Day two of the festival dawned bright and sunny and saw people streaming onto packed ferries and buses as they made their way to the first full day of the festival.

The campsites slowly came to life as people emerged from their tents after a slightly disappointing afternoon watching the football and a much happier joyous time watching Scouting For Girls get the crowd going as only they can.

The food vendors were doing a roaring trade as people fuelled up for a day ahead that promised everything from The Bootleg Beatles who would have the crowd singing along to some of the best songs ever written, The Darkness that would rouse even the sleepiest punter from their slumbers to the mighty Prodigy who would deliver one of the most frenetic sets that the IOW has ever seen.

I decided to spend the morning wandering the site getting my bearings so that I could navigate from stage to stage making sure I caught as many acts as I could as the day moved along.

The stages vary from The River Stage that provided a lighter poppier vibe (at least when I was there) to Cirque da la Quirk supplying some of the more energetic shows of the festival along with a regular supply of pyro, via This Feeling that does an excellent job of showcasing up and coming bands. In fact, I am sure I caught The K’s there a few years ago.

With that in mind I set of to catch that very band who have progressed to the main stage and provided an excellent start to the day. Highlights of the day included The Darkness, Mike Skinner of The Streets seemed to spend as much time in the crowd as he did on the stage, Beth McCarthy set the big top alight with her superb set, Crowded House forgot to bring the weather with them but still delivered an excellent set of perfectly crafted songs.

As the weather turned colder and wetter The Prodigy absolutely blew everyone in the main arena away as they delivered one of the most frenetic high powered sets that the IOW Festival has seen since the last time they played here in 2015. As the rain set in that could have been the end of the day but thousands decided to carry on the theme as The Pretenders played in the early hours of the morning. As an added bonus they were joined by Johnny Marr for three songs mid set. To see two musical icons together at the IOW festival certainly sent this slightly older festival goer to bed a happy man.

I headed to bed looking forward to a Saturday that should be warmer and brighter and tantalises with the promise of a headline set from the iconic Pet Shop Boys as well as Keane, Jessie J, Natalie Imbruglia and local dance music hero’s Collective States.