August 29, 1970: The Hate-the-Performer Festival

Joni Mitchell

August 29, 1970: The 3rd annual Isle of Wight festival is held at Afton Down, on the Isle of Wight, on the south coast of England -- coincidentally, in a town named Newport, whose namesake in Rhode Island had hosted folk and jazz music festivals.

The year before, Bob Dylan played it as his 1st concert since his 1966 motorcycle crash. It has long been rumored that the reason the Woodstock festival was named that, and intended to be held in the New York State town of that name, is that Dylan was living there, and that he would not be able to resist playing "in his own backyard." The show was finally moved to Bethel, 57 miles away. But when it began on August 15, Dylan was already flying to England for the Isle of Wight Festival.

Shows like Woodstock, Altamont, and the Rolling Stones' Hyde Park concert, all in 1969, upped the ante on rock festivals. The Isle of Wight Festival surpassed Woodstock, with over 600,000 spectators. But the prevailing wind blew the sound sideways across the venue, making it hard for the more distant spectators to hear.

The lineup:

* August 26: Judas Jump (a "heavy progressive rock" band), Kathy Smith, Rosalle Sorrels, David Bromberg, Kris Kristofferson, and Mighty Baby (listed as a "psychedelic rock band").

Kristofferson sang his song "Blame It On the Stones," and, not hearing the words properly, the audience thought he was criticizing the Rolling Stones, and the youth movement in general. He got booed off the stage.

* August 27: Gary Farr, formerly of the T-Bones, the band that produced Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Supertramp; Andy Roberts' Everyone; Ray Owen, formerly of Juicy Lucy; Howl, a Scottish hard rock band; Black Widow, a British band of practicing Satanists; The Groundhogs, British blues rockers; Terry Reid and David Lindley; Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, Brazilian musicans; and Gracious!, a British progressive rock band.

* August 28: Fairfield Parlour; Arrival; Lighthouse, a Canadian band; Taste, led by guitarist Rory Gallagher; Tony Joe White, who sang his song "Polk Salad Annie"; Chicago, early in their career; Family; Procol Harum; The Voices of East Harlem, singing school children from New York, one of the few acts to receive a standing ovation; and Cactus.

* August 29: John Sebastian, joined for a few songs by his former Lovin' Spoonful bandmate, Zal Yanovsky; Shawn Phillips; another set by Lighthouse; Joni Mitchell; Tiny Tim; Miles Davis; Ten Years After; Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Doors, in what turned out to be their 3rd-from-last performance, besieged by cold and wind; The Who; Sly and the Family Stone; and Melanie, who got one of the few nice receptions.

Sebastian, Ten Years After, The Who, Sly and Melanie had played at Woodstock; Mitchell hadn't, though she'd written the song "Woodstock." While she sang it, she was interrupted by a hippie calling himself Yogi Joe. Her manager grabbed him, and took him off the stage. The crowd booed, and she got upset, telling the audience, "Give us some respect!" She would later call this event "the Hate-the-Performer Festival."

* August 30: Good News, an American acoustic duo of cellist Larry Gold and guitarist Michael Bacon; Kristofferson, for a 2nd try, which was much better received; Ralph McTell; Heaven, a British "jazz-influenced rock band"; Free; Donovan; Pentangle, a British folk band: The Moody Blues, who played "Nights in White Satin"; Jethro Tull; and the headliner for the entire festival, Jimi Hendrix. No one knew it yet, but he would be dead just 20 days later.

* August 31: As with Woodstock, delays forced a spillover into one more day than was intended. This day featured Joan Baez, who sang "Let It Be," by the recently broken-up Beatles; Leonard Cohen; and the festival was closed by the man who opened Woodstock, Richie Havens.

"It was a total disaster," Kristofferson recalled. "They just hated us. They hated everything. They booed us, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Sly Stone. They threw shit at Jimi Hendrix. At the end of the night, they were tearing down the outer walls, setting fire to the concessions, burning their tents, shouting obscenities. Peace and love it was not."

The unexpectedly high attendance levels led, in 1971, to the British Parliament adding a section to the Isle of Wight County Council Act 1971 preventing overnight open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people on the island without a special license from the council.

The event was revived in 2002, and, except for the COVID year of 2020, has been held every year since.

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August 29, 1970 was a Saturday. Elsewhere in England, Chelsea beat Arsenal, 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in West London. This would be the North Londoners' only loss in their 1st 9 Football League games that season. They then began a streak of 13 wins, 4 draws and only 1 loss, on their way to winning the League and the FA Cup, a feat known as "doing The Double."

These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Yankee Stadium. Bill Zepp outpitched Mel Stottlemyre. Harmon Killebrew went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Rod Carew did not play.

* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 9-8 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Mets took an 8-7 lead in the top of the 10th inning, but the Astros won it in the bottom of the 10th, on RBI singles by Bob Watson and Cesar Cedeño.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Montreal Expos beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3 at Jarry Park in Montreal. The Reds scored 2 runs in the top of the 11th inning, and the Expos could only scored 1 in the bottom half. Pete Rose went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Johnny Bench went 2-for-5.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 10-9 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Hank Aaron went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-4, and Frank Robinson went 1-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the California Angels, 14-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. They played as if they hadn't been shaken up by teammate Tony Horton's suicide attempt the night before, so maybe they didn't know. Roy Foster and Buddy Bradford each hit 2 home runs for the Tribe, while Eddie Leon hit 1. Sam McDowell went the distance for the win.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Reggie Jackson did not play. Al Kaline went 2-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Boston Red Sox, 13-9 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Carl Yastrzemski went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.

* The Washington Senators beat the Kansas City Royals, 11-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Lou Brock went 3-for-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Joe Torre went 0-for-2 with 2 walks.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-9 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays, Jim Ray Hart and Bobby Bonds hit home runs. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-4 with 2 walks. Willie Stargell only appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* And the Chicago Cubs and the San Diego Padres did not play, since the San Diego Chargers had dibs on the facility later renamed Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). So the game scheduled for this Saturday was moved back to the preceding Thursday, August 27. The Cubs won, 5-1. Ernie Banks did not play.