The Isle of Wight Music Festival has been held annually in Seaclose Park near Newport since the year 2002. Each annual event has been a landmark in the music calendar, with a rich variety or first class music acts to entertain the crowds.

There have been many developments and improvements to the festival over the years which have made the events better and better each year for those people going to see it in person, for those people performing on stage, and for people who stay at home and enjoy seeing the festival on television.

The 2011 Isle of Wight Festival will be the tenth to be held at Seaclose Park near Newport, and will feature a strong line-up with such rock luminaries as the Kings of Leon, Kasabian, Pulp and the Foo Fighters. The Manic Street Preachers and Pixie Lott will also be appearing, along with a number of other important bands from the worlds of contemporary and not so contemporary music.

The Isle of Wight Festival of 2010 was the ninth to be held in Seaclose Park near Newport. It featured many great contemporary acts and artists who found fame in recent decades. The United States of America was represented by the R&B star Jay-Z, rock singers Pink and Suzanne Vega, and the 1970s comeback band Blondie. British acts included the Saturdays, N-Dubz, Squeeze, Spandau Ballet, Florence and The Machine and the great ex-Beatle Paul McCartney.

The Prodigy, Neil Young, Basement Jaxx, Bananarama and Goldie Looking Chain were among the bands that wowed the crowds in Seaclose Park near Newport for the 2009 Isle of Wight Festival. The strong line-up of bands that performed in 2009 provided a good variety of music that spanned many different musical tastes and recent decades.

The year 2008 was the first time that the Isle of Wight Festival was screened live on TV. In previous years highlights were shown on Channel 4 TV, but in 2008, ITV secured the rights to broadcast the shows live on their channel ITV2. As usual the festival was held at Seaclose Park near Newport. It featured the Kaiser Chiefs, the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, The Police, The Stranglers and The Sugababes.

The Rolling Stones and Muse were the headline acts at the 2007 Isle of Wight Festival, which saw record numbers of fans converging on Seaclose Park near Newport. The Stones were joined onstage by Amy Winehouse, which provided a good mixture of contemporary and old school musical styles, although the music of Amy Winehouse could be described as old school even though she is very much a contemporary artist.

As with any music festival there is always a great deal of work that needs to be done behind the scenes by the organizers, and lessons to be learned to improve the overall running of the festival to make it even better each year. Festivals tend to be controversial, and sometimes local people, like the people of Newport, object to them because they are affected by such unusually large numbers of people coming to an area that is usually quiet and peaceful with only a handful of people around.