On August 26, 1970, a huge music festival started on the Isle of Wight, an island off the coast of England. It lasted five days and had tons of famous singers and bands like Bob Dylan, The Doors, Joni Mitchell, The Who, and Jimi Hendrix. This festival was one of the biggest ones they had since it began two years before. About 600,000 to 700,000 people came to listen to the music on a grassy hill called Afton Down, near a little town called Freshwater.
This festival was special because it was the last time Jimi Hendrix played a full concert in England before he passed away a few weeks later on September 18, 1970. He was only 27 years old. Some other big names, like Bob Dylan and The Who, had played there the year before too. Even a famous jazz musician named Miles Davis performed for the biggest crowd he’d ever seen!
But the festival wasn’t all fun and games. Unlike the happy Woodstock festival from the year before, this one had some trouble. People in the crowd were loud and rowdy. Some started fights, threw things, and even set the stage on fire! Others snuck in without paying because the tickets cost more than usual. They even made a messy camp out of hay and called it Desolation Row.
Jimi Hendrix had been traveling around on his Cry of Love Tour since April that year, and this was his first show back in England in a long time—18 months! Early in the morning on August 31, around 2 a.m., he stepped on stage with his band, which included Billy Cox on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. They started with a loud version of “God Save the Queen” and then played “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles, a song he liked to use to kick off his shows.
The performance had some problems—like weird radio sounds messing up the music—but Jimi and his band kept going. Songs like “Spanish Castle Magic” and “All Along the Watchtower” were tricky to play with the noise, but they powered through. One song, “Machine Gun,” turned into a super long 22-minute jam, with Mitch playing the drums by himself for four whole minutes!
Things got better by the time they played “Lover Man,” and the sound was much clearer for the rest of the show. Jimi said to the crowd, “Hello, how are you doing England? Glad to see you. We’ll do a thing called ‘Freedom.’” Then he played “Red House,” “Dolly Dagger,” and “Midnight Lightning.” During “Foxy Lady,” the radio noise came back, but Jimi made it fun by playing a long solo—sometimes even using his teeth!
The band kept going with songs like “Message to Love,” “Hey Joe,” “Purple Haze,” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” They ended with “In From the Storm” after almost two hours of music. At the end, Jimi thanked everyone for waiting and said, “Thank you for being so patient. Maybe one of these days, smoke a joint again, I really hope so, right. Thank you very much. And peace and happiness and all the other good stuff.”
Sadly, Jimi Hendrix passed away less than three weeks later. His Isle of Wight show was recorded, and parts of it were turned into an album called Isle of Wight in 1971. Years later, in 2002, the whole concert came out as Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight, and then a movie of it was released in 2014. His very last concert was on September 6, 1970, in Germany, and just two days before he died, he played a little bit with his friend Eric Burdon in London.
That 1970 festival was the last one on the Isle of Wight for a long time. It didn’t start up again until 2002. Jimi Hendrix’s setlist from that night included these songs:
1. God Save the Queen
2. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
3. Spanish Castle Magic
4. All Along the Watchtower
5. Machine Gun
6. Lover Man
7. Freedom
8. Red House
9. Dolly Dagger
10. Midnight Lightning
11. Foxy Lady
12. Message to Love
13. Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)
14. Ezy Ryder
15. Hey Joe
16. Purple Haze
17. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
18. In From the Storm
It was a wild night of music that people still talk about today!
