Fleetwood Mac To Close Festival

Fleetwood Mac To Close Festival
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A festival kicking off the start of the summer music season looks set to close with a bang later as Fleetwood Mac take to the stage after cancelling earlier gigs due to illness.

More than 50,000 people have travelled across the Solent to enjoy the Isle of Wight Festival which last night saw Blur and Pharrell Williams entertain revellers.

Having cancelled gigs in Birmingham and Manchester due to illness, Fleetwood Mac will begin their tour by closing the four-day event at Seaclose Park, Newport, a spokesman said

Blur have also battled illness to perform at the festival, with frontman Damon Albarn confessing he had been worried he would not make it to the show after losing his voice.

He struggled with a weak voice during the band's headline set which included a range of songs from their early Britpop tunes to tracks from their new album Magic Whip.

He told the crowd: "I truly didn't think I would make it here tonight but thank you."

Guest vocalist Phil Daniels came on to cheers from the crowd as Parklife got the crowd singing, followed by Song 2 which had everyone jumping before the band ended the set with The Universal.

Amongst the chart acts performing yesterday during a sunny afternoon were James Bay, who sang his hit Hold Back The River, and Jessie Ware. Kool And The Gang entertained disco lovers with hits Jungle Boogie and Ladies Night.

The festival is in its 14th year since it relaunched the legendary events of the late 1960s which saw acts such as Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and famously Jimi Hendrix, who gave his last UK performance on the island.

Thousands of people wore Hendrix masks this afternoon to create a new world record on the main stage, renamed the Electric Church, to mark the 45th anniversary year of his performance and raise money for the WellChild charity.

Pharrell's guitarists also paid tribute to Hendrix with a version of the Star Spangled Banner and Hey Joe. He also brought a group of children on stage for Happy and danced with the youngsters to cheers from the crowd.