Isle of Wight, 1970

[maureen]

Hi John,
Well thanks for reminder, May 1970 would, explain my friend believing it to be 69, I'd have gone with her before meeting my husband in the June of 70. Her memory is usually better than mine, we went to the O2 together last year, and she made the comment that she'd have preferred the Albert Hall as that's where we'd last seen Leonard together!
I remember Bob Dylan from 69, I was a big fan then also. Are you sure you weren't at Phun City too! Isn't it good that its not just all memories though. Thanks again John.

[sealsker]

Thanks John E and others for bringing back great memories - I was at the IoW in 1970, I didn't really appreciate then of course what an historic event it would turn out to be. I wish I'd had a digital camera! but maybe we were better off just enjoying the moment. We bought a ticket at the last minute, no advance planning, hitched to catch the ferry, arranged to meet 'in front of the stage' ! took very little in the way of equipment or food - and it all turned out wonderfully well. We were young and adaptable, and didn't worry about the potential difficulties, although I still have occasional nightmares about the toilets (no doors! or maybe that's just in my nightmares).

I remember something of most of the acts, so goodness only knows when I slept. The instrumental stuff is still very vivid also, although I didn't know who was playing it - I was glad to find a recording of 'Amazing Grace' on the CD.

The guy I was with did not like LC at all, but I was entranced. I had been a fan for a couple of years, I'd already had one teary break-up to the tune of 'Hey that's no way to say goodbye' ... I've just seen LC again at Belfast, still wonderful - maybe if he's still touring this time next year, the 'survivors' could do something to mark the 40th anniversary. Him, Kris Kristofferson, Joan Baez ... maybe stretch a point and have Dylan as well ... a dream ticket !

SKR

[John Etherington]

Great idea! We could in fact still have the following: Terry Reid, Procol Harum, John Sebastian, Joni Mitchell, Pete Townshend & Roger Daltrey, Melanie, Kris Kristoffersen, Ralph McTell, Donovan, Pentangle, The Moody Blues, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, Richie Havens, and possibly others in some shape or form.

All the best, John E

[siempie1956]

try this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqu3U05t ... PL&index=4

[John Etherington]

Seeing that video again confirms my theory that there's zero chance of anyone seeing themselves in the crowd. I suspect that the only audience members you can see are the ones right next to the stage, within the press enclosure.

[Afton]

Hello Leonard Cohens' fan, my name is Roland, I'm from France.

I was at the festival and did celebrate my 18th birhday when Hendrix got on stage shortly after midnight on the 31/08. Unfortunately, I missed the Cohen's concert (but I have a bootleg), I felt a sleep while Jimi gave a poor performance got woken up by Richie Haven singing "Here Come The Sun" at sunrise just before the rain.

I can't wait for the cohen's concert DVD to be released later on this month, and catch up with it

The raison I have join the forum (and I hope you wont mind) is because "the 40th anniversary for everything spirit" I have put online a forum dedicated to the festival called "THE LAST GREAT EVENT" here's the address http://isleofwightfestival1970.da-forum.com/

The forum is in English and as already 19 members who have started to chat on the event.

Please forgive me if I have been an intruder, but I beleive that the forum would be of interest to some 1970 I.o.W festival veterants, and it's also within main subject of this forum "Leonard Cohen"

Roland

Thank you and hope to read you on "THE LAST GREAT FESTIVAL"

[Andrew (Darby)]

I know I'm a bit late, but better late than never! Seeing I kicked off this thread over 6 years ago (and asked about recordings), I should acknowledge how wonderful it is to know we all will now be able to fully capture (and for some of you, re-visit) what was an incredible event and one which probably did more to increase Leonard's profile than anything else at that time.

I have one friend here in Oz who was there at the IOW festival and I hope I can share a viewing with him at some point in the near future (though he lives 1,500 kilometres away from me at present) to experience his recalling it afresh.

Cheers,
Andrew

[sirius]

Memories, Dreams and Reflections - Isle Wight 1970 - DVD/CD 2009.

