The original Isle of Wight festival is seeped in musical history. The 1970 event attracted the largest crowd at a UK festival ever and it's infamous for holding Jimi Hendrix's final performance before his death.

The festival is often uttered in the same breath as Woodstock and those at the early incarnations of the event witnessed performances from musical greats like Bob Dylan, The Doors and T-Rex.

However, when nearly a million hippies descended to the Afton Down site in 1970 t... read more

The original Isle of Wight festival is seeped in musical history. The 1970 event attracted the largest crowd at a UK festival ever and it's infamous for holding Jimi Hendrix's final performance before his death.

The festival is often uttered in the same breath as Woodstock and those at the early incarnations of the event witnessed performances from musical greats like Bob Dylan, The Doors and T-Rex.

However, when nearly a million hippies descended to the Afton Down site in 1970 the festival suddenly turned into a chaotic free-for-all. The anarchistic behaviour prompted local authorities to pass the 'Isle of Wight' Act which banned any future festivals on the island.

The event was re-ignited in 2002 and began, as its predecessor had done, with just one day of music. It then grew into a two-day bash before settling on its current three day format.

Today it still attracts the world's biggest acts with The Rolling Stones' playing their only UK festival date last year on the Garden Isle. Onsite there is a funfair as well as a selection of food and drink stalls, and with only one stage there are no timetable clashes to worry about.less

I personall felt that the festival wasn't really too overcrowded! Didn't really have to que up much at all!
from: Too big by padmorehouse