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The Archive
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click to book tickets |
For
information on today's festivals see eFestivals.co.uk |
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Photo courtesy repfoto © 1969 click to see more IOW 69 pix at their site. You can also view more here onsite in the program pages . |
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The 1969 Isle of Wight Festival was a far more ambitious affair than than the previous years bash , which only had the Airplane as the overseas headliner and not a lot of other big names to back them up. The 69 line-up was far more heavy weight . With the BIG Z as the drawcard , none other than Bob Dylan himself , and bands like The Who and The Band taking support roles , this festival was guaranteed to draw many more punters than the earlier festival.
These pages contain parts of the program , articles , photos and information regarding recordings , performancxes and set lists where they are available. We are always looking for more first hand accounts as well as new archive material, particularly photographs taken by audience members. If you have any info you can contribute to the site, such as details of recordings. recollections, programmes, tickets, pix or articles please Contact us. |
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Cover of the 1969 Isle of Wight programme |
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This was a BIG festival, estimates of up to 150,000 attendees, compared to 10,000 the previous year. Also, it appears that this was also a smooth running operation. Despite the Island status ,which normally means restricted access, the tourist connections to the IOW ensured that transport was able to cater for fairly large numbers of people .The island is close to the mainland and there were numerous large ferries as well as excellent train connections from Southampton and Portsmouth , major rail hubs close to the Island itself .Fortunately for the promoters, there was none of the dissent that occured in 1970 between the promoters and the forces of the anarchists and underground activists who demanded free access to the site . This may however, have given the promoters a false sense of how much profit was to be made out of such an event .Instead of keeping the festival within a reasonable size , in terms of audience numbers , the following year they booked even BIGGER and even MORE acts than in 1969. As a result the 1970 festival was so ambitious that its logistics became unmanageable and the promoters were ruined financially . However, all that was down the track , after this show , the Foulk brothers had reason to believe that they were onto a winner .
Thanks go to all those who have supplied information that has enabled the creation of the 1969 IOW festival pages - but most especially to Keith Webley for his invaluable contribution of archive materials.
You can view many great photos of the acts at IOW 69 here at Robert Ellis's photo site
if you have any info you can contribute to the site, such as details of recordings. recollections, programmes, tickets, pix or articles please Contact us
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1969 Festival
