Word to the wise – if your at a festival with a This Feeling stage get in there. This Feeling are where your gonna catch the indie talent, they offer a platform where the untested and the unknown can make their mark on a major festival stage. So important in a festival scene where the familiar is favoured over the innovative (seriously there’s a lot of bands headlining festivals that should put their slippers on have a cup of tea and retire) This Feeling provide a breath of fresh air and a platform for the new bands breaking through.
Get to Isle of Wight Festival and when you do park yourself at This Feeling who are in their tenth year at IOW in 2025. Over 1,000 acts have performed on the This Feeling stage an it’s not just about the numbers because there’s a mission -to expose to the industry to what’s brewing on the underground and make it undeniable. For many bands their first experience at a major festival is the This Feeling stage. This Feeling’s got a knack for uncovering fresh talent: The K’s. Red Rum Club. Crawlers. The Royston Club. Billy Lockett. The Amazons. Yonaka. Dylan John Thomas. The Sherlocks. The Clause. The Lilacs. The Kairos. Rianne Downey. Seb Lowe. Overpass. Pastel. Crystal Tides. Andrew Cushin. Himalayas. Sophie & the Giants. Calva Louise… the list goes on.
Mikey Jonns, the passionate force behind This Feeling “10 years on and I still pinch myself we’ve got a stage at the Isle of Wight Festival. It’s a huge opportunity to give new acts their big break and it’s a responsibility we take very seriously and I’d like to say a HUGE thank you John Giddings for believing in us and investing in new music, legend!”
When John Giddings (organiser of IOW) offered a stage takeover Mikey jumped on it, determined to create a space for grassroots acts to shine on a larger platform. Mikey recalls “When I was a student in Sheffield I managed a band and despite consistently ramming venues, often supporting signed “industry” acts when doing so, they couldn’t catch a break at festivals. So when John Giddings gave me the chance to host a stage at the Isle of Wight festival in 2015 I knew what I wanted to do; give acts who impressed and did well for This Feeling at their local grassroots venues the opportunity to show what they could do at a major festival.
And that’s what we’ve done ever since.
Since 2015 we have given over 1000 acts from ALL over the UK (and world!) an opportunity at major festivals including the Isle of Wight, Truck, Y Not, TRSMT, Tramlines, The Great Escape and Reading & Leeds. Over 900 of them didn’t have a live agent at the time and for many it was their first ever festival performance. I’m so proud of this tent and what it represents and very grateful to everyone who’s helped along the way.
Mega.
