According to the Guardian, Barclays have a 5-year sponsorship deal that was signed last year with Live nation and it is understood that this does not affect the whole duration of the contract.

a spokesperson from Live nation, who are the company which run these festivals, has told the Guardian that “Following discussion with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will step back from sponsorship of our festivals.”

A spokesperson for Barclays told the Guardian that “Barclays was asked and has agreed to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024. Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals are not affected and their tickets remain valid. The protesters’ agenda is to have Barclays debank defence companies which is a sector we remain committed to as an essential part of keeping this country and our allies safe.”

This all follows a huge boycott of Brighton festival, The Great Escape, last month where over 120 artists pulled out of the festival because of their sponsorship from Barclaycard and the move has since snowballed having an effect on Latitude, Download and Isle of Wight festivals, with 17 acts pulling out of Latitude alone so far which is set to take place at the end of July. Bands such as Scowl, Pest Control and Ithaca have all withdrawn for Download’s line-up taking place this weekend.

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A post shared by Bands Boycott Barclays (@bandsboycottbarclays)

A spokesperson for Bands Boycott Barclays has said that “This is a victory for the Palestinian-led global BDS movement. As musicians, we were horrified that our music festivals were partnered with Barclays, who are complicit in the genocide in Gaza through investment, loans and underwriting of arms companies supplying the Israeli military. Hundreds of artists have taken action this summer to make it clear that this is morally reprehensible, and we are glad we have been heard.”

They further highlighted their message to Barclays “Our demand to Barclays is simple: divest from the genocide or face further boycotts. Boycotting Barclays, also Europe’s primary funder of fossil fuels, is the minimum we can do to call for change.”

Enter Shikari, who played at Download earlier today, came out via Instagram in response to Barclays withdrawing their sponsorship from this year’s festival: “There has been mounting pressure for bands to drop out of Download festival due to the involvement of Barclays Bank.”

“We have been in talks with Download themselves, expressing our serious objection at Barclays involvement. We have considered all options, and along with other artists have been working tirelessly on this.”

“We don’t believe in rushed reactions and always want the best outcome for all involved. Thanks to this collective pressure we now believe we have achieved that – Barclays have pulled out of Download Festival.”

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A post shared by enter: shikari (@entershikari)

The line up was posted on the Festival’s Instagram to announce the news.

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A post shared by Isle of Wight Festival (@isleofwightfest)

This year will mark three years since Gallagher last headlined the festival with co-headliner, British electronic monarchs, Depeche Mode. The former Oasis member will be performing on Friday night, Saturday’s headline acts will be Snow Patrol and legendary DJ and producer, David Guetta, and closing the four-day event will be British music icons, Duran Duran.

Other performers include OBE and ‘Sex Bomb‘ singer Sir Tom Jones, The Script, All Saints, Becky Hill, Ella Henderson, Example, Imelda May, James, James Arthur, Kaiser Chiefs, Lawson, Lightning Seeds, Maximo Park, Primal Scream, Razorlight, Sam Fender, Scouting for Girls, Seasick Steve, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Supergrass, The Snuts and Surrey rockers, You Me at Six.

John Giddings, festival promotor, has said this about the line up as well as plans to ensure everyone in attendance’s safety. “It’s a fantastic array of artists, from icons to emerging talent and not forgetting everything still to come from additional stages across the festival. Over the coming months we’ll be watching and learning from the events taking place before us and, of course, liaising with all the relevant authorities to make sure everyone – audience, artists, staff, the community – is kept safe.”

The acclaimed festival, initially an event held in support of the hippie and counterculture movement of the late 60s and early ’70s, became the centre of a parliament issue. The event held in 1970 caused issues due to its large size physically as well as the large number of people in attendance. This caused Parliament to amend the Isle of Wright County Council Act of 1971 to ensure that such events would not become too large and amended the law to limit the attendance to 5,000 people for overnight and open-air event. The festival was temporarily shut down until its rebirth in 2002, the headliners performing at the festival’s reemergence included The Charlatans and Led Zeppelin singer, Robert Plant.

