Talk:Isle of Wight Festival 1970

Free
Free also played the song "Mr. Big" as seen on a 1991 Compilation VHS video of the band, highlighting their career and included a handful of tracks from the Isle Of Wight. I added it to their repetoire listing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123torrent (talk • contribs) 18:15, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Kristofferson
''Kris Kristofferson- Performed a controversial set on the night of August 26. Due to poor sound, the audience was unable to hear his set, and it appeared that they were jeering him. The audience welcomed him back for another set on August 30 which was successful.''
 * Well, actually, at the festival I went to, Kristofferson played both kinds of music, Country and Western, and was booed off the stage by people like me, way back in the audience because of the inappropriate genre. When he came back the next day, we ignored him and made lunch. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.139.252.162 (talk • contribs)
 * "...it appeared that they were jeering him..." Yes, actually we were. We didn't like his "music". The Real Walrus (talk) 01:25, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

Redbone
"Redbone- They may not have played" What does this mean? False messiah uk 08:00, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

It probably means "They were listed to play, but the writer does not know whether they did or not. Does anyone else know?". Britmax 15:31, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

The Sanity Inspector 03:53, 30 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Still waiting for an answer.

John Sebastian
''John Sebastian- The showstopper of the Festival performed an 80 minute set on August 29. During his set, Zal Yanovsky, former Lovin' Spoonful guitarist made a surprise guest appearance. The entire set is available in bootleg form.''

Why exactly was he the "showstopper"? Was it one of the songs he performed or was it the cumulative effect of all of them? God, that's an irritating assertion.

MikeRM5255 23:26, 14 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I would edit it, but I can't be arsed. He wasn't a show stopper, so much as a tiresomely long-winded American hippy, but that's just my preference for electric guitars over acoustic thrashing talking... The Real Walrus (talk) 01:22, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

Cathy Smith
A misprint from the original program. Her name is Kathy Smith (Kathleen Smith) of Stormy Forest Records (Richie Havens record label). Her albums are "Some Songs I've Saved" and "Kathy Smith 2." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Emwetherell (talk • contribs) 05:06, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:1970Wight.jpg
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Unreferenced Tag
This article is completely unencyclopaedic. There are no references whatsoever and it's full of POV statements about why it was held where it was, who was well received, who were the showstoppers etc. Everything in wikepdia is supposed to be verifiable, not just what somebody thinks would be good to put in. I was there and I enjoyed John Sebastian but, if anything, I would say that, totally unexpectedly, Tiny Tim was the showstopper. However, I wouldn't dream saying that in the article unless I could find a reference for it somewhere. Also, I would agree with the contributor above, that Kris Kristofferson was booed off stage because he was playing country and western music that was totally unsuitable for an audience expecting rock music. This may have been compounded by problems with the sound system, but there was no "appeared to have been jeering" he was being jeered and he went off. Afterwards Rikki Farr told the audience off for being rude (you're not being cool man!). However, once again this was just my perception of what went on. I suspect that most of the material has come from the external links given at the bottom but, if so, you need to say what came from where. Richerman (talk) 15:21, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

I understand the need for an encyclopaedia to have reliable sources for what it says. I wonder where eye-witness accounts come in this. You were there and so was I. I can't comment on Kristofferson as I wasn't there for him, but Tiny Tim was undoubtedly the totally unexpected Saturday showstopper. I think everyone thought the promoters mad to have him there, and he was jeered when he started, but by the time he finished he had everyone going and the crowd atmosphere changed, to be followed by dancing during the next session of records while the stage was reset. This information should be on the several sites listed at the bottom of the page. But are references to personal reminiscences on external websites regarded as adequate verification? There are no references, for example to the 16ft trenches used as loos. But I don't know if they were 16ft deep or 20ft deep as I never measured them. I just worried about falling in. There's also no reference to the invasion of the VIP enclosure on the Saturday, and the failed attempt to eject people when the ticket checker encountered a man who pretended not to understand a word of English. Nor the burning of chairs at the end of The Who's set in an attempt to get warm. Perhaps these things need to go into a book on the festival which can then be used a a reference here. Although any book would have to be based upon the reminiscences of those there. And we may have the entertaining feature of such a book referencing this Wikipedia page which part of the book is then in turn referenced by this Wikipedia page! DigbyJames (talk) 10:51, 31 December 2009 (UTC)


