This film was released only a few years ago, constructed from footage almost three decades old. One wonders why it had never seen the light of day before. "Message to Love" is an instant classic, a rock documentary that deserves to sit up on the same mantle as "Woodstock", "Monterrey Pop" and "Gimme Shelter". The Isle of Wight Festival in August of 1970 was the last of its kind, an event that was supposed to be an English Woodstock but descended into utter chaos as the Aquarian hippie ideal knocked heads with the emerging juggernaut of a corporate music industry ready to mass-market a "product" to the growing legions of rock fans. But despite the hypocrisy, mismanagement and unruly behavior that director Murray Lerner ("When We Were Kings") so keenly observes, he does not lose sight of the fact that a lot of great music went down during those five days. With an amazingly eclectic lineup that has Miles Davis and Tiny Tim as its polar extremes, Lerner and his crew captured many memorable performances from both the icons of the 60s and the rising stars of the 70s. If your memory of rock festival flicks is limited to the good vibes of Monterrey or Woodstock, you'll likely be taken aback by the unrestrained belligerence that permeated the air at Wight. Rikki, the so-called "Master of Ceremonies" is the lightning rod here, as he both patronizes and berates the hordes who have descended on the festival site. It turns out that some 600,000 fans have reached the island by ferry but only a fraction of those have any intention of buying a ticket. A tent city called "Desolation Row" sprouts up on a nearby hillside and is populated by folks who are determined to get a closer view at no charge. This tension is reflected in the selection of onstage peformances, like the Who (very much in their prime) ripping through an incediary "Young Man Blues" and the Doors' sinister versions of "When the Music's Over" and "The End". The Isle of Wight has long been notable for being the last performances of both Jim Morrison (he would be gone within a year) and Jimi Hendrix, who died less than three weeks later. Hendrix's appearance here only adds to his already large legacy--his music sounds as revolutionary as ever as he wails away on three songs with the Band of Gypsies, including an otherworldly "Voodoo Chile". "Message to Love" also opens a window onto the growing compartmentilization of rock, with three genres taking root at the start of the 70s. Hard rock (Ten Years After, Free, Rory Gallagher), singer-songwriters (Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson) and progressive rock (the Moody Blues, Jethro Tull and the audacious debut of Emerson, Lake and Palmer)are all competing for their slice of an increasingly large pie. With Rikki and the other promoters dubiously claiming that no other bands will take the stage without being paid in full with cash (in hopes of getting potential gatecrashers to pay up) the musicians are caught in an uneasy position. Trying to show they are "of the people" while knowing full well they are not going through life playing for free, it makes for some of the most interesting stage patter on record. Lerner lets the fans have their say as well, including one who notes that the bands are becoming "plastic gods" while another vividly describes the festival as a "feudal court scene"--with the stars as royalty, the groupies as the courtiers and the audience as the serfs. He may have gone one step farther and noted the moat-like double fencing with a dog-patrolled no-man's-land in between (actually closer in design to the former Berlin Wall) that serves to hopefully keep out the Desolation Row "barbarians". But as one of the promoter's people notes, in the end it doesn't matter if the music's good. This is true enough as the film closes with the Doors, Hendrix and the Who being edited in for one more song each. An uneasy truce is reached but when Rikki flashes a double peace sign at the crowd he only succeeds in looking like Richard Nixon. An era has passed before our eyes as the rose-colored glow of the 60s counterculture is smudged by the inevitable rise of the mass-consumer pop marketplace.
21 Reviews
great concert footage, good in-between bits
Quinoa198425 June 2006
For fans of the musical acts that performed at this one of a kind concert, Isle of Wight is a must-see look. The interview sections are not of the high quality of those of Woodstock where you might have taken away something from what was being said. Here it's mostly a lot of ultra-hippie types (one who apparently gave his 3 year old son acid and pot), as well as some British fellows who run the concert. These interviews are OK enough on their own, and maybe the biggest liability from Lerner on this end as well as the music is in the editing. It's only a 2 hour film, which regrettably (like Monterrey Pop) is way too short in viewing such a monumental moment (and fleeting one like Altamont) in such a short running time. Still, almost every musical act is worth checking out in their limited time frame, and a little extra sadness comes along in seeing that a few of these people didn't live long after the concert ended. Some of the memorable acts include the Doors (all too brief of course), Jimi Hendrix (ditto), the Who, Miles Davis (in different form from his 50's days), Ten Years After, the Moody Blues, and Free.
