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Festival poster, listing artists booked to play on the three main
days
The 1970 Isle of Wight Festival
was held on 26 August – 31 August 1970. It was held on Afton Down an area on the
Western side of the Isle of Wight. It was the last of three
consecutive music festivals to take place on the island between
1968 and 1970. It was widely acknowledged as the largest musical
event of its time (until Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
in 1973), greater than the attendance of Live Aid, Woodstock and Rock in Rio. The Guinness Book of Records estimated 600,000
to 700,000, and possibly 800,000 people attended.
The Isle of Wight Festivals had
already attracted a massive reputation in 1968 and in 1969 by
attracting acts such as Jefferson Airplane, T.
Rex, The Move, Pretty Things, Joe Cocker and Bob Dylan (in his first performance since his
1966 motorcycle accident) and The Who in their foundation years. The
organisers Fiery Creations (apparently alias brothers Ronald Foulk
and Raymond Foulk) were determined to make the 1970 event a
legendary event. In this aim they enlisted Jimi Hendrix. With Jimi confirmed, artists
such as Chicago, The Doors, The Who, Joan Baez, and Free willingly took up the chance to play
on the island. The event had a magnificent but impractical site, a
strong but inconsistent line up and the logistical nightmare of
transporting 600,000 onto an island with a population of less than
100,000. The aftermath and commercial failings of the festival
ensured it would be the last event of its kind on the Isle of Wight
for thirty-two years.
Planning
difficulties
The opposition to the proposed 1970 Festival from the residents
of the Isle of Wight was much better coordinated than it had been
in previous years. The Isle of Wight was a favourite retirement
destination of the British well-heeled, and a haven of the yachting set, and many of the
traditional residents deplored the huge influx of 'hippies' and 'freaks'. Renting a
few acres of suitable farmland to hold a music festival had in
earlier years been a simple commercial matter between the promoters
and one of the local farmers, but by 1970 this had become subject
to approval decisions from several local council committees who
were heavily lobbied by residents' associations opposing the
festival. As a result of this public scrutiny, the preferred ideal
location for the third Festival was blocked, and the promoters in
the end had no choice but to accept the only venue on offer by the
authorities: East Afton Farm, Afton Down, a site that was in many ways
deliberately selected to be unsuitable for their purpose. One
unintended result of the pick of location was that, since it was
overlooked by a large hill, a significant number of people were
able to camp out on the hill and watch the proceedings for
free.
Performances
Wednesday
26th
Thursday
27th
- Gary Farr: The brother of Rikki Farr, Gary had
been the front man of the T-Bones, an R&B combo that featured
Keith Emerson on
keyboards. By this time, he had become a solo artist, and his only
album, "Strange Fruit", for CBS Records, had been released in 1970.[3]
- Supertramp: Their
debut
album had just been released a month prior to the
festival.
- Andy Roberts' Everyone:
- Howl: Scottish
hard-rock band formerly known as "The Stoics", featuring Frankie
Miller[4]
- Black
Widow: a British band that wrote songs about Satan worship in
their 1970 debut LP, "Sacrifice".
- The
Groundhogs: English blues rockers
- Terry Reid:
- Gilberto Gil:
Representing the Tropicalia movement, the Brazilian musician
played to a frenzied audience.
Friday
28th
- Fairfield Parlour: They had recorded
a single called "Let The World Wash In", released under the name I
Luv Wight, which they hoped would become the festival's theme song.
They had also previously recorded as The Kaleidoscope.
- Arrival:
Their set, which included a Leonard Cohen cover was well
received.
- Lighthouse: This popular Canadian act
performed two sets at the festival.
- Taste:
Legendary guitarist Rory Gallagher had a blues trio from
1968 to 1970. This was one of their final shows, which was filmed
and recorded. An album was released of their set in 1971.
- Tony Joe
White: Performed hits including Polk Salad Annie;
his drummer was Cozy
Powell.
- Chicago:
Their set, including "25 or 6 to 4," "Beginnings" and "I'm a Man"
was a highlight of the night.
- Family:
- Procol Harum:
Frontman Gary
Brooker commented that it was a cold night.
- Voices of East Harlem: Their set received several standing
ovations. Not actually a band, but a bunch of singing school
children from Harlem. They had
one studio album.
- Cactus: Two
songs from their set were featured on the LP The First Great Rock
Festivals Of The Seventies.
Saturday
29th
- John
Sebastian: The showstopper of the Festival performed an
80-minute set, during which Zal Yanovsky, former Lovin' Spoonful guitarist, made a surprise
guest appearance.
- Shawn
Phillips: American folk musician performed an impromptu solo
set following John Sebastian.
