Isle Of Wight boss on Lana Del Rey booking: ‘It’s wrong to just chuck someone into the limelight’

John Giddings also says he's snared one of his headliners for 2013

The organiser of the Isle Of Wight Festival has spoken about booking Lana Del Rey for this year’s festival.

Del Rey will play a slot in the festival’s Big Top stage this summer and John Giddings has revealed that the singer and her management were keen to do the festival from the second he approached them.

Speaking about how he booked Del Rey and asked if her management were wary about her playing the event, Giddings told NME: “I approached her before Christmas. They [Del Rey’s management] thought the Isle Of Wight was one of the best things they could do to develop her live career. She liked her placement on the bill, she loves Bruce Springsteen and she thought it was a great bill to be part of.

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“I think it’s mutually beneficial, it’s great for us to have her and it’ll be good for her. I’ve got to make sure she gets a good slot between other acts on the Main Stage now and make sure she doesn’t conflict with other people.”

Asked why he’d opted to have the singer play in a tent, rather than play the Main Stage, Giddings replied:

Although she’s had a Number One album and been very successful, she hasn’t done many gigs in here career and it’s wrong to chuck someone into the limelight too quickly.

He added: “You don’t want her to headline straight out of the box. You want to give her a nice, relaxed slot, a 45-minute set, where she doesn’t have to feel the pressure and she can just enjoy herself. It’s wrong to put too much pressure on people too early in their career.”

Giddings also revealed that he had targeted the singer for the festival from the second he became aware of her.

He said of this: “I check out lots of things and certain things catch your eye and your attention. I checked her out and I just thought there was something haunting about her. I saw that [Saturday Night Live] TV appearance in America that people criticised and I thought she was great. I targeted her from the beginning.”

Isle Of Wight Festival, which will be headlined by Pearl Jam, Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, takes place from June 22–24. Elbow, Example, Noah And The Whale, Biffy Clyro, Madness, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Pulled Apart By Horses and The Vaccines are some of the other acts already confirmed to play the event.

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The organiser also spoke about the remaining additions to this year’s bill and revealed that he has one final announcement of “a good rock band” to come.

Asked what people could expect from the remaining announcements, Giddings said: “The other act I’m going to announce is prior to The Vaccines on Sunday, which is hopefully going to be a good rock band, which I’m holding out for.”

Giddings also said he’s booked one of his headliners for next year’s event, adding: “I’ve got a group held for the Friday night. They phoned me actually, it’s a good one, we should all have our fingers, arms and legs crossed it comes off.”

For more information about the festival, see Isleofwightfestival.com.

To check the availability of Isle Of Wight Festival tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0871 230 1094.

The confirmed line-up for the Isle Of Wight Festival so far is:

Bruce Springsteen
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers
Pearl Jam
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
Biffy Clyro
Professor Green
Feeder
The Darkness
Elbow
Example
Wretch 32
The Charlatans
Crystal Castles
Ash
Katy B
Enter Shikari
Pulled Apart By Horses
Labrinth
Band Of Skulls
Joan Armatrading
Groove Armada
Black Stone Cherry
Spector
Boyce Avenue
The Virginmarys
Christina Perri
Beth Hart
Stackridge
Zulu Winter
The Milk
Switchfoot
Penguin Prison
Terry Reid
Loick Essien
Stooshe
Prison X
Lana Del Rey
Tensheds
The Real D’Coy
Magnetic Man
Primal Scream
Dry The River
The Pierces
Kelis
Brit Floyd
Noah And The Whale
The Vaccines
Clement Marfo & The Frontline
The Christians
Madness

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