The Isle of Wight August 1970 ......... a concert and a lesson in what to remember for Chris and Marisa

Now just for once I am not going to let the facts get in the way of the story which is another way of saying that I would rather keep my imperfect memories of the Isle of Wight Festival in the summer of 1970 pristine. 

The concert with the hill behind, 1970

The alternative would be to allow reality to spoil what I have remembered for 54 years.

It was a weekend and the four of us were all pretty bored.

The prospect of another night in the pub didn’t appeal and so there and then around seven in the evening we took off from London with sleeping bags, a change of underwear and headed south.

We arrived at Portsmouth, waited I guess till morning and then after the crossing joined shed loads of others on their way to the music.

I am not sure any of us knew what to expect, and had not even thought about the entrance fee.
As it turned out there was a hill overlooking the concert area and to my eternal shame we sat there and watched the music for free.

The line-up I am told included Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Chicago, The Doors, Lighthouse, The Who Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Moody Blues, Joan Baez, Free, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Kris Kristofferson, Donovan, John Sebastian, Terry Reid, Taste, and Shawn Phillips.

And of these I can remember but a few and if I am very honest only the Doors stand out.

In 1970 .......

The reasons for such a lapse of memory are unclear, but I fell a sleep listening to the Doors.

That said it was magical, because as dusk gave way to night hundreds of camp fires had been lit across the hill.  I would like to think that as the fires burned the Doors played “Light my fire” but I have no idea.

We left the following day missed Jimi Hendrix but felt relieved that we had avoided the mud and gunge which was the area around the lavatories.

So I have to say I came away with no revelations of spiritual awareness, and not even much of a memory of the music.

In the years afterwards I discovered four colleagues I worked with and another half dozen acquittances were also there but again to my shame I never shared the fact that we stayed for just one day and one night.

And all of this, because two of my Canadian cousins were impressed at my casual reference to the adventure, which in turn has made me come clean.

Location; the Isle of Wight Concert, 1970

Pictures; at the Festival, 1970, Roland Godefroy,who granted permission to use the image  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 and me in 1970 from the collection of Andrew Simpson

When the internet proves better than your memory

Now yesterday I was reflecting on that day in August 1970 when along with thousands of others I listened to a host of bands at the Isle of Wight.

The festival and the hill, 1970

It was one of those trips down memory lane prompted by two of my much younger cousins who posted about the Doors.

And quick as a flash I replied with the story making it very clear that I had no intention of searching the Internet to find out what I had forgotten about the Festival, preferring to let my impression of the event be the story.

But I did fall asleep while the Doors played on and so Marisa thought it only fair that I should be given the opportunity to listen to that “lost performance.”*

According to the site they played eight songs, “1. Introduction – 0:18, 2, Back Door Man – 4:18, 3. Break On Through – 4:53,, 4. When The Music’s Over – 13:31, 5. Ship Of Fools – 7:37, 6. Roadhouse Blues – 6:07, 7. Light My Fire – 14:21, 8. The End – 18:18.”

Almost half a century on I have no idea when I fell asleep, all of which will make it fun to listen to again.

And the site also included the date ....... August 30 which again was lost in the midst of time.

A very young me, 1970

Now I still have no intention of looking up the rest of the details of the event, suffice to say I was there, and that pretty much confirms that rather silly observation about the 60s that “if you can remember it you weren’t there.” 

So just perhaps I qualify after all as a genuine part of that era.

And that leads to a serious observation that while the Internet has many detractors it remains a powerful way to follow through a whole range of research projects.

Like many I use genealogical sites almost every day to track people, through census returns, street directories and the General Registry Office, and for over a decade I have fallen back on those digitalised versions of long out of print books which sit on dusty shelves in universities across the mid west of the USA.

August at the Isle of Wight, 1970

The purists will of course argue that this is no substitute for holding the original, but when the original is on the other side of the world there is little chance that accessing it and holding it will ever be a reality.

So there you have it, and as I write I am listening to that performance, and have no idea whether it was during Ship of Fools or Roadhouse Blues, although it would e appropriate if it had been Light My Fire, given that my memory was of all the camp fires dotted about the hill where were sitting.

That hill and somewhere there might have been me

The fires glowed against the darkening sky and made the moment magical if sadly not enough to keep me awake.

So thank you to my cousins Marisa and Chris in Ontario for both reminding me of that long lost adventure and for allowing me to listen to what I missed.

Location; the Isle of Wight, August 30 1970,


Pictures; me in 1970 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and at the Festival, 1970, Roland Godefroy,who granted permission to use the image  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 

*The Doors – Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival -1970 – Past Daily Backstage Weekend, 

It was 53 years ago ……. the music was good … the sun shone ….. and we were all happy

Today I came across this poster.

That poster, 1970

And in a trice I was back 53 years ago with friends wondering what to do on an indifferent Friday night in late August.

The usual haunts were discarded, and someone mentioned the Isle of Wight Festival, and without much thinking, other than to collect sleeping bags we were off in Tony Behan’s car, heading out of London in the late evening for the coast.

Some where on that hill was me, 1970

The rest really is a blur.

On arrival we found that a section of the festival was camped on a hill above the site, it was free and to my shame we opted to camp three.

Memories are vague with the passage of half a century, but I remember falling asleep to the sound of the Doors and marvelling at heaps of camp fires dotted across the hillside which illuminated the night sky.

Alas ours was a but a short stay, Tony had to be back in London for work on the Monday and so my one real experience of a festival and one of the legendary ones, was a day and a night.

To which when my lads ask, “What did you do at the Festival?” I can only ruefully reply I was a “Hippy for a day”.

But it was memorable and allowed me to bore friends with stories of the event as we watched the film Woodstock on a day when we should have been in lectures.

And I might say added to my image with our kids of something more than just Dad, the teller of silly stories who forgets things and always managed to ruin their best tee shirts in the washing machine.

Me, 1970

I could go on about the significance of the event, the huge collection of talent that was on display or the awful conditions down by the latrines.

But I won’t other than to say over the years I am amazed at the number of people who I have discovered were also there, two of whom I worked beside for nearly 20 years.

I thought of including their stories in the ones I have written over the years, but those belong to them.

Location; The Isle of Wight

Pictures; today’s reminder of yesterday, the poster, 1970, me in 1970 from the collection of Andrew Simpson and at the Festival, 1970, Roland Godefroy,who granted permission to use the image  under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 

*Isle of Wight Festival, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Isle%20of%20Wight%20Festival