Long Live Rory!.
doire19 July 2003
It was great to watch this film and see live footage of the great Irish rock guitarist Rory Gallaher, performing with his band Taste. Sadly, Rory is no longer with us. Indeed, watching this film showed just how many of our famous and infamous rock stars have passed away since 1970. Hendrix, Morrison, Moon, Entwhistle, Gallagher - all gone to that great gig in the sky.
Great rockumentary
GeorgeC10 January 1999
This film chronicles the 1970 Isle of Wight Rock Festival from behind and on front of the scenes. Incredible concert footage of Hendrix and Jim Morrison (both of whom died just after the festival) as well as numerous other pop, folk, and rock artists make this film wonderful just as a concert video. Even more revealing, though, is footage of the festival's production and management, including riots, rebellious patrons, break-ins, and mordant commentary on why rock festivals don't happen anymore. Beautifully paced and edited.
testimonial
polano-124 November 2007
i was there, 20 years old, with 2 other Italian friends (on a blue 500 fiat car), sleeping in 2 Canadian tents: Italians were a lot, anyway, and we met a few of them in Amsterdam - desolation row was full of french people, and many people were just taking' hard drugs, not even trying' to move from their sleeping' bags- i've recognized myself, thanks to you-tube excerpt, in the movie (that i'm gonna by via amazon tonight), and after 37 yrs i remember the camera that was shooting' me (sayin' then to my friends: i'm sure they will cut me out) - i remember also running' all the time to find a place, and a feeling' of tiredness, because of our long traveling' from Italy, via Yugoslavia, and then Holland, and then england (taking' with us coffee, pasta and Italian food, you know ;-) - real problem was the WC (don't talk about) - i bought in advance the tickets by mail, but we're the few, and the day people broke the fence was scary, really - the atmosphere, to be true, was more like a busy busy mess as a bee kingdom, and the weather not bad - the final night was like apocalypse now, in a way: i got fever and stomach illness :-( while Hendrix playing i went back late, tons of soda cans like Egyptian pyramids, fires everywhere, and fish&chips stands selling' for nearly nothing' all that remained - so we're finally eating' like wolves - OK, folks, that's all, for the moment - i have few b/w pix too (anyone interested?)
Sp, proud-i-was-there
PS any site of people who were there?
Sp, proud-i-was-there
PS any site of people who were there?
Murray Lerner interview
greggwager29 July 2005
I have perused the comments here and must say I have very little to add. Then again, I have to have a minimum of 10 lines here, or this comment won't get posted. Obviously, if you have taken the time to find this film and watched it, you are intelligent enough to pick up on all the nuances that a filmmaker like Murray Lerner puts into a project like this (as the comments here reflect). With all the shortcomings of the era being shown in full detail, we still have to also admit that the music then was great, and maybe even wish that music today could be so good. Then again, you can only invent a musical language once, and the process of doing it will always be remembered more fondly than when the music continues without the same degree of innovation. The issues of the 1960s may have lost their gravitas today, but hopefully a film like Message to Love might reveal a failure of methodolgy, not of purpose, and perhaps even allow us to remember that Vietnam and the assassinations of JFK, MLK and RFK were among the most important events this country has ever faced--which might be why the music was also so timely and good. If you want some more information, I did an interview with Murray Lerner:
"Murray Lerner's Film: Message to Love: the Isle of Wight Music Festival 1970. An Interview by Gregg Wager." Doors Collectors Magazine. Ed. Kerry Humphreys. Apr.-Oct. 1997: 11-15.
It's no longer available online, but ask me about it and I might be able to get you a copy.
"Murray Lerner's Film: Message to Love: the Isle of Wight Music Festival 1970. An Interview by Gregg Wager." Doors Collectors Magazine. Ed. Kerry Humphreys. Apr.-Oct. 1997: 11-15.
It's no longer available online, but ask me about it and I might be able to get you a copy.
Shoddy DVD
Sandoz25 December 2010
OK, there's no denying this documentary does a good job of capturing the spirit of the time in which the festival occurred--we get plenty of interviews with scraggly hippies in the crowd voicing their opinions about how the concert should be free to the people and how their love for the music is being exploited by The Man--yet when it comes to respectfully showcasing that very music what do we end up with? Abbreviated, often truncated versions of timeless, classic performances that I'm positive was the reason the majority of the buyers of this DVD purchased the disc in the first place.