 * I was there, also, though I didn't notice you two. It may well be true that this article does not fit with what is supposed to be in Wikipedia, and see if I care. I put a lot of work into a completely different item about a musical genre that was removed by some [un-Wiki-like-epithet] for similar reasons, and I came to the conclusion that there is more than one place on the web to put things for people to find. Do what you like, because I own the place I have put my true information, and I care not one whit who thinks it needs a reference to something earlier. Nyaaaa! [Also, Digby, I have an utterly unspeakable story about the toilets, but they were really only about six feet deep.] The Real Walrus (talk) 01:36, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

Black Widow
The information I wrote about Black Widow comes from the allmusic.com site, plus I own an original copy of their first LP, Sacrifice, in which all the songs were dedicated to Satanical worship. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:h9ftxqr5ldfe —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cyberjack101 (talk • contribs) 00:14, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

How chaotic was Sunday night--wasn't there a fire?
Folks, are we omitting that the stage was on fire? Perhaps a less piecemeal approach to how the acts leading up to Cohen and Havens were involved in what was happening in the crowd, with an attempt to describe what the crowd lived through. AndoDoug (talk) 01:18, 1 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I was there too, and vaguely remember that, but to be honest, I more remember cooking Vesta paella on a Camping Gaz stove, Wally and his chicken & chips, and other stuff. By the end, it was more or less chaos, with everything falling apart, and sleep a luxury. Whereas it would be great to have a perfectly-sourced memoir of events, I'll guarantee that if there were any journalists there, they weren't in the crowd, and perhaps weren't interested in other detail. Even the films are selectively edited; so we shouldn't expect encyclopedic sources to be available at this late stage. Rodhull  andemu  01:43, 1 November 2010 (UTC)
 * There was a small fire on stage, it featured in the Message to Love film. I don't see how we could really say what the crowd lived through unless it was reported. However, as always, the newspaper reporters were mostly interested in sensationalising anything that seemed "shocking" such as when some of us went swimming in the nude at Freshwater Bay. However, we were only about 20 people out of a crowd of a half a million, and lots of other things they reported I didn't see at all. Richerman (talk) 01:59, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

The question of how much tension was building, how ugly the mood was, and whether or not Cohen's set averted disaster (or were most of those who'd been angered earlier already asleep?) are matters that seem to require addressing. The Cohen DVD 'Live at the Isle of Wight 1970', released just last year, shamelessly builds up Cohen as genius for soothing a most agitated gathering. But without researching more sources, it's very hard to say how true this was. But the generally accepted inherited wisdom is given at swanfungus.com as "The aura of his performance has been something of legend in the decades since the festival. As the story goes, Cohen was awakened early the morning on August 31st, 1970 — either at 2am or 4am depending on your source — and was brought onstage to perform to a riotous crowd of 600,000 concertgoers. After several days of music, the audience had trampled fences, set fires to numerous structures, and booed a number of artists off stage. The grounds had been transformed into a political arena...His beatific presence and artistic brilliance had a mesmerizing effect on the festival’s attendees." This suggests a lot was riding on Cohen's appearance, which may or may not be true, but I'm sure I'm not the only one dubious of such an account, as it seems to take Cohen's performance to Mythic proportions. And by the time Cohen's deliberately slow preparations brought him to the stage, the mood seems far from "riotous". All this deserves to be addressed on this page. But as has been pointed out, it's not yet clear how much of a consensus is out there...AndoDoug (talk) 20:32, 1 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I agree wholeheartedly with AndoDoug. After having a really nice time for five days, listening to lovely music in the sunshine, me and my friends went off to get a ferry when Hendrix finished. We could hear Leonard Cohen for the first few miles, and it sounded OK, but not at all like somebody saving the world from an apocalypse. We hadn't seen any riots, fires [except the gas one we cooked on] or any of that stuff. We did hear that the Sun journos had paid some girls to show their breasts on the beach, but that's normal for journos. The Real Walrus (talk) 01:43, 13 April 2012 (UTC)


