Isle of Wight Music (pop) festival has its roots back in the 60’s when the hippy scene was at its height the very first being held in 1968 in a field between Godshill & Niton dubbed Hells field by the press it was known locally as Hayles field on Ford farm. The act’s on the one day event performed on 2 flat bed trailers joined together never the less the festival hosted some of the biggest names in British music at the time groups like the Move, Jefferson Airplane, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Marc Bolan as part of Tyrannosaurus Rex. The festival day was very cold & went on into the night but that did not put off the festival goers with around 10,000 attending & tickets costing £1.25 a far cry from today’s prices.
The following year 1969 was an all together different affair when it was announced that none other than Bob Dylan it was going to be the head line act. Dylan who had not performed live for three years since his motor bike accident would made his long awaited come back creating tickets requests that exceeded 5,000 a day. The Festival was held in the Fields of Wootton Manor Farm, Wootton Bridge. Tickets cost £2.10 for the two days with 150,000 music lovers attending; the local islanders had never seen anything like it a sleepy Island with a population of around 90,000 was suddenly invaded with hoardes of music lovers, Ryde & the small village of Wootton Bridge was overrun with unexpected guests partying & sleeping in gardens overnight, the festival was a great success held in an atmosphere of love & friendship. A long side Bob Dylan the supporting act’s included Free, The Who, Moody Blues, Joe Cocker, Marsha Hunt, Family, Julie Felix, Blodwyn Pig, and Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band there was also members of the Beatles & the Rolling Stones present this festival was going to be the best ever, & it lived up to its hype.
In 1970 came the festival of all festivals held in the UK, the Woodstock Music Festival had happened in the USA at the time the largest of its kind with 500,000 people attending. The organisers of the 1970 Festival tried unsuccessfully to negotiate arrangements with various councils on the island for a suitable site, local people were objecting due to the numbers visiting the Island on the previous year.
Finally a place in west Wight was agreed upon Afton Down an area that was totally unsuitable due to the fact of a hill overlooking the arena area allowing people to watch the act’s without paying.
The organisers were expecting around 150,000 attendees the same as last year, when the line up was announced the interest was enormous the act’s attending included Kris Kristofferson, Redbone, Supertramp, Arrival, Melanie, Procal Harlem, Chicago, Family, Mungo Jerry, Miles Davis, Free, Emerson Lake & Palmer, The Doors, Ten Years After, Joni Mitchell, The Who, Sly and the Family Stone, Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, Joan Baez, Donovan and Jimi Hendrix (as it transpired dying 3 weeks later of a drugs over dose), the event happened over a 5 day period in August.
By the time the festival got underway the Island had been invaded by in excess of 600,000 visitors some estimates suggest as many as 800,000.
Because of the contour of the land around the stage thousand of festival goers watched for free. From an organisational point of view it was a total disaster but for music lovers it was one of the best festivals ever held and went down in rock history.
Thirty two years later after those heady days a more sedate and well organised festival takes place every year. Re launching in 2002 Isle of Wight Music festival has re established its self as one of the premier music festivals in the UK, with a maximum attendances of 50,000 this well presented and policed operation allows festival goers to see & enjoy acts like Cold Play, Snow Patrol, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Keane, Police, REM, The Muse, Amy Winehouse, Stereophonics, Foo Fighters & Paul McCartney to name but a few perform at Sea Close Park just outside Newport.
The Isle of Wight Festival has now become one of the most popular Music Venues for artists and the public alike in the UK..and this year celebrates its 10th Anniversary on the 10th - 12th June 2011
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