From a bit of research, it appears this first turned up on VHS tape back in the mid-90's so its two hour length makes sense when considering the limitations of that medium (a two-hour, SP speed videotape was considered about the maximum length to get good video/audio reproduction without causing undue stress on the tape). However, when it came time to put this on DVD, it seems there was no extra effort to put out a proper release of this event, one that should have necessitated at the very least restoring the FULL-LENGTH versions of the majority of songs that appear in this movie. With all the great musical performers at this show, there is definitely a guaranteed market to return this minor investment and probably negate the very criticisms that I'm mentioning here.
Not only that, but the DVD is two-sided with each side only running an hour in length. Um, wtf? Why double-side it when a single side of a DVD can easily hold 2 hours worth of material? I know this DVD has been marked-down for sale at under $10 at most sites, so it's not a tremendous burden to purchase if you absolutely must obtain it, but still it's sad the missed opportunity they had here to release something that could have joined Gimme Shelter and Woodstock as a great document of a key musical and cultural event that was presented with the best modern technology can offer.
To quote the very words that someone voices during the film, "we blew it."
From a bit of research, it appears this first turned up on VHS tape back in the mid-90's so its two hour length makes sense when considering the limitations of that medium (a two-hour, SP speed videotape was considered about the maximum length to get good video/audio reproduction without causing undue stress on the tape). However, when it came time to put this on DVD, it seems there was no extra effort to put out a proper release of this event, one that should have necessitated at the very least restoring the FULL-LENGTH versions of the majority of songs that appear in this movie. With all the great musical performers at this show, there is definitely a guaranteed market to return this minor investment and probably negate the very criticisms that I'm mentioning here.
Not only that, but the DVD is two-sided with each side only running an hour in length. Um, wtf? Why double-side it when a single side of a DVD can easily hold 2 hours worth of material? I know this DVD has been marked-down for sale at under $10 at most sites, so it's not a tremendous burden to purchase if you absolutely must obtain it, but still it's sad the missed opportunity they had here to release something that could have joined Gimme Shelter and Woodstock as a great document of a key musical and cultural event that was presented with the best modern technology can offer.
To quote the very words that someone voices during the film, "we blew it."
Rory Gallagher & Taste - raw energy and talent
jmcm0112 January 2006
Rory Gallagher & Taste - raw energy and talent - stole the Isle of Wight festival. They had 3 or 4 encores. Fusion of jazz and blues. Rory mixed all genres of blues - from acoustic, Mississippi Delta, Chicago.
He combined a guitar style with his singing - that made the guitar sound like an extension of his voice. Wailing away.
Eric Clapton was like a sheep in comparison to this Celtic tiger.
Some songs include: Bullfrog blues, Used to be, Cant believe its true. For the last time. Sinnerboy. Messin with the kid, What in the world.
Hes played with the greats - including Jack Bruce in Rockpalast concerts. Playing with Muddy Waters in London was the highlight of his career.
He combined a guitar style with his singing - that made the guitar sound like an extension of his voice. Wailing away.
Eric Clapton was like a sheep in comparison to this Celtic tiger.
Some songs include: Bullfrog blues, Used to be, Cant believe its true. For the last time. Sinnerboy. Messin with the kid, What in the world.
Hes played with the greats - including Jack Bruce in Rockpalast concerts. Playing with Muddy Waters in London was the highlight of his career.
Good Rockumentary
Sargebri8 July 2002
This is a good rockumentary. It pretty much captured the events surrounding the last great pop festival of the 1960 era (even though it took place in 1970). It pretty much showed how greed and a more commercial element began to creep in on the rock and roll and how it was beginning to lose its innocence, much like it did at Altamont the previous December. He even shows how many artists were beginning to suffer burn out, as was the case with Jimi Hendrix, who unknown to everyone was making his last major concert appearance in England. Unfortunately, a few weeks later he would die from barbituate intoxication. However, the only complaint I have about the film is that Murray Lerner tended to not to show all the songs as they were performed in their entirety. For example, only the last three minutes of Ten Years After's performance of the song "I Can't Keep From Crying" is shown. On the compact disc of the festival, the song is featured in it's full-length. Another, example is how he seemed to cut the Free classic "All Right Now" to ribbons. This is very annoying for a person who was a huge fan of the song. This also can be seen with Emerson, Lake and Palmer's performance of "Rondo". But even with all its flaws it is a good film.
