Ian, your account of the concert is fascinating in it's contrast to
the general impression that has been floating around...
The concert has generally been portrayed as an angry mob
who were pissed off at the capitalist rock stars and promoters,
tearing down fences, booing the performers, etc...
your description makes it sound more like a regular (if huge)
rock show....
I saw a film of Hendrix' set the other day-a powerful offhand
bit of genius...also the Who have put out a double CD of their
set, all of Tommy....so apparently the crowd was not so rowdy
that they ruined the recordings!
It's been a while since I've seen the "Message To Love" concert film,
now I'm eager to see it again.
Any other reflections you have would be most welcome.
RR
Ian Scott wrote:
It's a great pity that there is all of this negativity in the reporting
about the day that Joni played in front of the biggest audience in her life,
> Randy et al,
>
> That helicopter incident is particularly significant when you consider that
> the IOW Festival, 1970, was the biggest live entertainment event in the
> history of the world: roadies who worked at both were unanimous that it was
> bigger than Woodstock. Now, the impression that I get from all publications
> is that there was some hostility between the crowd and Joni that day. This
> is ABSOLUTELY not true. I was sitting inside the arena and in a good
> position to feel the general mood of the crowd, and I can assure you that
> the only hostility was directed toward the helicopter pilot flying overhead
> and NOT at Joni. 95% of the crowd did not even notice the Yogi Bear
> incident( he had no mike and was not centre stage) and more than 99% had no
> sympathy for him. By the time, Joni struck into "Big Yellow Taxi" the
> helicopter had gone and everybody was listening to Joni.
> It's a great pity that there is all of this negativity in the reporting
> about the day that Joni played in front of the biggest audience in her life,
> because, on the day, apart from the helicopter incident, which was an
> unfortunate interruption that could have happened to anyone, and the Yogi
> Bear stage invasion (which almost nobody noticed), there was just a huge
> amount of love for Joni.
>
> Ian
> >Ian Scott wrote:
> >
> >Unfortunately, until now, I've only ever seen Joni perform live once, when
> I
> >
> >> was in my teens and she performed at the Isle of Wight Festival (an
> English
> >> equivalent of Woodstock). I remember her performance was marred by a
> noisy
> >> helicopter flying overhead, which Joni could nether see nor hear. This
> >> resulted in 100,000+ people booing, jeering and shouting "go away" at the
> >> helicopter. Sadly, Joni thought the boos were aimed at her and started to
> cry.
> >> My heart and that of the whole audience went out to her. I wonder if Joni
> ever
> >> found out the real reason why people were booing that day? I hope so.
> Anyway,
> >> this leads me to my question. there were two big Isle of Wight Festivals,
> >> August '69 when Bob Dylan topped the bill and August '70 when Jimi
> Hendrix was
> >> t