Me and... Leonard Cohen at Isle of Wight 1970 and 2009

By Peter Solomon 1970 and 2009
(Sirius)


I was just two months shy of my seventeenth birthday at 4 am on August 31 1970 and I knew all the words, I was maybe 50 to 75 yards from the stage just outside the overrun VIP and Press enclosure and Leonard Cohen was about to appear on stage at the Isle of Wight Festival.

My older brother Chris was to blame for me being there, for he introduced me to Leonard Cohen, and I had become smitten, I had caught the Leonard Cohen bug big time, which I would be unable to shake off for the rest of my life.

I knew all the songs and all about Marianne, Suzanne and Nancy. And I knew Tonight Will Be Fine, for I had waited 5 days and nights with hardly any sleep, after hitch hiking 250 miles with a friend from Manchester in the north of England to be there. I had just slept through most of Jimi Hendrix’s set, though disappointed to have missed him, that was unimportant as I had come to see Leonard Cohen, and was slowing moving forward to get as close as possible to the stage.

Looking back now after nearly 40 years it seems like a dream and I have woken up and am watching the DVD of my Dream, compulsively, 3 consecutive times so far and also listened to the whole CD. It’s as if time had become dislocated and the warp and woof of reality expanded to include a 40 year Present Moment.

As I watch I am really identifying very intensely with almost spiritual longing with that young man at the beginning of the DVD who was about my age, it was like coming to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus he says, except Leonard Cohen is no 'baby Jesus', and it also felt as much like Babylon as Bethlehem, with Fires, Chaos and Free Love all on display. But it was still like a holy pilgrimage for me.

I wanted so much to connect the 2 time-streams, as I watched Leonard on the DVD, the present with the past, to be there again, with my 17 year old self who was waving matches in the night, through the cold mists of time, trying to signal his presence to his future self. The strangeness of being a mere part, a cell in the huge Beast of Babylon that was the crowd, a Body of 600,000 people. You Know Who I Am, You’ve Stared at the Sun, sang the poet and prophet in the middle of the night and we stared at the stage where there was a human star burning with such bright intensity, as we stood in awe in the vast dark, small points of light, our matches in our hands.

The 1970 Leonard Cohen never looked so prickly and real, so unshaven, so raw and human yet so sensitive and spiritual, so powerful and yet so frail. So spaced out yet so centred in the moment. Speaking and singing from the heart with words and songs that communicate with the souls of men. He looked like some suffering Christ like figure that came to tell the world the truth but had just been woken up and did not really want to bother.

This was the biggest rock festival in the history of the world and there has not been anything like it since. I was there to see Leonard Cohen in 1970 at the Isle of Wight and feel after viewing the DVD in 2009 that events like these go beyond their stated purpose and moment, reverberate through time and become cracks in the fabric of the world and as Leonard would say, ‘that's how the light get’s in’, we enter a Communion with the Higher Powers. “We pray for the angels and then the angels pray for us” to misquote LC. The negative forces on Devastation Hill become insignificant, they had played their part to pump up the intensity and now are just another part of the story, another part of the myth... of how the artist calms the savage beast and opens a spiritual channel for transcendent love to flow and manifest in the world.

Leonard Cohen's words and songs are mined from the very deepest heart and soul. They are like the golden thread from some magical loom, which weave their way through time and remain with us from moment to moment, as we grow older they make our lives richer, more meaningful and bearable.

I am so pleased to have had this chance to be transported back 40 years in time and relive my younger days again. It‘s been an experience full of unique and extraordinary memories and emotions. And thanks to Leonard Cohen for being a beacon of light in the darkness of the world, truly he transcends past and present, to bring us the timeless truth of the heart.


By Peter Solomon 1970 and 2009
(Sirius)

[Andrew (Darby)]

Sirius, I love your recollection of the IOW festival and that time in your life - great stuff! It is a beautifully written nostalgic piece and I particularly love that last line summation of what Leonard represents for us!

On a more personal note, I (and I suspect everyone down here) will have to wait until Saturday for my IOW CD/DVD set...oh well, it could be worse.

Cheers
Andrew

[sirius]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for your kind reply, it's good to know your recollections and thoughts are meaningful to someone else. It was a surreal and dream like experience, yet at the same time very real, visceral and vivid, it certainly brought the past back to life.