A Crucial Piece of Evidence
gulag18 January 2007
I find it very interesting that it took 25 years to get this documentary seen. Meanwhile there are now generations who believe the Woodstock myth: That one should follow one's instincts and intuition minus logic minus reality. (Yes I know there are better aspects of the dream.) Even the more well known Altamont festival took years to be as known as it now is, which still pales in comparison to Woodstock. Everyone knows Woodstock. Just as everyone knows the flower power myth and the San Francisco dream. Yet the media didn't really cover the failure of the hippie dream. (The media also hardly covered the deaths of Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison.) I suspect that was for two reasons: One, it didn't mean that much to the straight media at the time; and two, there was a lot more money to be made off of the dream than off of its failure. And yet we all live in the fallout from that of that failure without really understanding it. Gimme Shelter, the film of the Rolling Stones at Altamont, is one essential document of the failure of that dream. And this film is another. I echo the words of the others here who recommend this to anyone interested in rock music. I would extend that to anyone who wants to understand why the present moment is what it is: Not as the final explanation but as a historical step along the way.
Yes there is brilliant music here. The Who's Naked Eye stands out as it does at the end of the film. And interestingly enough I'm sure it was placed at the end as a comment on the nature of such dreams. Pete Townshend understood fairly early on the failure of the dream. 'Won't get fooled again' is indeed the cynical motto of the years from Punk and Beyond. Now, however, even those words seem like a hopeless dream. I don't think we understand where we are until we understand that we will be fooled again and again, and until there is a major paradigm shift. As long as music is held in a divine light we will be drawn to it like locusts to a field of wheat. The new paradigm can't be left or right. Rather we need a view based upon intelligence over sensation. Yes Hendrix plays brilliantly here. But it doesn't make me feel good that he does. People worshiped him and let him kill himself. Ditto Morrison. Ditto the dream. See this film. Let your friends see it. Learn. Think.
Yes there is brilliant music here. The Who's Naked Eye stands out as it does at the end of the film. And interestingly enough I'm sure it was placed at the end as a comment on the nature of such dreams. Pete Townshend understood fairly early on the failure of the dream. 'Won't get fooled again' is indeed the cynical motto of the years from Punk and Beyond. Now, however, even those words seem like a hopeless dream. I don't think we understand where we are until we understand that we will be fooled again and again, and until there is a major paradigm shift. As long as music is held in a divine light we will be drawn to it like locusts to a field of wheat. The new paradigm can't be left or right. Rather we need a view based upon intelligence over sensation. Yes Hendrix plays brilliantly here. But it doesn't make me feel good that he does. People worshiped him and let him kill himself. Ditto Morrison. Ditto the dream. See this film. Let your friends see it. Learn. Think.
a time-piece
WAVESURF424 July 2007
this is a great piece of the late 60's early 70's festival scene. It is a real moving tribute to a more free wheelin' lifestyle, being that it is one of the last major festivals.
Although, a lot of the festival turned out badly (cops being uptight about drugs, violence in the audience, performers threatening not to play because of money, on-stage fires, etc.), an underlying message of hope and peace prevails.
The film shows the dying nature of the ideal "hippy" spirit and marks a change in time from the revolutionary late 60's to the more straight laced 70's.
Performances by Joni Mitchel, The Who, The Doors, Joan Baez, etc. make it a great concert to watch.
Although, a lot of the festival turned out badly (cops being uptight about drugs, violence in the audience, performers threatening not to play because of money, on-stage fires, etc.), an underlying message of hope and peace prevails.
The film shows the dying nature of the ideal "hippy" spirit and marks a change in time from the revolutionary late 60's to the more straight laced 70's.
Performances by Joni Mitchel, The Who, The Doors, Joan Baez, etc. make it a great concert to watch.
Don't ever mention Woodstock again to me
MarioB9 December 2000
Forget Monterry or Woodstock! This is 100 times better! First of all, the comments are like razor's edge! That was peace and love? Never! Money was everywhere! That was trouble? Some sort! This is a great film in a cinema point of view? Kind of. But where it stands in 2000 is about the music. It rocks hard in a way Woodstock had never done! Violent performances by The Who! Hendrix, Ten Years after, Free are great! Watch early bluesy Jethro Tull doing a fantastic number! But not really the Doors... More rare moody numbers are delightfull, like Leonard Cohen. See Joni Mitchell full of emotions, because a freak have gotten on stage to make music with her. To me, this is the truly early 1970's rock music. Not that hippie music from Woodstock.
I, too, was there!
jwhyle117 January 2014
I remember the ferry ride over, carrying bags of drugs. Not mine, but carrying for a friend. It might have been speed, but since I only smoked pot I had no interest in it-no brains either, apparently!
We went for the whole 5 days because I could and didn't know any better. The organizers handed out paper sleeping bags to a waiting throng on the day we arrived. We slept out-side the gates - 20 ft. away - and ran for a decent position when the gates opened the next morning.
