BBC Radio 4 broadcasts a reunion programme this Sunday, 23rd August 2026 at 10am, bringing together performers and organisers from the 1969 and 1970 Isle of Wight Festivals.
Three young brothers from the Island staged both events, and according to the programme, working respectively as an estate agent, a publisher and an art student.
The programme credits Bill and Ray Foulk, alongside their brother Ron, with turning what it calls “a parochial island into the world centre of counter-culture.”
For the 1969 festival the Foulk brothers persuaded Bob Dylan to headline, despite the singer having played no live shows for three years following a serious motorcycle accident.
A bigger, more contested festival followed in 1970
The 1970 event went ahead the following year despite fierce opposition from Island residents, with 50 acts on the bill including Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix.
The programme states the line-up drew 600,000 fans to the Island, a figure it describes as six times the resident population at the time. However, in his first audio interview since the festival, Ray Foulk told OnTheWight back in 2010 that he felt the figure was more likely around 300,000. Still a significant influx for the Island.
A vocal group of attendees pushed for the event to be free, and the promoters eventually gave way, a decision the programme says cost them heavily.
Musicians look back on the size and the mood
Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues tells the programme he found the scale of the 1970 crowd nerve-wracking from the stage.
Jacqui McShee of Pentangle describes her excitement at watching Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix perform live, both artists she idolised.
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull takes a different view, telling the programme he believes the 1970 festival marked the “tawdry end” of the peace and love era.
Journalists and Islanders share their own memories
Richard Williams, who covered the festival for Melody Maker at the time, also features in the programme.
So does Terrii Telfer, an Island resident who camped through the event in a sleeping bag with a sheet of plastic underneath her.
Bill Foulk recalls five days with almost no sleep in the run-up to the 1970 festival as he and his brothers scrambled to get the site ready.
Ray Foulk remembers three of the Beatles turning up simply to spend time with Bob Dylan, ending up playing tennis in the grounds of the farmhouse where Dylan was staying.
If you miss the programme when it airs, you can listen again on the BBC Sounds app.
