Live Nation team up with Irish promoter to take control of legendary Isle of Wight festival

LN-Gaiety Holdings will take control of one of the UK's most well-respected festivals.

The buyout was first announced last March, when LN-Gaiety struck a deal to purchase a majority stake from long-time promoter John Giddings, but a lengthy investigation by competition regulators delayed the venture from going ahead.

Denis Desmond will take over the festival in time for its 50th Anniversary celebration in 2018.

Isle of Wight Festival first took place in 1968, where it was seen as countercultural event. The festival was an unmitigated success for its first three years. The 1970 event, by far the largest and most famous, had attendence levels as high as 300,000. The high numbers led to Parliament passing an act that would prevent overnight open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special licence from the council.

The event didn't take place for 32 year before it was revived in 2002 under the guidance of John Giddings.

It was also at the 1970 festival where Rory Gallagher's Taste recorded their classic album
Live at the Isle of Wight.