ORGANISERS of the Isle of Wight Festival are pledging to support emerging talent by giving unsigned artists and bands a chance to perform at this year’s event.

The 2018 festival line-up includes headliners Depeche Mode, The Killers, Kasabian and Liam Gallagher. The Script, James Bay, Blossoms and Van Morrison are also set to take the stage across the weekend of June 21-24.

Each year the festival runs a New Blood competition open to artists and bands throughout the UK. All artists have to do to register, is submit an original song they feel best represents them.

Festival organiser John Giddings said: “There are so many great unsigned artists out there so this is all about discovering them. It’s fantastic to give new bands and new talent the chance to play at one of the biggest festivals of the summer.”

The best online submissions will then go through to the live rounds where artists will be judged by music industry experts and fans will also get a chance to vote at each gig.

Those acts that make it through the quarter and semi finals, will perform in one big grand final on May 27 at O2 Academy, Islington. The winner will then perform at the IoW festival,

Acts can also encourage their fans to vote for them online using their artist profile at hotvox.co.uk/artists. Those with the most votes will be fast-tracked through to the grand final.

This year also marks the festival’s 50th anniversary which is renowned for iconic performances by The Doors, The Who and Jimi Hendrix in his last ever UK show.