I don't remember eating or defecating, or very much of the music, but I have photos so I know I was there! I do remember people throwing glass pop bottles over the heads of those in front for some unknown reason, and even in my altered star realized they were idiots.
John Sebastien - Lovin' Spoonful - entertained the crowd acoustically for two hours because of some band not showing or technical reasons, I forget which, of course.
We walked up the Afton Downs hill and looked out over the English Channel. We saw people hundreds of feet below playing in the cold!! water. With a film crew shooting them. It looked forced. We also saw people fall from the top and bounce, slide and fall down the chalk cliffs. I've no idea what happened to them.
At the end, on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people started the trek to the ferries. There may have been buses to Cowes, but we heard it was faster to walk the 4.5 mi. To Yarmouth and that's what we did.
I hope I'm in the movie, I was so much older then. I'm younger than that, now :-)
We went for the whole 5 days because I could and didn't know any better. The organizers handed out paper sleeping bags to a waiting throng on the day we arrived. We slept out-side the gates - 20 ft. away - and ran for a decent position when the gates opened the next morning.
I don't remember eating or defecating, or very much of the music, but I have photos so I know I was there! I do remember people throwing glass pop bottles over the heads of those in front for some unknown reason, and even in my altered star realized they were idiots.
John Sebastien - Lovin' Spoonful - entertained the crowd acoustically for two hours because of some band not showing or technical reasons, I forget which, of course.
We walked up the Afton Downs hill and looked out over the English Channel. We saw people hundreds of feet below playing in the cold!! water. With a film crew shooting them. It looked forced. We also saw people fall from the top and bounce, slide and fall down the chalk cliffs. I've no idea what happened to them.
At the end, on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people started the trek to the ferries. There may have been buses to Cowes, but we heard it was faster to walk the 4.5 mi. To Yarmouth and that's what we did.
I hope I'm in the movie, I was so much older then. I'm younger than that, now :-)
the last great festival
dromasca8 August 2019
In August 1970, more than 600,000 people invaded the Isle of Wight, located near the south coast of England and populated in the ordinary times by less than 100,000 inhabitants, to attend the third edition of the Pop Music Festival. It was not only one of the largest festivals of its kind ever organized, but also a historical event, that took place at the transition between two eras in rock music. It was just after the 60s, when American rock, blues and soul met with English pop on the fertile ground of the social revolt of the young generation in Europe and the United States and of the hippie movement. The commercial period which was to turn rock music into a huge industry in the 70s had started. The Isle of Wight Festival not only gathered many of the most important talents of the genre, but also reflected the conflict between the naive and anarchist conceptions of the 'Flower Power' generation and the expanding music industry. The chance makes that this huge but controversial event was filmed (well) by a team led by director Murray Lerner. But a quarter of a century will pass until the film of the 'Message to Love' about the festival could be finished and presented for the first time. Now, almost another quarter of a century later, I also had the chance to see it.
Exceptional music was played in 1970 at the Isle of Wight Festival. Groups like The Who, Ten Years After or Jethro Tull were at the peak of their youth and musical force. Jimi Hendrix gave his last great concert here less than three weeks before his death in London, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer sang for the first time in public what would become their power play work - 'Pictures in an Exhibition '. The versions sung here with 'The End' by The Doors or 'Nights in White Satin' by Moody Blues are among the best of their careers. Joan Baez's voice sounds exceptional undertaking a cover of 'Let It Be', and Leonard Cohen looks young and rebellious, very different from the one we knew at the end of his life and career. The presence of Miles Davis demonstrates how relative the boundaries between musical genres are. Even the appearances of Kris Kristofferson and Joni Mitchell, faced with a hostile and unruly audience, have authenticity and finally overcame the conditions around. The filmed music, however, occupies only about half of the two hours of the film, as the attention of director Murray Lerner turned to the extra-musical events that also had their importance and message.
It seems that out of the over 600 thousand spectators only about 60 thousand paid the entrance tickets that cost ... 3 pounds. The rest remained outside the enclosed enclosure, loudly pressing to enter. Eventually, the organizers gave up and declared that the festival was free allowing everyone to enter, but the result was bankruptcy for them and an ecological disaster for the place where the concerts took place. The outcome was that the British Parliament banned such events on the island, and the 1970 festival was the last of its kind. The record and concert industry will completely take over rock music over the next few years, the stars will start to earn (and waste) huge amounts of money, while music lovers will become accustomed to paying expensive tickets to see and listen live to their idols. More than anything else, the Isle of Wight Festival was an end of the romantic, drugs-and-music-for-free era. Murray Lerner's film catches the essential aspects of those days of musical and extra-musical madness and the characters involved in organizing the festival. 'Message to Love' is a valuable documentary not only because of the music but also, or perhaps especially because, of the events that took place around the music.
