Click here for the Isle of Wight set list
The Isle of Wight Festival of 1970 was the last event of its era. The last great rock
festival. The biggest music festival ever held in the UK - this record stands over 30
years later. This is where "aquarius" broke down. The movie tells the story. There are
lots of endings at The Isle of Wight Festival. One of the last performances of The
Doors and Jimi Hendrix. The world saw Emerson, Lake and Palmer perform for the second time.
I'm a big Donovan fan and like listening to him perform "Catch the Wind." Tiny Tim
(go read up on him) does an unforgettable version of "There'll Always Be An England."
Joni Mitchell plays her new song, "Woodstock." The Who play their best live version
of "Naked Eye," a song that explains what
happened to "aquarius" -
It all looks fine, to the naked eye, but it don't really happen that way at all.
Check out the official Isle of Wight Festival website.
We begin with official cds. These are easy to find at Amazon, Ebay and even on the band's
website (as is the case with Emerson, Lake and Palmer). Whatever mess happened at the festival,
the music makes this festival worthy of joining Woodstock and Monterey as part of the "big
3" in rock restivals of that era. What began in Monterey and carried on in Woodstock ended
at the Isle of Wight Festival.
The Isle of Wight Festival
A very cool mix of songs. Easier to find than the Monterey box set. 2 cds.
My favorite songs on this cd are Leonard Cohen playing Suzanne, Joni Mitchell
playing Woodstock, The Doors playing When The Music's Over, The Who's Young Man
Blues and Naked Eye, Tiny Tim doing There'll Always Be An England, Joaz Baez covering
Let It Be, the Moody Blues playing their classic song, Nights In White Satin and
finally (!) Donovan at Catch the Wind.
Bob
Dylan's Desolation Row is added as Bob played at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival.
The Who - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970
This show was so good that The Who were forced to release a complete version of it.
This is rock nirvana. Get the video too. The Who play Tommy, My Generation, Naked Eye and
even two new songs (Water and I Don't Even Know Myself) with energy and finesse.
The Who returned to the Isle of Wight in June 2004. During the show, Townshend mentioned that
the police counted 650,000 people who attended the 1970 festival. "They're still looking for 50,000
of them, Pete," quipped Roger Daltrey.
There are a bunch of official Jimi Hendrix Isle of Wight cds out there. Blue Wild Angel is the latest one. There are two versions of it - single and double
disc. So far I have the single disc version. The double disc version will be here next - its complete!
Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970
This was their 2nd show. There are two different official cds - both are the same with
different covers.
Taste - Live at the Isle of Wight
Taste was Rory Gallagher's band before he went solo. They're LOUD!
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate
This was originally released in 1971. Sing Another Song, Boys is from the Isle
of Wight Festival. But you wouldn't know it from the cd! Come on widget-sellers, if
you're gonna put a live song on a cd, add some liner notes and tell us!
Leonard Cohen - Live Songs
A nice collection of live songs. Tonite Will Be Fine is from the Isle of Wight
Festival. With these two cds and the one song on the Isle of Wight compilation,
we have three songs from Leonard Cohen's set. I hope to hear the rest of it -
what I've heard I like. In a perfect world, when you buy a bottle of valium,
you'd get a few Leonard Cohen cds with it.
Now onto a few bootlegs..
The Doors - Palace of Exile
One of the last performances of The Doors. There are a few different versions of this out there. In February 2005, I traded for a silver disc of Palace of Exile. It comes with an 8 page booklet of color photos.
First Flash of Eden has one bonus track --
Light My Fire from September 28, 1967, Denver, Colorado. Freedom Man is 3 cds. It also
has January 18, 1970, Felt Forum, NY and February 7, 1970, Long Beach Sports Arena, Long Beach, California. Anyone have
the back artwork for it?
Free - Isle of Wight 1970
All I know about Free is I like their song "All Right Now." There're a few different versions of the artwork out there.
Jimi Hendrix - Isle of Wight
This is Jimi's complete show. Wow. There are at least two versions of this one out there. Jimi Hendrix and The Who played
for their lives during Monterey, Woodstock and Isle of Wight.
Joni Mitchell - The Blonde In The Bleachers
This cd has Joni Mitchell at the BBC in 1972, Hawaii 1973 and two songs from
the Isle of Wight Festival - My Old Man & Willy and The Good Samaritan. This +
her two songs on the compilation cd (Big Yellow Taxi and Woodstock) give us
four songs from Joni Mitchell's Isle of Wight set. Now where's the rest?
Procol Harum
Paul McCartney is a fan of this band.
Jethro Tull
Not everyone knows that Jethro Tull was already an up-and-coming progressive
rock band by the summer of 1970. A great early set. I have three shows of theirs that took place in Israel. In 2005, the official version of their Isle of Wight set was released. Good job!
The Moody Blues
A terrific set! This made me a fan of The Moody Blues. Nights In White Satan and Legend of a Mind, a song about Timothy
Leary, are my two favorites.
The First Great Rock Festivals of the Seventies
This three album set was released in 1971. As far as I know, it never made it to cd. But music collectors transferred it and here
is a fabulous take on the artwork that a festival collector created. The songs are from the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival and the
1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The setlist alone is enough to make me drool!
