1968: a field, near Godshill, Isle of Wight where the assorted unwashed gathered for a one day event. Jefferson Airplane was the only major act on a stage constructed from two trailers.Support came from unknowns like The Move and T-Rex. This inauspicious shambles was the first great UK rock festival and it sowed the seed for far bigger things to come. 2010’s Isle of Wight Festival runs from 10th to 13th June and is sure to keep up the recent good work, but it wasn’t always like that.
The Isle of Wight Festival became far more ambitious in 1969, expanding to two whole days and headlined by Bob Dylan, mainly because the prospect of performing on Tennyson’s home ground appealed to him– that and he saw a film of the island.Dylan brought in his wake The Who, Joe Cocker and Free.After that success, IOW Festival promoters planned a stellar line up for 1970 featuring Jimi Hendrix (his last performance, he died a month later), Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, Leonard Cohen, Free and The Moody Blues. This mammoth five-day extravaganza was Britain’s ‘Woodstock’, but unfortunately the love and peace ethos of Mark Yasgur’s farm wasn’t shared, and with nearly 1 million rampaging hippies taking over the Island, it was decided that enough was enough. The 1970 the ‘Isle of Wight Act’ was passed by Parliament to ban all future festivals. The island is a rich source of musical entertainment with the Bestival being the other popular draw to the island.
After a 32 year absence it came back in 2002 with the Charlatans headlining supported by Robert Plant. Thousands of music fans took the Isle of Wight ferry to enjoy the festival’s revival and this was just the start of things to come. 2003 saw a bigger festival spread over two days with on-site camping, sun, beer, tents, noodles and toilets!Some world class acts were there too including Iggy Pop, Paul Weller, Bryan Adams and Starsailor.With new promoters, things went from strength to strength attracting acts like David Bowie, Faithless, REM,The Prodigy and the Foo Fighters performing at Seaclose Park.Coldplay, the Police and the Sex Pistols also made the trip across the Solent over the years.2009’s IOW Festival served up The Ting Ting’s, Bananarama, Eddi Reader, Will Young and his dad Neil as well as Simple Minds.
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