Soundbites: The Isle of Wight Festival and The Moody Blues take the spotlight

Eclipsing anything Glastonbury has offered, the British version of Woodstock played host to many of the greats. The 1970 edition alone boasted Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Who, Miles Davis, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Sly and the Family Stone, Ten Years After and Free.

Today, tens of thousands of revellers follow in their footsteps, by boarding ferries across the Solent for the first really big music bash of the summer. This year the top slots are filled by Fleetwood Mac, The Black Keys, The Prodigy and Blur – starring Oxfordshire’s own gentleman farmer Alex James.

Other names to look out for include Pharrell Williams, Paulo Nutini, First Aid Kit and James, Groove Armada, Bill Idol, Jessie Ware, Ash, Paul Oakenfold and The Charlatans.

Details from isleofwightfestival.com

* One of the highlights of the Isle of Wight Festival is a show by David Bowie’s former rhythm section, bassist and producer Tony Visconti and drummer Woody Woodmansey.

The pair perform a selection of Bowie hits, including a performance of seminal album The Man Who Sold the World, which was released in 1970, the same year as that seminal Isle of Wight line-up. They will be joined by Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory, Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond, Tony’s daughter Jessica Lee Morgan, and late guitarist Mick Ronson’s daughter Lisa and niece Hannah.

The group follow their festival date with a show at the O2 Academy Oxford on Saturday.

* It was a day of celebrated reunions on Sunday, with Oxford’s reconvened shoegaze heroes Ride delighting a rapturous crowd at London’s Field Day festival. Mark Gardener, Laurence ‘Loz’ Colbert, Andy Bell and Steve Queralt clearly enjoyed the set as much as the audience. Thanking the crowd, Mark said: “That was one of the best gigs of our lives!”

Review and pictures at oxfordtimes.co.uk and Bowie’s former rhythm section – Tony Visconti and Woody Woodmansey.

* One band who are no strangers to the Isle of Wight are The Moody Blues.

The classic pop act starred alongside Jimi Hendrix, Chicago, The Doors, Lighthouse, The Who, Miles Davis, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Jethro Tull, Sly and the Family Stone, Ten Years After and Free at the seminal 1970 instalment of the rock& roll bash.

Still going strong, the Moodies are back on tour, and on Sunday return to the scene of many earlier triumphs – the New Theatre, Oxford.

Still featuring John Lodge, Justin Hayward and Graeme Edge, the Nights in White Satin stars present their Timeless Flight tour. “We are always so happy to be returning to the UK to play,” says Justin. “Venues like the New Theatre are the gigs we remember fondly from our youth when we played them as headliners for the first time. We felt then thatwe had really made it at lastand all our work had paid off.

Dedicated Moodies fans will be out in force and we love it. We have been exploring our back catalogue of songs recently and we’ll be playing some songs on stage that we only experienced for a day or soin the studio the first time round.”

John added: “ It is always special to be on stage here. Oxford seems to welcome the Moody Blues as their own, and this is a special feeling. To everyone who has been onthis journey with us: thank you!”

Tickets £46.40 plus £2.85 fee from atgtickets.com

*Oxford’s original shock-rockers Smilex make a long overdue return on Wednesday, with a gig in their natural subterranean habitat of The Cellar.

The show is the first for years – and, frontman Lee Christian, has hinted it may be the last for as long, with members scattered far and wide - drummer Pat Holmberg and bassist Liv Luce heading to rural France to try their hand at self-sufficiency, Tom Sharp enjoying life as a father and Lee hanging out in Bath (or, possibly, in the bath). Visceral, dynamic, thrilling, shocking and musically brilliant with a taste for extravagant stagecraft, don’t miss a chance to see one of teh finest rock acts this city has ever produced.

They support Eleectric Eel Shock.

Tickets are £8 from wegottickets.com