I just recently made my way back home from Toronto and, as per usual, I have made some great discoveries while wandering around that city. On this particular trip I came across an excellent little shop named Bay Street Video.
I am not sure how this shop had gone previously unnoticed, but I am sure glad I know about it now. The video store boasts to have the largest DVD collection for sale and rent in the city, and they just may be right. If you are in Toronto I highly recommend you check it out. I am always on the hunt for a new music DVD to add to my collection and Bay Street Video came through with tons of titles I hadn’t come across before; although I have to admit I have titles in my collection that they did not have! This time around I purchased Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival, The Movie.
The Isle of Wight is an island off the southeast coast of England that can be reached only by boat. In 1970, 600,000 people traveled to the Isle if Wight to attend a concert. Message to Love does an excellent job of capturing all aspects of this English Woodstock, the last major rock festival of its type. With a running time of approximately two hours, this film exposes the dark and light side of this festival, captures the end of an era and most importantly, some incredible music.
Although half a million people arrived on the island to take part in this festival, only 60,000 people decided they should have to pay the three English Pounds required to enter. The rest decided they had some inherent right to the artists and their music. The people felt that the music was becoming commercialised and as a result they believed they were being alienated from their own culture, the peace and love culture of the 1960s. Although it is true that music was becoming increasingly commercialised and had been for years, the audience may not have been completely rational.
Those who did not feel like paying not only made their statement, but also ruined the festival for the 60,000 who did pay to get in, pissed off a lot of musicians, and put the concert promoters in a very tight spot. Those who sat outside the festival gates called themselves members of desolation row. They spent the entire time cursing the fence, painting swastikas (among other things) on the fence, and ultimately doing their best to tear down the fence completely. The end result was three-fold.
Article comments
1 - Stephen V Funk
This DVD release is really a sadly botched missed opportunity on the part of Sony.
There are hours and hours and hours of amazing footage from this festival -- music and otherwise -- that were unused here. (Some of this has come out seperately on other DVDs... Hendrix, Jethro Tull, The Who, Miles Davis, etc.)
This project deserves the same luxurious multi-disc DVD treatment that Criterion gave to Monterey Pop.
But instead, it's a cheaply produced and shoddily packaged double-sided DVD (one hour per side -- no bonus features.)
Still, the glimpses of the festival you do get to see here are astonishing. I hope someday it gets the DVD release that it deserves.
(Ditto for Woodstock...)
2 - Craig Johnson
I have seen The Who and Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight DVD's and I couldn't agree with you more. This festival deserves a box set DVD collection!
3 - Paul
Hi Craig,
I'm really glad you found and liked our store. We've been serious about DVD from day one. We take pride in being able to offer a selection that makes people's jaws drop the first time they walk through the door. One of the biggest 'complaints' we hear is, "There's TOO much to look through!" - We can live with that ;-)
Thank you for the kind mention of our store. Much appreciated.
Paul R.
Manager
Bay Street Video
4 - Ziv, Israel
Many magical moments in this film, despite the less pleasant ones, but certainly a very good work by director Murray Lerner, capturing the vibes and atmosphere in late summer 1970, an atmosphere one cannot completely comprehend thses days from those far away smoke hazed days.
As Jethro Tull's main man, Ian Anderson described in the best fashion possible: "The crowd were someting between Donovan and football huligans, and terribly English". There's a rumor circulating about director Murray Lerner, that claims he still keeps around 175hr of previously unreleased material. We want more, don't we?
Peace :)