebrating the 50th anniversary since its first incarnation.

The lead singer of Blossoms said Oasis was his motivation to get into song-writing ahead of taking to the main stage before inspiration Liam Gallagher.

Tom Ogden, frontman of Stockport-based Blossoms, which has been touring with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, told Absolute Radio: “The reason why I started writing songs is probably because of Oasis and mine and Joe’s first concert was Oasis, Heaton Park in 2009.”

Liam Gallagher played a number of Oasis songs during his hour-long sundowner set on Saturday starting with Rock ’n’ Roll Star saying to the crowd: “Because there aren’t too many of us left”.

He ended his show with Live Forever and Wonderwall which got the crowds singing along.

Depeche Mode took the Saturday night headline slot with other highlights during the festival including Travis and Van Morrison.

Actor Colin Firth was seen at the Hard Rock Stage watching his son Luca play in his band Wednesday and footballer Peter Crouch was spotted in the crowd watching Kasabian as well as kicking a ball around with friends on the festival site.

To mark the “golden jubilee” anniversary, thousands of people turned out in gold outfits and covered in glitter.

The first festival on the island was held in 1968 and went on to feature performances from legendary artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and The Who before the event was cancelled following an invasion of 500,000 hippies in 1970.

This led to an act of parliament banning open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special licence from the council.

Music agent John Giddings revived the event in 2002 and it has gone on to feature some of the world’s top artists including David Bowie, Foo Fighters, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Jay-Z, Coldplay and Fleetwood Mac.