Although Last year’s event was cancelled due to COVID, Snow Patrol and Duran Duran, who were the original headliners for 2020 will also be returning this year. The 2020 line up also included Happy Mondays, Lionel Richie, Snow Patrol, The Chemical Brothers, Duran Duran, Dido and The Libertines. With so many other live music events being cancelled due to the current pandemic and COVID restrictions, this year’s Isle of Wright festival will surely see a burst of popularity and rush in ticket sales.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Dear @BorisJohnson – we are the music business – we have thousands of skilled people capable of running events & empty theatres/clubs/arenas – give us the vaccines & we will work 24 hours a day to sort it ?

— John Giddings (@JohnGiddings01) January 5, 2021

Giddings’s announced the plan on Twitter, where he gave a passionate, brief outline of his idea; “Dear Boris Johnson, We are the music business – we have thousands of skilled people capable of running events and empty theatres/clubs/arena. Give us the vaccines and we will work 24 hours a day to sort it?” The tweet has received an influx of support, with both music fans and professionals encouraging the plan online.

Giddings also gave a more detailed outline of his plan when speaking to NME, as well as expressing his frustration with passivity. “I was lying in bed last night thinking: “Fuck all of this for a game of soldiers – why don’t I do something as opposed to waiting for people to tell me what to do?’ I sent out a tweet saying that I’ve got thousands of people who know what they’re doing, and hundreds of empty venues and it’s created a snowstorm,” he explained.

“We’re all sitting here moving tours left, right and centre, employing people for a year without any income, and everything I’m reading gives me less and less confidence in this vaccine being rolled out in time to make things happen,” he told NME. “It’s a very selfish thing – I want to make the Isle of Wight Festival happen. The only way it will happen is if we get enough people vaccinated and we’re capable of doing a test very quickly.”

The festival head also seemed assured that if his plan carried out, that 2021 festivals would be able to go ahead. “Live Aid happened in three weeks. Everything is possible if you’ve got the will to win. It’s about doing a job, doing it properly and quickly, and in the live music business we need to make things happen within a short period of time. We can’t make excuses. The people I employ know how to do this. I’m just fighting to help this happen.”

Run DMC became the first rap artist to receive a Lifetime Achievement Grammy earlier this year, and while they have been officially broken up since the death of Jam-Master Jay in 2002, Joseph Simmons and Darryl McDaniels have re-united for a handful of gigs between 2012 and 2014. Simmons, a founding member of the iconic hip-hop collective, sounded excited and paid tribute to UK music fans in a statement, via Metro, saying, ‘We absolutely love playing in the UK, it’s always such a great reception. You guys rock!  To be given the chance to play such an iconic UK festival is huge and we’re really looking forward to it!’

Guetta, meanwhile, has not released a album of wholly new material since 2014, but has still been heavily involved in remixes and has released a host of singles, including his latest ‘Shed A Light’ which features contributions from Robin Schulz and Cheat Codes.

Festival promoter John Giddings said of the line-up, ‘The Isle of Wight Festival has always been known for its variety in music and this year is no different. To have the world’s first and most inspiring hip hop group headlining alongside one of the world’s biggest electronic DJ’s is fantastic. I’m also really excited about George Ezra, Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Bastille and Jack Savoretti. Again there’s something for everyone. I know the crowds at the festival are going wild for all the acts, not just the headliners.’

Giddings must be delighted to have any line-up, let alone this stellar offering, to announce as there were fears the festival would not go ahead at all in 2017 due to concerns over costs and poor ticket sales. Music fans can definitely breathe a sigh of relief at this news, after an agreement was reached between festival organisers and the council. This would not have been the first time the festival was shelved, having begun in 1968 and running for three incarnations until 1970, the festival was brought back in 2002. In 2016, the festival packed in 58,000 fans who saw acts including Status Quo, Faithless, Stereophonics, The Who and Ocean Colour Scene.

Early Bird Tickets for the festival are available now and range in price: children go free; a Friday ticket will cost you £60; single day tickets for the weekend are £80; full priced weekend tickets go for £175 but students (£155) and Teens (£125) get a discount on what promises to be a spectacular event.

The co-headliners join a whole host of acts that have already been announced, a full list can be found below:

Arcade Fire

Rod Stewart

David Guetta

Run DMC

George Ezra

Bastille

Rag’n’Bone Man

Jack Savoretti