Exceptional music was played in 1970 at the Isle of Wight Festival. Groups like The Who, Ten Years After or Jethro Tull were at the peak of their youth and musical force. Jimi Hendrix gave his last great concert here less than three weeks before his death in London, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer sang for the first time in public what would become their power play work - 'Pictures in an Exhibition '. The versions sung here with 'The End' by The Doors or 'Nights in White Satin' by Moody Blues are among the best of their careers. Joan Baez's voice sounds exceptional undertaking a cover of 'Let It Be', and Leonard Cohen looks young and rebellious, very different from the one we knew at the end of his life and career. The presence of Miles Davis demonstrates how relative the boundaries between musical genres are. Even the appearances of Kris Kristofferson and Joni Mitchell, faced with a hostile and unruly audience, have authenticity and finally overcame the conditions around. The filmed music, however, occupies only about half of the two hours of the film, as the attention of director Murray Lerner turned to the extra-musical events that also had their importance and message.
It seems that out of the over 600 thousand spectators only about 60 thousand paid the entrance tickets that cost ... 3 pounds. The rest remained outside the enclosed enclosure, loudly pressing to enter. Eventually, the organizers gave up and declared that the festival was free allowing everyone to enter, but the result was bankruptcy for them and an ecological disaster for the place where the concerts took place. The outcome was that the British Parliament banned such events on the island, and the 1970 festival was the last of its kind. The record and concert industry will completely take over rock music over the next few years, the stars will start to earn (and waste) huge amounts of money, while music lovers will become accustomed to paying expensive tickets to see and listen live to their idols. More than anything else, the Isle of Wight Festival was an end of the romantic, drugs-and-music-for-free era. Murray Lerner's film catches the essential aspects of those days of musical and extra-musical madness and the characters involved in organizing the festival. 'Message to Love' is a valuable documentary not only because of the music but also, or perhaps especially because, of the events that took place around the music.
The story behind the story...
neil-4764 June 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This is an invaluable document. End of review.
I was an Isle of Wight resident, 18 years old, and didn't go to the Festival - I was working (I went to the previous year's Festival with Dylan headlining).
Some background may be welcome. The Isle of Wight is and was a low income economy, with the bulk of the year's income coming from the summer holiday season, a short 10 weeks or so, with the peak earning period being the bank holiday weekend at the end of August. The first Pop Festival in 1968 was a surprise, the second in 1969 drew 250,000 people who went straight to the Festival site, stayed the weekend and then went straight home. By the time the third Festival loomed, it was clear that it completely destroyed the two key weeks of the short holiday season - family holiday makers didn't want to travel back and forth to the Island with (as it turns out) 600,000 rock fans, perceived as dirt smelly druggies. So this third Festival was not welcome on the Isle of Wight (even I could see that, and I wanted to go!), and had trouble finding a site.
The only site it could find, in the end, was at Afton Down, on the less inhabited side of the Island. Unfortunately, the topography of the area meant that the performance arena had to be at the bottom of a gentle valley. Although that area was fenced off, it was a simple matter to find a spot on the Downs which formed the sides of the valley, and to sit and watch and hear the whole thing completely free. This had the effect of making the whole thing an economic disaster (which perhaps explains the somewhat acerbic style adopted by MC Rikki Farr, one of the organisers). It meant that organisers Fiery Creations were not able to mount a fourth Festival although, even had they been able to do so, they would have been prevented from doing it on the Isle of Wight due to the Isle of Wight Act being passed as a law, which prohibited large open air assemblies on the Island in order to protect the economy.
The current Festivals on the Isle of Wight have a limited attendance and are run by the Council.
But this last one featured a lot of noteworthy things:
Hendrix' last live performance
Jim Morrison's last live performance
Nude swimming in Compton Bay
The end of the hippie dream (in the UK at least)
Joni Mitchell being scared by someone rushing the stage
Kris Kristofferson being booed off stage
Substantially better toilet facilities than the 1969 Festival (I need to mention this because the 1969 facilities were almost non-existent). Modesty - and a healthy dose of embarrassment - prevents me from providing details.
Ah, the good old days!
I was an Isle of Wight resident, 18 years old, and didn't go to the Festival - I was working (I went to the previous year's Festival with Dylan headlining).
