It has secured chart-toppers, music veterans and on-trend Eighties comeback acts, and today the Isle of Wight Festival looked to have also bagged fine weather for this weekend's event.

As the three-day festival kicked off, the Met Office predicted a fine weekend, with only one light rain shower on Saturday night.

Torrential rain has frequently battered Glastonbury, Reading and V, but the Isle of Wight has enjoyed clear skies for five successive years, earning it the name the "lucky festival".

With a sixth year on the cards, delighted organisers sent a message to revellers from the mini-blog site Twitter this morning, saying: “So pleased the sun is shining, fingers crossed it lasts all weekend!”

The Prodigy, still basking in good reviews from their album Invaders Must Die, will headline the festival, along with veteran singer-songwriter Neil Young, and Welsh rock band Stereophonics.

The 50,000 revellers will also be entertained by this year’s fashionista favourite LadyHawke, recent hit-makers The Ting Tings, and Brit Award winner Calvin Harris.

But with organisers promising something for everyone, a trio of retro stars will also be on stage. Bananarama, the girl group that dazzled Britain with their teased hair, shoulder pads and pop hits during the Eighties, will be performing, al biet far away from the Main Stage. The recently-reformed Ultravox, famous for the track Vienna, and rock veterans Simple Minds are also on the line-up.

The Isle of Wight Festival was launched in 1968, but when hundreds of thousands of revellers turned up for the Jimmi-Hendrix-headlined 1970 festival, a parliamentary act was passed to ban the event. The festival was revived in 2002 at Seaclose Park, Newport, and has been held annually since.

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