Bill Bradshaw - Bob Dylan at the Isle of Wight Festival 1969

PAPERBACK 

2019 marks the golden anniversary of the mass musical gatherings that saw the hippie

generation at their 1969 zenith. Two events stand out, staged within days of each other that magical August: in the United States, there was Woodstock, and in the UK the Isle of Wight Festival of Music.

Woodstock drew 400,000 fans and a quality bill that was a Who's Who of contemporary talent - all bar the main man the organisers hoped to lure on the doorstep of his home, Bob Dylan. Instead, Dylan opted to headline at the Isle of Wight, in front of close to 200,000 adoring fans.