Ray Foulk

Expanded edition, featuring a new chapter and photographs on the Festival’s modern revival under John Giddings. The Isle of Wight Festival in 1969 famously stole Bob Dylan from Woodstock’ and set the benchmark for all rock and pop festivals in the UK. Its 1970 follow-up became one of the most iconic music gatherings of all time, with an unforgettable line-up including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, The Doors, Joan Baez and many more. Widely reported to have drawn 600,000 people—five times the Island’s population—it was Britain’s own Woodstock, and Hendrix’s last major performance before his death just 17 days later. Joint organiser Ray Foulk gives a unique insider’s account of the extraordinary highs and the bitter conflicts surrounding the event, from local hostility to counterculture clashes. Controversial, chaotic, and unforgettable, the 1970 festival has been named The Last Great Event. This expanded edition not only revisits those legendary days but also brings the story into the present, with a brand-new chapter and rare photographs covering the Festival’s rebirth under John Giddings from 2002. It explores how the event was successfully revived for a new generation, cementing the Isle of Wight Festival’s reputation as one of the world’s great live music experiences.

This special signed edition of volumes 1 & 2 of 'When the World Came to the Isle of Wight' tells festival organiser Ray Foulk's story of the 1968, 1969 and 1970 Isle of Wight Festivals. Volume 1, 'Stealing Dylan from Woodstock', tells of the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, Bob Dylan's one and only full concert appearance in seven-and-a-half years and one that played its part in a highly transformative period of the artist's life. The book tells, from a unique perspective, of an extraordinary event that seismically altered the lives of the author, his family, all those involved with it and many of those who attended. After the festival famously 'stole Bob Dylan from Woodstock' in 1969, and was the starting point and benchmark for all rock and pop festivals in the UK. The following year, documented in Volume 2, 'The Last Great Event', would also be Jimi Hendrix's last major performance - 17 days later he was dead. Many remember this festival as a magical, life-changing experience, encapsulating the sixties trip of sex, drugs, rock'n'roll and a political yearning for a better world.But for others, a question looms large over the history: did this final festival help precipitate the end of the dream of an alternative society, or did it reflect the changes already taking place?

The Isle of Wight Festival in 1969 famously 'stole Bob Dylan from Woodstock' and was the starting point and benchmark for all rock and pop festivals in the UK. What followed in 1970 was one of the world's greatest music gatherings of all time, attracting musicians and fans from across the whole musical spectrum. The list of performers is a Who's Who of the then music elite, who are now legends: Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, the Who, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Joni Mitchell, Procul Harum, the Doors, Leonard Cohen, the Moody Blues, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Kris Kristofferson, Donovan, Melanie, Jethro Tull - the list goes on. This was Britain's 'Woodstock' and all on a tiny island off the south coast. It would also be Hendrix's last major performance - 17 days later he was dead. The 1970 Festival was a pivotal event in so many ways. It spanned five days and nights with an audience widely reported to have reached 600,000 (on an Island with a population of 120,000) who were entertained by an unsurpassed galaxy of world famous musicians. But the organisation of such a huge happening was ievitably far from plain sailing.It proved to be a roller coaster ride for the intrepid young Foulk brothers who navigated its course through a year of relentless political buffeting from local reactionary opponents and then from extremist counterculture militants who thought they would prefer a free festival. Just as Island opponents were busily sabotaging the festival site and issuing death-threats, so too an unsavoury cabal of radicals arrived from London under the banner of the White Panthers, intent upon undermining the event. For the first time, Ray Foulk, joint organiser, gives his own full, frank and authoritative account, delving into pivotal texts from all sides of the divide. Many remember this festival as a magical, life-changing experience, encapsulating the sixties trip of sex, drugs, rock'n'roll and a political yearning for a better world. But for others, a question looms large over the history: did this final festival help precipitate the end of the dream of an alternative society, or did it reflect the changes already taking place? This most controversial of festivals was aptly promoted by the Foulk brothers themselves as 'The Last Great Event'.

For a time, the Isle of Wight Festivals transformed a sleepy English island into the rock'n'roll capital of the world. From promoting a one-nighter in 1968, to raise funds for a local swimming pool, the young Foulk brothers were able to outperform Woodstock, by signing the world-exclusive appearance of rock's poet laureate, Bob Dylan. The de facto leader of the counterculture had been hidden away in the artist-town of Woodstock, rarely seen after a motorcycle accident three years earlier. He turned his back on the eponymous festival, put there to persuade him to come out and play, and left for Europe on the day their event began. For the Foulk brothers - lacking experience, resources and time - the coup and ensuing public response was almost overwhelming, but with audacious bravado and steely determination they delivered the most awaited event of the era. Devotees from hippies to celebrities flocked to the Island from mainland Britain, Europe, the Americas and as far away as Australia. As well as changing the lives of Ray and his brothers the phenomenon played its part in a highly transformative period for Bob Dylan, in which the Isle of Wight remained his one and only full concert appearance in seven-and-a-half years.