On August 26, 1970, the Isle of Wight Festival kicked off with one of its largest lineups since premiering two years earlier. The five-day fest gathered Bob Dylan, The Doors, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, The Who, Miles Davis, Donovan, Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues, Chicago, Procol Harum, Sly and the Family Stone, Tiny Tim, Richie Havens, Free, Terry Reid, Lighthouse, Ten Years After, John Sebastian, Gilberto Gil, Emerson, Lake And Palmer, Taste, and Spirit.
The 1970 festival also marked Jimi Hendrix‘s last full performance in England before his death several weeks later.
Between August 26 and August 31, artists and a crowd of 600,000 to 700,000 attendees convened on the grass-covered hills of Afton Down, near the village of Freshwater on the Isle of Wight.
Dylan had returned to Isle of Wight after playing in 1969 with The Band, along with The Who, who also played the festival in ’69 and ’70 as part of their Tommy tour. Jazz great Miles Davis also faced the largest audience of career, while Joni Mitchell tried to bring a moment of peace and calm to the inharmonious fest with her performance.
A far cry from the peace and love at Wooodstock a year earlier, the 1970 installment of Isle of Wight in was afflicted by unruly crowds starting fights, heckling artists, interrupting performances, throwing objects, setting fire to the stage. Some attendees even built an encampment on the grounds made of hay called Desolation Row, while others were jumping the fence and entering the festival free of charge due to its steeper ticket price that year.
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At the time, Hendrix was on his The Cry of Love Tour, which had started earlier in the year on April 25. Isle of Wight would be his first concert back in England in 18 months.
By 2 a.m., the morning of August 31, Hendrix stepped on stage with his post-Experience trio featuring bassist Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell on drums, opening on a feedback-drenched “God Save The Queen,” before going into the Beatles‘ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” which he had previoulsy been using as a show opener in ’68.
Maneuvering around an audible interference of radio signals and other technical issues, the band barely made it through “Spanish Castle Magic” and were nearly in the clear again for “All Along the Watchtower” and “Machine Gun,” which turned into a 22-minute plus jam session, including a four-minute drum solo by Mitchell.
Though the Hendrix set was plagued by radio and other interference, the band continued on with much better sound by “Lover Man” and through the remaining 12 songs. “Hello, how are you doing England?” said Hendrix. “Glad to see you. We’ll do a thing called ‘Freedom,’” he added, and, without pause, followed it up with “Red House.” After playing then-fresh songs “Dolly Dagger” and “Midnight Lightning,” Hendrix held the note on his guitar, ringing him into “Foxy Lady” before the radio signals returned. The band continued playing, and the interference led Hendrix to ride the song out for more than nine minutes, with an extended solo—using his teeth at one point.
“Message to Love,” “Hey Baby (New Rising Sun),” “Ezy Ryder,” his cover of Billy Roberts’ “Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” and the closing “In From the Storm,” rounded out the set that went on for nearly two hours.
“Thank you for being so patient,” said Hendrix at the end. “Maybe one of these days, smoke a joint again, I really hope so, right. Thank you very much. And peace and happiness and all the other good s–t.”
Hendrix died nearly three weeks after his appearance at the Isle of Wight on Sept. 18, 1970, at age 27. In 1971, Isle of Wight, a posthumous live album featured a selection of Hendrix’s performance at the festival. Hendrix’s full performance was later released as Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight in 2002, followed by the film of his performance in 2014.
He played his final show a week after Isle of Wight on September 6, 1970, at the Love & Peace Festival in Fehmarn, West Germany. Just two days before his death, Hendrix also joined Eric Burdon and War for two songs at the end of their set at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London.
That year would be the final of the three earlier Isle of Wight festivals, before it was revived in 2002.
Jimi Hendrix Isle of Wight Setlist, August 31, 1970
- “God Save the Queen”
- “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
- “Spanish Castle Magic”
- “All Along the Watchtower”
- “Machine Gun”
- “Lover Man”
- “Freedom”
- “Red House”
- “Dolly Dagger”
- “Midnight Lightning”
- “Foxey Lady”
- “Message to Love”
- “Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)”
- “Ezy Ryder”
- “Hey Joe”
- “Purple Haze”
- “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”
- “In From the Storm”
Photo: Jimi Hendrix, performing as part of The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Isle of Wight Festival, 1970 by Brian Moody/Shutterstock
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