Isle of Wight, UK - August 26-30, 1970

Isle of Wight, UK - August 26-30, 1970

by Pete Clemons

August will mark 50 years since the staging of, what is still referred to as, 'the last great rock music festival'. The 1970 Isle of Wight festival, the third of its kind on the island was organised by local residents the Foulk brothers. It was a five day event and was a magnet for where the younger generation set off for a weekend in pursuit of love, peace and understanding. It all fell a bit flat though.

I didn't attend this event but I can still picture my brother, along with several others from Coventry, setting off for that long weekend. Complete with tents and rucksacks full of camping utensils I assume they were ticketed. And I can still see my brother returning tired and bedraggled. So who knows what happened to them during those few days. As such I have based this article on some memories and anecdotes I picked up on at the time.

Initially, the festival began really well. Compère Rikki Farr suggested it was a very fine audience, and in the main it was, but that mood and atmosphere was soon to change. Money began to rear its head and, in the end, almost killed the festival.

It seems as though the festival wasn't so much badly organised, it was more that an unprecedented number of people turned up without tickets. And an element of those without tickets were hell bent on getting into the festival without paying. Unwittingly, it seems, the festival had been staged at a time when there was a diverse mix of ideals. Some felt everything in life, especially music festivals, should be for free. It appeared at times as though some attendees were naive about the costs involved to the musicians and organisers.

The 5-day event also caused the obvious logistical problems, such as the obvious one that almost all the attendees had to be ferried across from the mainland. It was estimated that, at its peak, 600,000 people - maybe upwards of 700,000 - attended the event.

But the festival required at least 170,000 paying customers to make the whole thing break even. Repeated requests were made for those without tickets to 'please leave the arena'.

Perhaps sensing the on-setting chaos some of the artists wanted to be paid in cash. And the musicians appeared to be caught between a rock and a hard place as the atmosphere within the audience suggested a riot could well have erupted if bands failed to appear. There then began an atmosphere of conflict between artist and audience. It was not going down very well when it appeared as though the artists were guilty of only playing for the money.

At one point artists were seen mingling with audience members trying to justify why they couldn't do it for free. Although at the same time they somehow sympathized with the audience. It was also reported that Jethro Tull requested for people to leave the arena in order for them to complete a sound check. However, on his arrival to the stage, Ian Anderson categorically denied this.

By the third day of the festival things really were getting out of hand. And amidst the ensuing chaos of what's been called 'Britain's Woodstock' anger flared up when many revellers reached the fences. Suddenly many of those youthful ideals were lost as perimeter fences were broken down and free entry gained.

It wasn't long until the festival descended into a shambles and utter chaos. Rikki Farr's earlier optimism had altered. On stage he began his infamous rant, that include him screaming down the microphone that the festival had taken a year to prepare for and he began calling those involved in the violence 'pigs'. Rikki then admitted to the audience that the organisers had lost everything and told security to 'just open the gates'. Either come in or go, its your choice. Rikki continued that it had been the music what it had only ever all been about. And now he faced up to the prospect of having to face to face meeting with the creditors. Despite being visibly upset, Rikki's concluding message to the audience was to go home in peace. Good intentions but naive in its execution. Violence had ruined the whole event both financially and also the taste of it. To cap it all, an electrical fault set a section of the stage and its roof on fire.

Musically it was an utterly brilliant weekend with totally enthralling sets by The Doors, Sly and the Family Stone, The Who, Free, The Moody Blues, Chicago and Miles Davis along with many others. Outside the main arena a separate stage had been erected that featured bands such as Hawkwind. Rumours of Cream reuniting failed to materialise.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer concluded their set to a fanfare of cannons, Supertramp appeared just a month after recording their debut album. Sadly the festival was also notable for being the last ever performance by Jimi Hendrix. In general, however, the music throughout stands as a test of time as it recalls the sheer freedom of performance and musicianship.

During an interview, many years later, Ian Anderson and Pete Townshend both admitted that their respective bands, Jethro Tull and The Who, failed to get paid. It turned out that only 50/60,000 of the attendees had purchased tickets. But in hindsight they admitted that the exposure did them no harm.

Ian went on to say that Jimi Hendrix had wanted to go on before Jethro Tull. But the stage hands had got the Tull's equipment set up first. So they went on. That left Jimi to close the event at around 2am-3am on the morning of the 31st which he wasn't particularly happy about. Some reports have suggested Hendrix's performance was lackluster, others described it as beautiful.

The Isle of Wight festival 1970 was a lesson in how wrong things can go badly wrong. It even involved parliament passing the Isle of Wight Act during 1971 which prevented gatherings of more than 5000 people on the island without a special license.It turned out, however, to be the end of an era as things turned sour.

In its aftermath Rikki Farr defended a generation but admitted that a minority had blew it. After everyone had left the arena resembled a battlefield. After the festival the organisation team recovered and set about rebuilding their lives. Rikki Farr created a successful music business. Ron Foulk became a furniture dealer and Ray Foulk went on to become a renowned architect.

If any lessons were learned in the aftermath of this festival it simply highlighted that you need to get it right at all levels. These things can not run on goodwill and love and peace alone. And to be fair, festivals nowadays, are run like clockwork. If anything, a bit too clinical. This particular Isle of Wight festival turned out to be so much more than just another music festival.