I also have a few without artwork. First is John Sebastian. The happy hippy made it to the Isle of Wight and has lots of
funny things to say during his longer-than-Woodstock set. He mentions the traffic jams at Woodstock that were caused
by hippies trying to get to Woodstock with their parent's car! Here's the setlist:
1 Mobile Line
2 Loving You
3 You're A Big Boy Now
4 Nashville Cats
5 She's A Lady
6 How Have You Been
7 Daydream
8 Jug Band Music
9 I Had A Dream
10 In The Still of the Night
11 Four Eyes
12 Rainbows All Over Your Blues
13 *Blues In A Bottle
14 *Do You Believe in Magic
15 *Boredom
16 *Bald-Headed Lena
17 Darling Be Home Soon
First Encore
18 JB's Harmonica
19 Younger Generation
Second Encore
20 Red Eye Express
21 Band Introduction
22 Younger Girl
*W/ Zal Yanovsky
Richie Havens also played at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The recording I have is rough at best - I hope to get an upgrade
for it. Here's the setlist:
1 Maggie's Farm
2 Minstrel From Gaul
3 Fire and Rain
4 War
5 I'm a Stranger Here
6 The Parable of Ramon
7 Here Comes the Sun
8 Freedom
9 Band intros/Hare Krishna
There's a rare bootleg of Tony Joe White and Kris Kristofferson's Isle of Wight sets that I got in December 2004. Here's the setlist:
Tony Joe White
1 Boom Boom
2 Roosevelt & Ira Lee
3 I Want You
4 Groupie Girl
5 blank track
6 Stud Spider
7 Polk Salad Annie
[White mentions in his chat that the drummer is Cozy Powell]
Kris Kristofferson
[with Zal Yanofsky gtr, Billy Swan bs, Tommy Fritz kbds, Norman Blake
dobro. Zal Yanofsky formerly Lovin' Spoonful]
8 Help Me Make It Through The Night
9 Law Is For The Protection Of The People
10 Lord Help Me
11 Darby's Castle
12 Beat The Devil
13 Lovin' Her Was Easier Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again
14 Shake Hands With The Devil
15 Me & Bobby McGee
Someone sent me a rare bootleg titled Isle Of Wight Assorted. Some of the songs here are on the official compilation, but here they're longer - with the
talking before and after the song included. Here's the setlist:
Disc 1
01 donovan and the open road- catch the wind
02 donovan and the open road- henry martin
03 donovan and the open road- sailing homeward
04 donovan and the open road- hurdy gurdy man
05 ten years after- love like a man
06 ten years after- good morning little school girl
07 ten years after- no title
08 joni mitchell- chelsea morning
09 joni mitchell- for free
10 joni mitchell- woodstock
11 joni mitchell- a case of you
12 joni mitchell- california
13 joni mitchell- both sides, now
14 sly and the family stone- sing a simple song
15 sly and the family stone- dance to the music
16 tiny tim- why should i give my love to you
17 tiny tim- bad moon rising>blue suede shoes>rock around the clock
Disc 2
01 procol harum- wish me well
02 procol harum- nothing that i didn't know
03 procol harum- a salty dog
04 procol harum- whiskey train
05 procol harum- whaling stories
06 blank track
07 chicago- introduction
08 chicago- in the country
09 chicago- does anybody really know what time it is?
10 chicago- 25 or 6 to 4
11 family- strange band
12 family- weaver's answer
13 pentangle- light flight (take three girls theme)
14 pentangle- rain and snow
And a 2 cd BBC Isle of Wight documentary that'll take you back even if you
weren't there. It has at least two songs found nowhere else -- Ten Years after singing I'm Going Home and the late, great Tiny Tim singing
his hit Tiptoe Through The Tulips.
In early 2005, someone seeded Leonard Cohen and Donovan's Isle of Wight sets on DimeADozen. Cohen's is soundboard and Donovan's is audience but is complete.
Bob Dylan - Isle of Wight 1969
As Bob Dylan's Desolation Row is included on the official cd, let's include his
1969 set here. He plays a favorite song of mine, The Mighty Quinn. Enjoy.
The Who - Isle of Wight 1969
The Who also played at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival. This was two weeks after Woodstock.
A bootleg video of The Who's 1969 Isle of Wight show finally surfaced in January 2006. The video is grainy, but you get to see
a terrific performance. The sound is a lot better than the video. If you look closely, you may recognize that the cover of Live
At Leeds was shot here.
The Band played at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival. Here's their setlist:
1. We Can Talk
2. Long Black Veil
3. To Kingdom Come
4. Ain't No More Cane
5. Don't Ya Tell Henry
6. Chest Fever
7. I Shall Be Released
8. The Weight
9. Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
Videos
Message to Love - Isle of Wight 1970
The most interesting of the rock festival videos, Message to Love is a daring
glimpse of reality. It is a reminder that rock'n'roll is a business too. We
get to see one of the festival promoters begging the crowd to pay
a few pounds so they can break even. Today, we'd give our eye teeth to
be at such a quality rock festival. Some bands charge $100+ for one ticket
(I don't have a problem with it - I love hippy music but also believe in the
enterpreneurial spirit!),
much less a few dollars for three days of Who, Hendrix, Doors and other Rock
Gods! Joni Mitchell plays the song Woodstock while "aquarius" was falling
apart before her very eyes. There is peace at the end when the promoters and
the audience pay tribute with the song Amazing Grace. Get this video!!
The Who - Isle of Wight
What a show!! This is how Tommy is meant to be played -- with raw Who energy! Its missing
only one song - Naked Eye - which is on the above video. Many people (myself included) think
this was The Who's best show. Yep, that means better than Live at Leeds. Let me see Leeds
on video and maybe it has a chance. Till then, Isle of Wight wins.
The Who - Maximum R&B Live
The kind of release you're thankful for. Not only do we get The Who playing Young Man Blues
at Isle of Wight, we also get I Don't Even Know Myself. How many bands put unreleased songs
(I Don't Know Myself was finally added to the remastered Who's Next over 25 years after it
was canned!) on the video for their box set?
Jimi Hendrix - Isle of Wight
Part of Jimi's Isle of Wight show. Jimi Hendrix died 18 days after this last performance.
Do YOU have any information that The Woodstock Project can use?? Email
the Woodstock Project. Thanx.