 * As I mentioned above I was a participant in the nude bathing and I can assure you no-one paid us to do it - it just happened because we wanted a swim but hadn't brought any cossies. I went in the water in my underpants, two girls who were just wearing knickers pounced on me and pulled them off so I swam under the water and pulled theirs off. From there on it just escalated. We then sat around on the beach in a large group singing songs (still in the buff) and a press photographer appeared. We told him that he couldn't take a photo unless he dropped his trousers - so he did! He took a few shots and then asked us to run down the beach while he took some of the group - so being young and silly we obliged. Pictures of the girls I was with (rather posh gels from London who were in the next tent to mine) appeared on the front of the Mirror the next day. When I showed them the paper their response was "Thank God none of Mummy and Daddy's friends read the Mirror". I don't expect they got away with it that easily though. The picture of us running away down the beach appeared in the Express - I think. I did have a copy of it for some years but it eventually got lost. Over the last few years I've been trying to find the pics in online Newspaper archives but haven't had any luck yet. Happy days! I do remember the fire but I don't remember Hendrix as I'd fallen asleep by the time he was on. As for Leonard Cohen, I can't remember, I always thought he was a miserable, tuneless twat anyway - it was probably him that sent me to sleep.  Richerman ''   (talk) 12:18, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

I remember a minor stage fire that shortened the ELP set, which I think was on a different day. It is in the concert video. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.184.79.11 (talk) 03:59, 31 May 2020 (UTC)

Tony Joe White
The place of Tony Joe White in the playlist may be in error. I have been at the 1970 festival on the Isle of White itself and, as a fan of him, I remember clearly he had to play in the morning, rather early even if I remember well. He was with someone else, who played guitar too. After the performance, the announcer said: "It's amazing how much noise two people can make." VanderHoog (talk) 12:00, 12 November 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by VanderHoog (talk • contribs) 11:54, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Donovan
I was there and remember very well that Donovan was boo-ed by the crowd. His performance was lackluster and too much old hippie school for the taste of the public. People booed and started making noice by clicking empty cans together. This overpowered his performance. I am missing that in the article about this festival. Anyone for corroberation? VanderHoog (talk) 12:00, 12 November 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by VanderHoog (talk • contribs) 11:57, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

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Jimi Hendrix "the star"?
I see that written in this article a couple of times but I've never seen any evidence of that except people saying it retroactively. I've always heard and read that "The Doors" were pretty much the main draw.

The poster for the event is extremely blurry in every google image result. But you can make out the fact that his name is written much the same as everybody else's. It mentions something about a special guest, for him and a few others.

This just seems a bit like modern politics projecting itself onto and rewriting the past, to so matter of factly keep referring to him as "the star", when I really don't think he especially was. A highlight, no doubt but not the biggest or most popular act there at all. I think The Moody Blues had the number one album at the time actually.

But yeah... you don't put the star on in the crappiest time slot. The dead weren't there, so things stayed more on schedule. Seems like one of those things people just keep repeating until it's accepted as fact. He's just the one most people care about in retrospect... cause he didn't survive long enough to tell the music industry to f' itself and prevent himself from becoming a morbid idol. :-P

24.189.221.29 (talk) 23:52, 4 June 2017 (UTC)
 * According to the book "The Last Great Event – with Jimi Hendrix & Jim Morrison" by organizer Ray Foulk Jimi Hendrix was the star of the 1970 event and has also got by far the highest fee. RX-Guru (talk) 07:07, 5 June 2017 (UTC)

