SIDEBAR - THE ISLE OF WIGHT POP FESTIVAL

More than a year after Woodstock, the third and final Isle of Wight Pop Festival was held August 2631, 1970, on the island of the same name off the coast of southern England. The previous year's festival had attracted about 200,000 people, most of them drawn by the opportunity to see and hear Bob Dylan, whose performances were still sporadic in the wake of his 1966 motorcycle accident. In 1970 some 600,000 people showed up, though only about 50,000 bought tickets, and many encamped on the hill nicknamed Desolation Row overlooking the fenced-in grounds, which one gate-crasher compared to a psychedelic concentration camp. The performers that year included Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, the Who, the Moody Blues, and Canned Heat. Jimi Hendrix also appeared, turning in an indifferent performance that was to be the last before his death. This was also one of the last performances for Al Wilson of Canned Heat, who died soon after of a drug overdose. Ed Ward