Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

Red Funnel offer pre-release tickets for Isle of Wight Festival 2008

Red Funnel, the Isle of Wight ferry specialist, has secured an exclusive deal offering visitors the chance to buy pre-release tickets or tickets combined with ferry travel to the 2008 Isle of Wight Festival three days before the general public release.

The three day festival which was voted ‘Best Major Festival' for 2007 is due to take place from 13–15 June 2008, with punk legends the Sex Pistols headlining on Saturday night and rock gods, The Police providing the headline performance on Sunday night (their only UK festival performance in 2008). The Isle of Wight music festival promises to be another sell out. The exclusive pre-release ticket offer from Red Funnel will start at 0001 hrs on Friday 7 December, a full three days before the general release, but as the 2007 event sold out after only a couple of days 2008 Isle of Wight festival goers will still need to book early to ensure they don’t miss out.

The sell-out 2007 event succeeded in bringing together some of the finest live acts of our time, including the 1st ever headline performance at a UK festival by the Rolling Stones, who were announced on the bill long after the event had sold out. Performing alongside the Stones were Snow Patrol, the biggest selling band of 2006, and the Brit Awards Best Live Act winners, Muse. They were joined by kings of the rock ‘n’ roll scene Kasabian, the GQ Band of the Year, Keane, and Amy Winehouse.

The original Isle of Wight festival has been steeped in musical history since the original event in 1970 when over 600,000 people came to join in a mammoth 5-day music extravaganza which came to be regarded as Britain’s ‘Woodstock’. The event featured a line-up which has gone down in history by including some of the world’s biggest acts, who flocked to join in following the announcement that Jimi Hendrix had agreed to perform. The Who, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davies, Free, Leonard Cohen, Joan Baez, The Moody Blues, ELP to name a few, all played at the 1970 event, however it was to be Hendrix’s last performance due to his untimely death a month later.

After the 1970 event the ‘Isle of Wight Act’ was passed by Parliament to ban all future festivals. It wasn’t until June 2002 that the festival returned after a 32 year absence at a new location, Seaclose Park on the outskirts of Newport just over 4 miles from the Red Funnel ferry terminal East Cowes.

For most UK mainland residents, travelling from Southampton to the Isle of Wight by ferry will be the easiest way to get to this years festival, with Red Funnel’s passenger vehicle ferries operating hourly from Southampton to East Cowes and Red Funnel’s Red Jet Hi-Speed service operating every 30 minutes to West Cowes with shuttle buses running from both terminals to the festival and official campsite.

About Red Funnel
Red Funnel Ferries has a fleet of 3 modern purpose-built ro-ro ferries sailing between Southampton and East Cowes and a fleet of 4 Red Jet hi-speed passenger catamarans operating between Southampton and West Cowes. Both services operate year-round.

Red Funnel also specialise in Isle of Wight accommodation, event and attraction tickets, activities, car hire, rail travel, insurance and much more.

Red Funnel Group PR contact:
Lisa Tyrrell
BGB Communications
5th floor
Capital Tower
91 Waterloo Road
London
SE1 8RT
+44 (0) 207 902 2990
ltyrell@bgb.co.uk
http://www.redfunnel.co.uk/


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