The Doors - 1970-08-29 - Isle Of Wight, UK (SBD)

The Doors

1970-08-29

The Isle Of Wight Festival

East Afton Farm

Isle Of Wight, England

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. Introduction

02. Back Door Man

03. Break On Through

04. When The Music's Over

05. Ship Of Fools

06. Roadhouse Blues

06. Light My Fire

07. The End

The Doors - 1970-08-29 - Isle Of Wight, UK (SBD)

Some sources claim that The Doors tuned down playing at Woodstock because Jim Morrison hated performing out doors.  In 1986, however, Ray Manzarek, explained that The Doors "never played at Woodstock because we were stupid and turned it down. We thought it would be a second class repeat of Monterry Pop Festival."

Perhaps missing Woodstock inspired the band to make up for their mistake by playing The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. For 3 straight years, from 1968 to 1970, The Isle of Wight, a small island just off the south east coast of England, was the site of major rock festivals attracting some of the biggest names in rock music.  The 1968 festival was headlined by The Jefferson Airplane while the 1969 concert featured Bob Dylan and The Who.  The 1970 festival, however, has garnered the most attention, however, for two reasons.  First, Jimi Hendrix headlined the show, which in turn attracted additional acts such as Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Chicago, The Doors, The Who, ELP, The Moody Blues, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, and Miles Davis.  Second, the event attracted over 600,000 people, making it the largest concert ever held until that point.  The massive nature of the event also meant it would be the last such show on the Isle of Wight for over 32 years. In 1971 the British Parliament passed the "Isle of Wight Act" preventing gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special license.  The 1970 Festival lasted from August 27th to August 30th, with the biggest names performing on the last 2 days.  For more details on the festival, go here. This soundboard recording captures The Doors' set at the Isle of Wight on August 29, 1970, 49 years ago today.  The whole show was played in almost total darkness as Jim Morrison refused to have spotlights on the ban (maybe really didn't like playing outdoors!!) One other note about this concert.First, the date of this show is often listed as either August 30 or 31, but my research seems to indicate that August 29 is correct.