Some background may be welcome. The Isle of Wight is and was a low income economy, with the bulk of the year's income coming from the summer holiday season, a short 10 weeks or so, with the peak earning period being the bank holiday weekend at the end of August. The first Pop Festival in 1968 was a surprise, the second in 1969 drew 250,000 people who went straight to the Festival site, stayed the weekend and then went straight home. By the time the third Festival loomed, it was clear that it completely destroyed the two key weeks of the short holiday season - family holiday makers didn't want to travel back and forth to the Island with (as it turns out) 600,000 rock fans, perceived as dirt smelly druggies. So this third Festival was not welcome on the Isle of Wight (even I could see that, and I wanted to go!), and had trouble finding a site.
The only site it could find, in the end, was at Afton Down, on the less inhabited side of the Island. Unfortunately, the topography of the area meant that the performance arena had to be at the bottom of a gentle valley. Although that area was fenced off, it was a simple matter to find a spot on the Downs which formed the sides of the valley, and to sit and watch and hear the whole thing completely free. This had the effect of making the whole thing an economic disaster (which perhaps explains the somewhat acerbic style adopted by MC Rikki Farr, one of the organisers). It meant that organisers Fiery Creations were not able to mount a fourth Festival although, even had they been able to do so, they would have been prevented from doing it on the Isle of Wight due to the Isle of Wight Act being passed as a law, which prohibited large open air assemblies on the Island in order to protect the economy.
The current Festivals on the Isle of Wight have a limited attendance and are run by the Council.
But this last one featured a lot of noteworthy things:
Hendrix' last live performance
Jim Morrison's last live performance
Nude swimming in Compton Bay
The end of the hippie dream (in the UK at least)
Joni Mitchell being scared by someone rushing the stage
Kris Kristofferson being booed off stage
Substantially better toilet facilities than the 1969 Festival (I need to mention this because the 1969 facilities were almost non-existent). Modesty - and a healthy dose of embarrassment - prevents me from providing details.
Ah, the good old days!
Turning point of hippiedom
secordman26 May 2001
More so than the Altamont debacle, the Isle of Wight Festival was the end of an era. Morrison and Hendrix would soon be gone, and the impracticalities of mass concerts like this is shown in all the turmoil that occurred here. This is a documentary movie with terrific musical numbers in a wild mix, from Leonard Cohen to Ten Years After, from John Sebastian to the Who, from Tiny Tim to Miles Davis to Taste. The most revealing glimpse into the future is the progressive rock juggernaut taking sail, with Emerson Lake and Palmer a million miles away from Joni Mitchell-type hippiedom. The invasion of the stage by a man during Joni's set serves to contrast the "do your own thing" attitude with the "let's tighten up security and make some money" realities which would become the norm soon enough. There's a middle ground here which is energizing. Certainly this is no Woodstock '99, which was simply a horrible evil place with no redeeming qualities.
It's damn good!
reza-32 September 1999
I never get to experience the Isle of Wight or the Woodstock so this is a great way to see it and there's also interviews. You can also see the fans raging against the police. It's a great video... you should see it and experience it for yourself. There are great artist like Hendrix,The Doors, The Who, Joni Mitchell and lot more.
worth watching for the music alone
didi-523 May 2004
If you're hesitating about seeing this, then stop, decide you're going to, and seek out this movie record of the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The roll call of acts is breathtaking: top of the tree we have The Who, The Doors, and Hendrix, then we have Jethro Tull, Leonard Cohen, Ten Years After, Free, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Taste, Joni Mitchell, Donovan, and, er, Tiny Tim.
Otherwise we see something of the atmosphere of the festival away from the main stages, focusing on the attendees and the organisers, and this is also interesting. But it is the music which draws you, with fantastic sound recording and up close filming of these wonderful acts. So many of these people have passed on during the 1970s, 80s, 90s: so good to have a permanent record on film of their work. Is it a better film than 'Woodstock'? It's a close call.
Otherwise we see something of the atmosphere of the festival away from the main stages, focusing on the attendees and the organisers, and this is also interesting. But it is the music which draws you, with fantastic sound recording and up close filming of these wonderful acts. So many of these people have passed on during the 1970s, 80s, 90s: so good to have a permanent record on film of their work. Is it a better film than 'Woodstock'? It's a close call.
Art and Business go to Au Go-Go.
