Wednesday 26th

 

1. Judas Jump: A heavy progressive rock band featuring Andy Bown and Henry Spinetti of The Herd and Allan Jones of Amen Corner.

2. Kathy Smith: A Californian singer-songwriter, signed to Richie Havens' label, "Stormy Forest", was well received.

3. Rosalie Sorrels: Another folk musician, accompanied by David Bromberg on guitar.

4. David Bromberg: Bromberg was not on the bill, but he performed a set. "Mr. Bojangles" was included on the album The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies.

5. Redbone: Native American pop/rock outfit. On the bill, but did not perform.

6. Kris Kristofferson: Performed a controversial set. Due to poor sound, the audience was unable to hear his set, and it appeared that they were jeering him. He was eventually booed off the stage. "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."

7. Mighty Baby: psychedelic rock band.

 

Thursday 27th

 

1. Gary Farr: The brother of Rikki Farr, Gary had been the front man of the T-Bones, an R&B combo that featured Keith Emerson on keyboards. By this time, he had become a solo artist, and his only album, Strange Fruit, for Columbia Records, had been released in 1970.

2. Supertramp: Their debut album had just been released a month prior to the festival.

3. Andy Roberts' Everyone

4. Ray Owen's Moon: ex-Juicy Lucy vocalist

5. Howl (band): Scottish hard-rock band formerly known as "The Stoics", featuring Frankie Miller

6. Black Widow: a British band that wrote songs about Satan worship in their 1970 debut LP, Sacrifice

7. The Groundhogs: English blues rockers

8. Terry Reid: The English singer performed with David Lindley. The set was released on CD in 2004.

9. Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso: Brazilian Tropicália musicians .

10. Gracious! A British progressive rock band.

 

​

Friday 28th

 

1. Fairfield Parlour: They had recorded a single called "Let The World Wash In", released under the name I Luv Wight, which they hoped would become the festival's theme song. They had also previously recorded as Kaleidoscope. One song available "Soldiers of Flesh" on a bootleg vinyl record called "Coca Cola Bullshit"

2. Arrival: Their set included a Leonard Cohen song.

3. Lighthouse: This Canadian act performed two sets at the festival.

4. Taste: Guitarist Rory Gallagher had a blues trio from 1966 to 1970. This was one of their final shows, which was filmed and recorded. An album, Live at the Isle of Wight, was released of their set in 1971. Their set is featured on the Taste: What's Going on - Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 DVD & Blu Ray released in 2016.

5. Tony Joe White: Performed hits including "Polk Salad Annie"; his drummer was Cozy Powell. Tony Joe's entire set was released in 2006 on Swamp Music, a Rhino Handmade collection of his Monument recordings.

6. Chicago: Their set included "25 or 6 to 4," "Beginnings" and "I'm a Man."

7. Family: Their set included "The Weaver's Answer," which had become their signature song.

8. Procol Harum: Frontman Gary Brooker commented that it was a cold night. "Salty Dog" was included on The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies album.

9. Redbone: Native American pop/rock outfit.

10. The Voices of East Harlem: An ensemble of singing school children from East Harlem in New York City. Their set received several standing ovations.

11. Cactus: Two songs from their set were featured on the LP The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies.

12. Mungo Jerry were there but did not play.

 

Saturday 29th

 

1. John Sebastian: Performed an 80-minute set, during which former Lovin' Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanovsky made a surprise guest appearance.

2. Shawn Phillips: This American folk musician performed an impromptu solo set following John Sebastian.

3. Lighthouse (second set)

4. Joni Mitchell: Played a controversial set; following her performance of "Woodstock", a hippie named Yogi Joe interrupted her set to make a speech about the people at the festival in an encampment built of straw bales known as Desolation Row. When Joe was hauled off by Joni's manager, the audience began to boo until Mitchell made an emotional appeal to them for some respect for the performers.[9] Contrary to popular belief, Joe was not the man who was ranting about a "psychedelic concentration camp". That was another incident that took place the previous day. After the crowd quieted down, Mitchell closed her set with "Big Yellow Taxi".

5. Tiny Tim: His rendition of "There'll Always Be an England" can be seen in the film Message to Love.

6. Miles Davis: A DVD of his complete set was released in 2004. "Call It Anythin'" was included on The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies album.

7. Ten Years After: British blues rockers performing what was basically a reprise of their famous Woodstock set. Highlights included "I'm Going Home" and "I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes," which was featured on the album The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies and the film Message to Love.

8. Emerson, Lake & Palmer: This was their second gig. Pictures at an Exhibition, which featured the Moog synthesizer, was the centerpiece of their historic set. Commercially released as Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 in 1997.

