"One of the best ever festivals" Music lovers brimming with excitement as they travel to the Isle of Wight for a music spectacular - pictures

Music lovers were brimming with excitement as they travelled to the Isle of Wight Festival to see its star-studded lineup.

The anticipation of boarding the Wightlink ferry at Portsmouth Harbour or the hovercraft at Hovertravel in Southsea. Adorning bucket hats and astoundingly colourful shirts, the festival-goers were eagerly awaiting to see their favourite acts, from The Cure and Calvin Harris, to Lewis Capaldi.

Dancing with a beer in hand, Michael Murtagh, of Portsmouth, said: “Isle of Wight is probably one of the best festivals ever!”

Passengers packed out both hovercrafts and Wightlink ferries to see the incredible show which gets underway tomorrow (Friday, June 19) with many festival-goers travelling the day before so they can set up camp.

Adam Spear, who is attending for the third year in a row, is most eager to see The Cure, and a 60th birthday group are most looking forward to Two Door Cinema Club.

Iveta Drummond and Izzy Gale’s expectations for the weekend include sunshine, fun, and listening to good music.

The crowd was made up of a mix of campers and glampers. Simon Arthur and Liz O’Brien, of Portsmouth, are camping with friends who have travelled down from Scotland. While Mr Murtagh and his partner Tanya Gibbons are glamping on a yacht.

The Cure fan Tony Lamb said: “There are about six really good acts: The Cure, Suzanne Vega, David Gray, Sex Pistols, Lewis Capaldi and Wet Leg.”

The mood in the queue for both Wightlink and Hovertravel was high as tents, camping chairs and boxes of beer were loaded onto the ferry and hovercraft, preparing people for a weekend of dancing to their favourite bands.

The festival calendar is one of the busiest times of the year for the Isle of Wight travel companies.

Loretta Lale, head of marketing and digital development at Hovertravel, said: “We have a really good atmosphere here today, we’ve got the music playing, cocktail bar, Isle of Wight cocktails are here, staff are all in promotional t-shirts and everyone is in generally quite a good mood and enjoying the vibe.”

A hovercraft trip between Southsea and Ryde takes 10 minutes, with trips running this weekend every quarter of an hour. Later services are running over the weekend to cater for the extra demand.

Ms Lale said it’s business as usual despite the busy nature of the festival. She added: “The weather is looking good, so I think we are going to keep busy over the weekend. We still have our special group charters.”

While queuing up for the hovercraft, Aiden Tregellas said: “I always use it, it’s the quickest way.” It looks set to be a lively weekend for him and his friends, as he expects to “sink a few pints and be quite drunk” once he gets on the island.

Ms Lale said: “Monday is always a busy one when they’re returning a little bit worse for wear and tired. We have some late services running to bring people back to Portsmouth.”

• Visit the Wightlink website here for details of travel times and price, or here for Hovertravel.
• For more details about the Isle of Wight Festival visit its website here.