Message to Love - The Isle of Wight Festival (1996)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

I remember the ferry ride over, carrying bags of drugs. Not mine, but carrying for a friend. It might have been speed, but since I only smoked pot I had no interest in it-no brains either, apparently!We went for the whole 5 days because I could and didn't know any better. The organizers handed out paper sleeping bags to a waiting throng on the day we arrived. We slept out-side the gates - 20 ft. away - and ran for a decent position when the gates opened the next morning.I don't remember eating or defecating, or very much of the music, but I have photos so I know I was there! I do remember people throwing glass pop bottles over the heads of those in front for some unknown reason, and even in my altered star realized they were idiots.John Sebastien - Lovin' Spoonful - entertained the crowd acoustically for two hours because of some band not showing or technical reasons, I forget which, of course.We walked up the Afton Downs hill and looked out over the English Channel. We saw people hundreds of feet below playing in the cold!! water. With a film crew shooting them. It looked forced. We also saw people fall from the top and bounce, slide and fall down the chalk cliffs. I've no idea what happened to them.At the end, on Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people started the trek to the ferries. There may have been buses to Cowes, but we heard it was faster to walk the 4.5 mi. To Yarmouth and that's what we did.I hope I'm in the movie, I was so much older then. I'm younger than that, now :-)

This is an invaluable document. End of review.I was an Isle of Wight resident, 18 years old, and didn't go to the Festival - I was working (I went to the previous year's Festival with Dylan headlining).Some background may be welcome. The Isle of Wight is and was a low income economy, with the bulk of the year's income coming from the summer holiday season, a short 10 weeks or so, with the peak earning period being the bank holiday weekend at the end of August. The first Pop Festival in 1968 was a surprise, the second in 1969 drew 250,000 people who went straight to the Festival site, stayed the weekend and then went straight home. By the time the third Festival loomed, it was clear that it completely destroyed the two key weeks of the short holiday season - family holiday makers didn't want to travel back and forth to the Island with (as it turns out) 600,000 rock fans, perceived as dirt smelly druggies. So this third Festival was not welcome on the Isle of Wight (even I could see that, and I wanted to go!), and had trouble finding a site.The only site it could find, in the end, was at Afton Down, on the less inhabited side of the Island. Unfortunately, the topography of the area meant that the performance arena had to be at the bottom of a gentle valley. Although that area was fenced off, it was a simple matter to find a spot on the Downs which formed the sides of the valley, and to sit and watch and hear the whole thing completely free. This had the effect of making the whole thing an economic disaster (which perhaps explains the somewhat acerbic style adopted by MC Rikki Farr, one of the organisers). It meant that organisers Fiery Creations were not able to mount a fourth Festival although, even had they been able to do so, they would have been prevented from doing it on the Isle of Wight due to the Isle of Wight Act being passed as a law, which prohibited large open air assemblies on the Island in order to protect the economy.The current Festivals on the Isle of Wight have a limited attendance and are run by the Council.But this last one featured a lot of noteworthy things: Hendrix' last live performance Jim Morrison's last live performance Nude swimming in Compton Bay The end of the hippie dream (in the UK at least) Joni Mitchell being scared by someone rushing the stage Kris Kristofferson being booed off stage Substantially better toilet facilities than the 1969 Festival (I need to mention this because the 1969 facilities were almost non-existent). Modesty - and a healthy dose of embarrassment - prevents me from providing details.Ah, the good old days!

For fans of the musical acts that performed at this one of a kind concert, Isle of Wight is a must-see look. The interview sections are not of the high quality of those of Woodstock where you might have taken away something from what was being said. Here it's mostly a lot of ultra-hippie types (one who apparently gave his 3 year old son acid and pot), as well as some British fellows who run the concert. These interviews are OK enough on their own, and maybe the biggest liability from Lerner on this end as well as the music is in the editing. It's only a 2 hour film, which regrettably (like Monterrey Pop) is way too short in viewing such a monumental moment (and fleeting one like Altamont) in such a short running time. Still, almost every musical act is worth checking out in their limited time frame, and a little extra sadness comes along in seeing that a few of these people didn't live long after the concert ended. Some of the memorable acts include the Doors (all too brief of course), Jimi Hendrix (ditto), the Who, Miles Davis (in different form from his 50's days), Ten Years After, the Moody Blues, and Free.

Rory Gallagher & Taste - raw energy and talent - stole the Isle of Wight festival. They had 3 or 4 encores. Fusion of jazz and blues. Rory mixed all genres of blues - from acoustic, Mississippi Delta, Chicago.He combined a guitar style with his singing - that made the guitar sound like an extension of his voice. Wailing away.Eric Clapton was like a sheep in comparison to this Celtic tiger.Some songs include: Bullfrog blues, Used to be, Cant believe its true. For the last time. Sinnerboy. Messin with the kid, What in the world.Hes played with the greats - including Jack Bruce in Rockpalast concerts. Playing with Muddy Waters in London was the highlight of his career.