9. The Doors: Their set was shrouded in darkness due to Jim Morrison's unwillingness to have movie spotlights on the band. Their performances of "The End" and "When the Music's Over" are featured in Message to Love. As described in Morrison's biography, No One Here Gets Out Alive, wind, bad weather, and the cold made their performance even harder. Bootleg recordings of the performances and audio exist, alongside a 2015 remastered release by Doxy Records which has been made available on Spotify. A live version of "Break On Through (To the Other Side)" was featured in the soundtrack for When You're Strange. Their set is featured on the Doors: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 in a combo DVD/CD – Blu Ray/CD & DVD – Blu Ray released in 2018.

10. The Who: Their entire set, including the rock opera Tommy, was released in 1996 on CD (Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970). Two years later their set appeared on DVD with significant cuts from Tommy and a few other songs (such as "Naked Eye") missing. In addition, the DVD song set order was radically altered to present Tommy as if having been performed at the second half of the concert (with "See Me, Feel Me"/"Listening to You" as the conclusion), although Tommy was performed in the middle of their lengthy set, and the closing title was "Magic Bus", which concluded some Who concerts at that time. A 2006-reissued DVD of the concert retains the altered order, despite having been personally "supervised" by Who guitarist and songwriter Peter Townshend.

11. Sly and the Family Stone: The showstoppers of Woodstock performed to a tired audience on the early morning of Sunday. However, the audience woke up for spirited renditions of "I Want to Take You Higher", "Dance to the Music" and "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", which featured Sly on guitar. "Stand" and "You Can Make it if You Really Try" appeared on the album The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies. Prior to their encore, another political militant decided it was time to make a speech and the booing audience started to throw beer cans onto the stage. Freddie Stone was hit by a flying can and an angry Sly decided to skip the encore. He did promise a second appearance, but this never occurred.

12. Melanie: This Woodstock veteran played a well-received set as the sun rose. Prior to her set, Keith Moon of The Who offered her some moral support and encouragement. Not until afterwards did Melanie realise who he was. Her performance of her own song, "What Have They Done to My Song Ma", was included in a 2010 French documentary, spanning the 1970 and 2010 I.O.W. festivals, called From Wight to Wight and first shown on TV station ARTE, on 30 July 2010.

 

Sunday 30th

 

1. Good News: American acoustic duo.

2. Kris Kristofferson (second set). Two of his songs from his sets were included on the album The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies.

3. Ralph McTell: Despite an enthusiastic reception from the audience, he did not play an encore, and the stage was cleared for Donovan.

4. Heaven: English answer to Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears, managed by Rikki Farr.

5. Free: Their set list consisted of "Ride on a Pony", "Mr. Big", "Woman", "The Stealer", "Be My Friend", "Fire & Water", "I'm a Mover", "The Hunter", their classic hit "All Right Now", and concluded with a cover of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads". Although not listed on any published setlist, "Oh I Wept" was also played. The song is audible as background when Rikki Farr is interviewed about drug-warnings, about 26 minutes into the film Message to Love.

6. Donovan: He first performed an acoustic set, and then an electric set with his band Open Road.

7. Pentangle: British folk band. A German woman interrupted their set to deliver a political message to the audience.

8. The Moody Blues: A popular British act and veterans of the 1969 festival. Their rendition of "Nights in White Satin" can be seen in Message to Love. Their set is featured on Threshold of A Dream Live at the Isle of Wight 1970.

9. Jethro Tull: Their set is featured on Nothing Is Easy: Live at the Isle of Wight 1970. During Sunday morning the audience were entertained by a rehearsal/sound-check by Jethro Tull.

10. Jimi Hendrix: Performed in the early hours of 31 August with Mitch Mitchell on drums and Billy Cox on bass. Throughout Hendrix was beset by technical problems (during "Machine Gun" the security personnel's radio is clearly heard through Hendrix's amplifier). The set has been released on CD and video in various forms. "Power to Love", "Midnight Lightning" and "Foxy Lady" received top billing on the album The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies.

11. Joan Baez: Her version of "Let It Be" can be seen in the film Message to Love.

12. Leonard Cohen: Backed by his band The Army, his tune "Suzanne" can be seen in the film Message to Love. "Tonight Will Be Fine" were included on the album The First Great Rock Festivals of The Seventies. In October 2009, audio and video (both DVD and Blu-ray) recording of his set, Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 was released.

13. Richie Havens: The musician who opened Woodstock closed this festival with a set during the morning of 31 August. As Havens performed his version of "Here Comes the Sun", a cloudy dawn broke after four days of cloudless sky, so he changed the lyrics to "Here Comes the Dawn". Havens' set, which is available as an audience recording, also included "Maggie's Farm" by Bob Dylan, "Freedom", "Minstrel from Gault" and the Hare Krishna mantra.