Message to Love - The Isle of Wight Festival

1996
Message to Love - The Isle of Wight Festival
7.6| 2h7m| en| More Info
Released: 21 February 1997 Released
Producted By: BBC
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Synopsis

In August 1970, 600,000 fans flocked to the Isle of Wight to witness the third and final festival to be held on the island. Besides the music, they also got a look at the greed, cynicism and corruption that would plague the music industry for years to come. They also witnessed the final, drugged out performance of Jimi Hendrix in England just two weeks before he would meet a tragic death. When it all was over, the fans view of rock and roll was never the same.

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gulag I find it very interesting that it took 25 years to get this documentary seen. Meanwhile there are now generations who believe the Woodstock myth: That one should follow one's instincts and intuition minus logic minus reality. (Yes I know there are better aspects of the dream.) Even the more well known Altamont festival took years to be as known as it now is, which still pales in comparison to Woodstock. Everyone knows Woodstock. Just as everyone knows the flower power myth and the San Francisco dream. Yet the media didn't really cover the failure of the hippie dream. (The media also hardly covered the deaths of Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison.) I suspect that was for two reasons: One, it didn't mean that much to the straight media at the time; and two, there was a lot more money to be made off of the dream than off of its failure. And yet we all live in the fallout from that of that failure without really understanding it. Gimme Shelter, the film of the Rolling Stones at Altamont, is one essential document of the failure of that dream. And this film is another. I echo the words of the others here who recommend this to anyone interested in rock music. I would extend that to anyone who wants to understand why the present moment is what it is: Not as the final explanation but as a historical step along the way.Yes there is brilliant music here. The Who's Naked Eye stands out as it does at the end of the film. And interestingly enough I'm sure it was placed at the end as a comment on the nature of such dreams. Pete Townshend understood fairly early on the failure of the dream. 'Won't get fooled again' is indeed the cynical motto of the years from Punk and Beyond. Now, however, even those words seem like a hopeless dream. I don't think we understand where we are until we understand that we will be fooled again and again, and until there is a major paradigm shift. As long as music is held in a divine light we will be drawn to it like locusts to a field of wheat. The new paradigm can't be left or right. Rather we need a view based upon intelligence over sensation. Yes Hendrix plays brilliantly here. But it doesn't make me feel good that he does. People worshiped him and let him kill himself. Ditto Morrison. Ditto the dream. See this film. Let your friends see it. Learn. Think.
jmcm01 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.
secordman More so than the Altamont debacle, the Isle of Wight Festival was the end of an era. Morrison and Hendrix would soon be gone, and the impracticalities of mass concerts like this is shown in all the turmoil that occurred here. This is a documentary movie with terrific musical numbers in a wild mix, from Leonard Cohen to Ten Years After, from John Sebastian to the Who, from Tiny Tim to Miles Davis to Taste. The most revealing glimpse into the future is the progressive rock juggernaut taking sail, with Emerson Lake and Palmer a million miles away from Joni Mitchell-type hippiedom. The invasion of the stage by a man during Joni's set serves to contrast the "do your own thing" attitude with the "let's tighten up security and make some money" realities which would become the norm soon enough. There's a middle ground here which is energizing. Certainly this is no Woodstock '99, which was simply a horrible evil place with no redeeming qualities.
reza-3 I never get to experience the Isle of Wight or the Woodstock so this is a great way to see it and there's also interviews. You can also see the fans raging against the police. It's a great video... you should see it and experience it for yourself. There are great artist like Hendrix,The Doors, The Who, Joni Mitchell and lot more.