THE muddy fields of Hampshire and Isle of Wight have barely had time to recover from the trampling they took this summer and already next year's festival headliners and stadium shows are being shouted from the rooftops.

The announcements were coming thick and fast this week with the most exciting of the bunch a St Mary's date for none other than Robbie Williams.

Less high profile was the first revelation of who will follow in the footsteps of The Who, Queen + Adam Lambert, Faithless and Stereophonics as Isle of Wight Festival 2017 headliners.

Canadian rockers Arcade Fire will make their one and only UK festival appearance at Seaclose Park on Saturday night.

Not being a big fan, I can't say I jumped for joy at the news, but I've been proven wrong before and almost certainly will be again by the sound of it.

They've been described as the best live act in the world more than once, Isle of Wight curator John Giddings is a master at bringing an inspired mix of acts to the stage in Newport and Arcade Fire were apparently recommended to him by David Bowie himself. It doesn't get much better than that.

To my eternal shame, I missed the Ziggy Stardust icon's appearance at Isle of Wight back in 2004. I forget why. But how was I to know it would be his final show on UK soil?

I have witnessed plenty of other legendary sets there and they were almost always the ones I least expected.

Amy Winehouse jumping on stage to burst into song with The Rolling Stones was a pretty memorable moment anyway, but hindsight makes it even more special.

Blink and you'd miss Kanye West's surprise appearance for about a minute during the set of Jay-Z. It's not my cup of tea, but you can't complain at seeing two of the world's greatest hip hop artists combined.

I think the most memorable moment has to be a dramatic entrance from Pink, who was due to play second fiddle to headliner Paul McCartney.

But, while a 50,000 strong singalong to Hey Jude took some beating, all the talk was of Pink's acrobatics.

She began her set inside a box suspended from a crane over the crowd, dropped down to stage attached to wires and started singing Get This Party Started.

She even zorbed over the crowd during the finale of Roxanne, among other gymnastic feats.

I look forward to more musical magic in 2017.

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