21 throwback photos from Isle of Wight Festival in the 1960s and 1970s

We dived into the archives to find some great historic images from the festival in its early days.

The first festival was held at at Ford farm, near Godshill, between August 31 and September 1 in 1968, and was attended by about 10,000 people. Jefferson Airplane headlined, The Move, Tyrannosaurus Rex and The Pretty Things performing to mention a few.

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Isle of Wight Festival 1969 took place on 30 and 31 August 1969 at Wootton, with around 150,000 attending. Performers included Bob Dylan, Marsha Hunt, The Who, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, and Joe Cocker. Celebrities in the crowd watching were John Lennon and Yoko Ono, George Harrison with Pattie Boyd, Ringo Starr with Maureen Starkey, Keith Richards and Jane Fonda.

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The 1970 edition of the festival was attended by between 600,000 and 700,000 people, this unexpectedly large turnout led Parliament to a section to the Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971 preventing overnight open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people.

The festival was then revived in 2002 and has run annually since then – however this year’s festival was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Have a look through our gallery below to see pictures from the first editions of the Isle of Wight Festival.

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