Kristofferson quote
Re the Kristofferson quote added to the article on October 10 2017: What utter nonsense! If it was so, why did he play a second time on Sunday? His country & western music did not fit to the festival and most of the people did not like it and started to boo him out. Maybe that is the reason why he was pissed and was using the names of the others to underline his bullshit. They were defo not booed off and no-one threw shit at Jimi Hendrix. I saw them all play, just 25 to 30 metres away from the stage. RX-Guru (talk) 16:52, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
 * I was about half way back and one of the reasons they were booed off was that people further back couldn't hear them properly and, as you say, stuff like "Blame it on the Stones" didn't go down too well with those who could hear it. By the next day they had added some speakers further back and so his second set went down OK. Joni Mitchell had problems with the idiot who got on the stage as mentioned in the article, and he was right about them ripping down the fences at the end shouting "festivals should be free". I remember Rikki Farr shouting that there was a girl inside the food concession that was in danger of getting burned by hot fat when they pushed it down. I don't know about Hendrix as I fell asleep and missed his whole set, but it's quite possible someone threw something. As for the peace and love aspect, there was plently of that from the people who had paid the admission fee, but unfortunately it was spoiled by a few who didn't want to pay. I thought it was a pity that when the film finally was released they concentrated too much on the shit caused by a few at the end. The organisers were pretty pissed off with the way it all went at the end and Rikki Farr was, unfairly in my view, berating the audience for it so maybe Kristofferson's view of the whole thing was coloured by that. Richerman    (talk) 22:04, 30 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Yep, Richerman, you are right, there were some of these minor problems, later on blown up to huge and the whole festival spoiling problems by Murray Lerner. His film and Kristofferson's quote comes over as if 600,000+ festival goers were going berserk, instead of less than 1% of all of us. That is what drives me mad. Those inside the fences learned about all the troubles from Lerner's film, put together and released 27 years after the festival and, seen he spread all this upsettings produced by a tiny group of (French?) trouble makers over the whole coverage, possibly still "infected" by his disagreements with the organisers. RX-Guru (talk) 09:02, 31 October 2017 (UTC)


 * I'm not aware that the time of release of a source affects its validity, reliability, or verifiability. And why do you make the assumption about the nationality of the trouble makers? As you say you weren't even aware of their existence, but you can determine where they're from? - Keith D. Tyler &para; 21:31, 2 May 2018 (UTC)

Riots and tearing down walls
The only mention of the incidents leading up to the "it's a free concert from now on" only mentions people watching from the hillside. It doesn't mention the movements protesting the entry fee and tearing down walls (including Farr's mention of it on stage as seen in Message To Love [or in Oasis' "Fuckin' In The Bushes.]) It seems to be the 1970 event's notability is particularly tied to these aspects, which don't have any mention in the article at all; it paints it as Farr just deciding to be suddenly generous. It also doesn't mention the organizers went broke as a result. Really the article seems to white-wash the event as just a happy Mini Woodstock without any mention of the controversy or disruptions. I dare say it might be POV as a result. - Keith D. Tyler &para; 21:28, 2 May 2018 (UTC)
 * The festival was notable for a long time due to the stellar line-up and then the Lerner film was released which was edited to focus a lot of attention on the troublemakers. As we've said above, most people there had a great time and knew little about the problems that were happening behind the scenes. I've recently read the book The last Great Event by Ray Foulk and I can assure you that the organisers were really pissed off with the film as it totally misrepresented the event with dodgy editing being used to push a particular agenda. When I get time I'll edit the article to make this clear. Richerman  (talk) 17:39, 8 May 2018 (UTC)
 * I wasn’t there but I saw the film, and what I remember most is

1. Joni Mitchell wailing at the restless audience that she’d been somewhere and seen ‘Hopi Indians behaving like tourists, and tourists behaving like Hopi Indians’, whatever that was supposed to do with the situation,

and

2. Joan Baez whining to some interviewers that ‘Kids are protesting today about the rotten world they’ve inherited’ - so rotten that they can afford to attend week-long rock concerts en masse, huh?

and

3. The fence-breakers, one of them a loud-mouth hippie yelling in a rich Southern Californian brogue at the security guards ‘Do ya unnerstan the cahnsept of a FENCE???!!!!’

To which they might have replied ‘Do you understand the concept of a TICKET?’ So, how did this howling counter-culture wart get to the U.K. anyway? Did he scream at Pan-Am until he got a free flight? Or come by canoe?

That’s what I recall; the doco certainly played up the negativity, but it might also have been useful in making clear that the ‘peace and love and music’ scene included a percentage of freeloading bums, who would have been undesirable in any era. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.84.47.76 (talk) 07:56, 6 November 2022 (UTC)