Lily Doesn’t Make Giddings Smile

Lily Allen doesn’t make Isle Of Wight Festival chief John Giddings "Smile," as her hit single is titled, having pulled out of his famous outdoor for what he reckons to be flimsy reasons.

He told BBC 6 Music listeners that it’s "not acceptable" for her to cancel because the follow-up to her debut album has fallen behind schedule.

"I didn’t book a record. I booked an artist," he explained.

Giddings said the album delay isn’t "an acceptable excuse," and took the chance to have a pop at the current tidal wave of "great new singer/songwriters who "seem to be having a few problems."

"I read in the tabloids a load of different reasons," was his response when asked what he thought was really behind Allen canceling. The U.K.’s inky papers have Allen’s pregnancy, miscarriage, and a TV show competing for space with whatever it is that Amy Winehouse has or hasn’t done in the previous 48 hours.

Before pulling out of IOW, Allen was getting the headlines for narrowly escaping a wild pack of paparazzi – "a scary situation" that caused her to "leap in a taxi" – after one of them had cracked her car window with a camera.

Giddings said he’s not going to bother with suing her or even replacing her on the bill, where she’d been confirmed since last November, saying he prefers to use the money to make the event more "ecologically sound."

"If you read what Radiohead say, that they’re only going to play events in future that are properly ecologically sound, then I’d rather use the money to do that and make the audience experience better, than just book another group," he said.

The June 13-15 IOW bill still has The Police, Kaiser Chiefs, KT Tunstall, The Kooks, The Hoosiers, Iggy & The Stooges, Kate Nash, Scouting For Girls, Delays and The Sex Pistols.