Peter Solomon
(Sirius)

you wrote: Sirius, I love your recollection of the IOW festival and that time in your life - great stuff! It is a beautifully written nostalgic piece and I particularly love that last line summation of what Leonard represents for us!

On a more personal note, I (and I suspect everyone down here) will have to wait until Saturday for my IOW CD/DVD set...oh well, it could be worse.

Cheers
Andrew

[UrPal]

Thanks for your eye witness review, Sirius.

As I watch I am really identifying very intensely with almost spiritual longing with that young man at the beginning of the DVD who was about my age, it was like coming to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus he says, except Leonard Cohen is no 'baby Jesus', and it also felt as much like Babylon as Bethlehem, with Fires, Chaos and Free Love all on display. But it was still like a holy pilgrimage for me.

It's funny, but, having skimmed your review before watching the DVD last night, I was wondering whether you might have been the young lad in question interviewed towards the beginning of the film. I guess not.

I knew all the songs and all about Marianne, Suzanne and Nancy.

....and Nico? I notice she gets a few oblique mentions in the intros too. I'm curious as to the extent to which the Andy Warhol/VU crowd had entered the consciousness of music fans across the Atlantic by then.

He [Cohen] looked like some suffering Christ-like figure that came to tell the world the truth but had just been woken up and did not really want to bother.

I get a similar impression - at least in terms of the suffering. LC has what appears to me to be a pained expression throughout the performance, and seems ill at ease and just about containing outright anger by the substitution of a form of passive and ironic irritability.

I've previously formed a negative impression of the IoW performance based solely on hearing the "light a match" speech in isolation on some BBC "IoW festival remembered" radio show a few years ago, and assuming from it that Cohen was going through some "druggy hippy" phase. It's quite clear on seeing the performance that Cohen remains very much outside and antithetical to "peace & love zombiedom" (though not necessarily drug free ). That is gratifying.

The thing that strikes me about the IoW movie is the extent of the contrast between Cohen then and now. In some ways the same artist and yet he now seems a lot more at home in his shell.

It's clearly a brilliant and historic performance, and in many ways educational (in the sense of affording a new perspective on something you believed to be familiar) for folks like me who were more naturally inclined towards an enthusiasm for Donald Duck and pals at the time.

[Eva Maria]

I just watched the DVD and I love it.

He is such a wonderful performer!
Watching the DVD now I still felt his presence und some of the magic of that night.
It's fascinating to see that he manages to create some kind of intimacy with this large crowd.

And Leonard looked gorgeous then!
Well, he still looks great...

[Andrew (Darby)]

Well, I've finally got what I've been wanting for years: to see a decent coverage of Leonard performing at IOW! Yes, I collected my copy of the DVD/CD this morning and it was worth the wait.

I was quite mesmerised and moved by it, not just to see the younger Leonard in the early days of his career, but to have the reflective comments of his peers (such as Judy Collins) in addition. It was also intriguing to get an insight into the audience unrest context of Leonard's performance on that night, which he seemed to relate to and pacify effectively with his empathetic and frank comments.

I also think it's great that within six months we've been treated with Leonard then (1970) and now (2008) live performances, which we can now cherish. My only regret is that I wasn't at the 1970 one as well!

Cheers,
Andrew

[MaryB]

Sirius,

Like JohnE (on another thread perhaps), your recollection transported me to that night - all the joy you must have felt. It also made me sad that I missed the opportunity to have been there.

Having received my copy of the DVD/CD, perhaps on watching it (have not had a chance to do so yet), it will take some of the edge off.

Thank you for my joy in reading your wonderful post.


Kindest regards,
Mary

[sirius]

Hi Mary

In 1970 I was 'just a kid with a crazy dream' and now in 2009 the ‘DVD of Crazy Dreams’ echoes in my soul and in eternity.

Peter Solomon

(Sirius)

Sirius,

Like JohnE (on another thread perhaps), your recollection transported me to that night - all the joy you must have felt. It also made me sad that I missed the opportunity to have been there.

Having received my copy of the DVD/CD, perhaps on watching it (have not had a chance to do so yet), it will take some of the edge off.

Thank you for my joy in reading your wonderful post.


Kindest regards,
Mary