- Lighthouse (second set)
- Joni
Mitchell: Played a controversial set; Following her rendition
of "Woodstock", a hippie named Yogi Joe
interrupted her set to make a speech about Desolation Row.
When Joe was hauled off by Joni's manager, the audience began to
boo until Mitchell made an emotional appeal to them for some
respect for the performers. [1]. Contrary to
popular belief, Joe was not the man who was ranting about a
"psychedelic concentration camp". That was another incident that
took place the previous day. After the crowd quieted down, Mitchell
closed her set with "Big Yellow Taxi"
- Tiny
Tim: His rendition of "There'll Always Be an
England" can be seen in the film Message to Love.
- Miles Davis: A
DVD of his complete set was released in 2004.
- Ten Years
After: British blues rockers performing what was basically a
reproduction of their famous Woodstock set. Highlights included
"I'm Going Home" and "I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes," which
was featured in Message to Love.
- Emerson, Lake & Palmer:
This was their second gig. Pictures at an
Exhibition, which featured the Moog synthesizer was the centerpiece
of their historic set. Commercially released as Emerson, Lake and Palmer Live at the Isle of
Wight Festival 1970 in 1997.
- The Doors: Their set
was shrouded in darkness due to Jim Morrison's unwillingness to have movie
spotlights on the band. Their performances of "The End" and "When
the Music's Over" are featured in Message to
Love.
- The Who: Their entire
set, including the rock opera Tommy, was
released in 1996 on CD (Live at the Isle of
Wight Festival 1970). Three years later their set appeared
on DVD with significant cuts from Tommy and a few other
songs (such as "Naked Eye") missing. In addition, the DVD song set
order was radically altered to present Tommy as if having
been performed at the second-half of the concert (with "See Me, Feel
Me"/"Listening to You" as the conclusion), when, in fact,
Tommy was performed in the middle of their lengthy set,
and the closing title was "Magic Bus", which concluded some Who concerts
at that time. A 2006-reissued DVD of the concert retains the
altered order, despite having been personally "supervised" by Who
guitarist and songwriter Peter
Townshend.
- Melanie:
This Woodstock veteran played a
well-received set. Prior to her set, Keith Moon of The Who offered her some moral support and
encouragement. Not until afterwards did Melanie realize who he
was.
- Sly & the Family Stone:
The showstoppers of Woodstock performed to a tired
audience on the early morning of Sunday. However, the audience woke
up for spirited renditions of "I Want to Take You Higher",
"Dance to the Music" and "Thank You
(Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", which featured Sly on guitar.
Prior to their encore, another political militant decided it was
time to make a speech, and the booing audience started to throw
beer cans onto the stage. Freddie Stone was hit by a flying can and
an angry Sly decided to skip the encore. He did promise a second
appearance, but this never occurred.
Sunday
30th
- Good News: American acoustic duo.
- Kris
Kristofferson (Second set)
- Ralph McTell:
Despite an enthusiastic reception from the audience, he did not
play an encore, and the stage was cleared for Donovan.
- Heaven: English answer to Chicago and Blood Sweat & Tears
- Free: Their set
list consisted of "Ride on a Pony", "Mr. Big", "Woman", "The
Stealer", "Be My Friend", "Fire & Water", "I'm a Mover", "The
Hunter", their classic hit "All Right Now", and concluded with a
cover of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads".
- Donovan: He first
performed an acoustic set, and then an electric set with his band
Open Road.
- Pentangle: British folk combo. A
German woman interrupted their set to deliver a political message
to the audience.
- The Moody
Blues: A popular British act and veteran of the 1969 festival.
Their rendition of "Nights in White Satin" can be
seen in Message to Love.
- Jethro
Tull: Their set is featured on Nothing Is Easy: Live at the
Isle of Wight 1970.
- Jimi Hendrix:
The star of the festival performed in the early hours of 31 August
with Mitch
Mitchell on drums and Billy Cox on
bass. His set has been released on CD and video in various forms.
In the beginning Hendrix had technical problems, which at one point
during "Machine Gun" involved
the security's radio signal interfering with his amp's output.
- Joan Baez: Her
version of "Let It Be" can be seen in the film
Message to
Love.
- Leonard
Cohen: Backed by his band The Army, his tune "Suzanne" can be
seen in the film Message to Love. In october 2009
came out audio and video (both DVD and Blu-Ray) record of his show,
Live
at the Isle of Wight 1970 (Leonard Cohen album).
- Richie
Havens: The musician who opened Woodstock closed this
festival with a set during the morning of 31 August. As Havens
performed his version of "Here Comes the Sun", the morning sun
rose. Havens' set, which is available as an audience recording,
also included "Maggie's Farm" by Bob Dylan, "Freedom", "Minstrel from Gault"
and the Hare
Krishna mantra.
- Canvas City performances
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