TheMemphian21 September 2006
First off, every rock fan must see this film. Other reviewers have touched on the important highlights. What strikes me, here in 2006, is that the film should also be seen by everyone attending the current U. N. conference in NYC. It is the perfect model of the eternal love/hate struggle between the entitled moral front and it's financial base. The promoters of this event seem earnest in their wish to put on a show for the the kids and ultimately have to get in bed with the financial world in order to do it. Otherwise, there would be no Happening. The kids, however, seem to feel that the show should be "on the dole" as some sort of socialist entitlement. A fine idea, except for the fact that The Queen doesn't sponsor Rock concerts. For that, you need Capitalist pigs. Rikki, the most innocent of the promoters, rants on about how the business people "only care about bread man." But, why shouldn't they? They are business people, not rock fans, and are doing what they do to feed their families, stay out of bankruptcy and only incidentally provide Art to the masses. Rikki learns the hard way that the rewards of good intentions are often poxed with hate and misunderstandings. He stands on the stage trying to reason with an unreasonable mass of stoned kids, looking like a Mother trying to tell her infant children to "p... in the toilet." Of course, the kids don't understand and seem to want Rikki's blood. They view him as the mouthpiece of the Capitalist pigs, when all Riki is trying to do, is to pay for the year he spent putting The Happening together. This was not to be. Rikki & Company wound up in Bankruptcy(the reason that the film wasn't released for 27 years), abandoned by the very kids he wished to identify with and undoubtedly, converted from a good intended kid into a total Capitalist pig himself.
If Awareness and Tolerance were the goals of the sixties youth culture, then the Isle of Wight is a testament to the utter failure of that ideal. One can only hope that events of history are not lost on future generations. However, 36 years after 1970... just like 36 years before, Awareness and Tolerance still spring eternal/occasional and in 2006, the history books seem to be gathering more dust then ever. Maybe John Lennon should have sung "Imagine all the people, aware and accepting of the slings, arrows and virtues of both capitalism and socialism." But, that just doesn't roll off the lips as sweetly. Art can turn bitter without a hated, but essential financial plan, and vice versa. ...and the band played on.
If Awareness and Tolerance were the goals of the sixties youth culture, then the Isle of Wight is a testament to the utter failure of that ideal. One can only hope that events of history are not lost on future generations. However, 36 years after 1970... just like 36 years before, Awareness and Tolerance still spring eternal/occasional and in 2006, the history books seem to be gathering more dust then ever. Maybe John Lennon should have sung "Imagine all the people, aware and accepting of the slings, arrows and virtues of both capitalism and socialism." But, that just doesn't roll off the lips as sweetly. Art can turn bitter without a hated, but essential financial plan, and vice versa. ...and the band played on.
Its all about the bread, man
jimbo-939 August 2003
A very entertaining look at naive hippiedom. The glimpses and interviews with the not-so-well-groomed attendees are often hilarious (unintentionally) and sometimes heartbreaking (A man admits to regularly giving his 3 year old son acid and marijuana) The hippyspeak is also very enjoyable. The word "money" is never used--its always "bread, man" etc. The hippies feel that they have an entitlement to free music, (It was only $3 to get in. Boy, hippies were cheap) ,while the promoters claim that they are just trying to break even. Meanwhile some of the artists (Never "musician" or "bands", always the "artists") are not being paid. Tiny Tim wisely demands to be paid up front in cash. The diverging interest set up an interesting backdrop for the music- like when one promoter states that not so many port-o-johns are needed because its a well known fact that everyone gets constipated on vacation. This guy has never been to Mexico. With some exceptions, the music is of the plodding, indulgent, extended jams variety. Thank goodness, punk rock came around and ended people like Emerson Lake and Palmer from doodling on the synthesizer for ten minute stretches. Mix in a hook, ok? Their performance in particular reminded me of Spinal Tap as their pyrotechnics accidentally catches the entire stage on fire. Meanwhile the emcee asks the crowd if there are any fireman out there. We did like Ian Anderson's codpiece, though.
a necessity for classic rock fans, but sad
reasonbran23431 October 2001
this is definitely worth a look, but basically sad and depressing. in a sense it is even worse than altamont, although no one dies. i only got this so i could see jim morrison and the doors perform, and yet the charismatic cult figure does not so much perform as die a little more on stage. for all of his erudition, incredible intelligence, poetic sensitivity and stunning physical beauty, nothing in the end could save him from his consuming inner demons. in a very real way morrison embodied the sixties dream of finding happiness in unfettered freedom and total rebellion, and yet in the end he also embodied the very misguidedness and ultimate failure of that dream. a truly great man who was undeniably responsible for his own downfall but whom it is impossible not to both admire and pity.
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