Isle of Wight Festival the world, with estimates of over 600,000, surpassing the attendance at Woodstock. Included in the line-up of over fifty performers were Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, The Doors, The Who, Lighthouse, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Joni Mitchell, The Moody Blues, Melanie, Donovan, Gilberto Gil, Free, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, Jethro Tull, Taste and Tiny Tim. The unexpectedly high attendance levels led, in 1971, to Parliament adding a section to the Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971 preventing overnight open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special licence from the
Isle of Wight Festival 2009 headline acts for The Big Top Arena, which has continued from 2008. However lead singer Tim Burgess was given the extra role of curating Sunday's activity by choosing his favourite bands to perform there. Friday Saturday Sunday Thursday (Campers only) Friday Saturday Sunday In October 2008 it was rumoured that Oasis would be headlining the festival on the Saturday night, according to the Virtual Festivals website. It claimed that the band would be starting their European tour with the Isle of Wight Festival. This was denied on 11 February by the festival's organiser. U2 have also been rumoured to headline