With only a week to go until The Isle Of Wight Festival 2015 opens its gates to the public, festival bosses announce today that this year’s festival will be a celebration of the 45th anniversary since Jimi Hendrix made his last ever UK performance at the festival in 1970. 

To commence the celebrations, the festival confirm that they will christen the main stage ‘The Electric Church’ in honour of his now legendary performance on the island 45 years ago.

Hendrix referred to his music as ‘Electric Church’, believing music was his religion; a principle also shared by the festival.

The inimitable spirit and attitude of Jimi Hendrix and his music has influenced and inspired The Isle of Wight Festival since the event was re-launched in 2002 by music promoter John Giddings, who was in the crowd for Jimi Hendrix’s set at the 1970 festival:

John Giddings said: “Jimi’s contribution to both the island and the festival has been immense.  By naming our main stage ‘The Electric Church’ we hope to build on his legacy at the festival as well as paying tribute to his unique contribution to music which will always be remembered by the festival and the artists we have on our stage.”

In 2006 Giddings commissioned the creation and installation of a life-sized statue of Hendrix on the island, for a more permanent reminder of his cultural significance on the Isle of Wight.

Those attending this year’s festival are encouraged to take part in the celebrations on site by dressing up as Jimi Hendrix or coming up with their own ways of marking the occasion.

This is the first official announcement from the festival regarding the special anniversary and a number of exciting plans are to be revealed in the coming days.

This year’s festival starts on the 11th June and will be headlined by Blur, Fleetwood Mac, The Black Keys and The Prodigy. It was recently revealed that this year’s headliners have scored more Number One albums than any other 2015 UK festival headliner, totaling 19.

It has been revealed that blur will be headlining Saturday night at The Isle of Wight Festival, following this month’s release of their new album The Magic Whip.

Blur will join Fleetwood Mac, The Prodigy, The Black Keys, Pharrell Williams, Paolo Nutini, Jessie Ware, James Bay, Billy Idol, Paul Oakenfold, The Charlatans and many more acts for the first festival of the summer, taking place from Thursday 11 - Sunday 14 June at Seaclose Park. 

Guitarist Graham Coxon said: “These summer shows are going to be quite different to the gigs we did a few years back. We're excited to play the new record live and we'll have some surprises in store for the fans too.” Isle of Wight Festival promoter John Giddings added: “I’m a huge fan of blur and have always wanted to bring them to the Isle of Wight Festival so I’m really pleased we’ve finally done it! I know they’re going to blow the crowd away on the Saturday night – see you down the front!”

The Magic Whip is blur’s first album as a four piece in 16 years and three new tracks from the record,  ‘Go Out, ‘There Are Too Many Of Us’ and ‘Lonesome Street’, have been sent to fans ahead of the album’s release on Monday April 27 via Parlophone.

For more information and tickets for Isle Of Wight, head on over to the festival website.