Page 8 - Radiodowntown online October 2021

BOB DYLAN
ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT
(continued from last month’s article)
By Rob Atkins
Upon their arrival at Ryde on the Isle of Wight, Bob and Sara Dylan were driven to Bembridge, a largish village at the Island’s eastern tip. Here they were comfortably installed at Foreland’s Farm, whose buildings included rehearsal and recording facilities, as well as luxury sleeping and living rooms. A swimming pool and tennis court lay in the grounds, with splendid views over the English Channel.
It was here that the Dylan entourage bided their time over the next few days. ‘The Band’, the (mostly Canadian) five-piece, who had backed him on an earlier tour -and would do so again at the forthcoming event- took advantage of the recording and rehearsal space. The combo, although erroneously referred to as ‘Dylan’s backing group’ by some, was a tight and highly innovative outfit in it’s own right. Few people in the know -least of all Dylan- saw them merely as his backing musicians. They were to play an hour set of their own on the big night.
Meanwhile, the man himself wiled away the hours relaxing in the summer sun, playing tennis, singing and jamming, and entertaining visitors -including three Beatles. He attended a nearby abbey to hear the chanting of Benedictine monks, and one day, asked his driver to drop him off at Queen Victoria’s favourite residence, Osborne House, where he and Sara strolled around for a couple of hours -unnoticed amid the flocks of tourists. On August 27th, a press conference was held at the Halland Hotel, in the picturesquely named, shore-side village of Seaview. True to form, Dylan said little, but expressed an interest in seeing the home of the Victorian poet, Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
The prospective visit never transpired. Already the Isle of Wight was filling up with festival goers. Older residents looked on askance as crowds of hippies -both the full time and part time varieties- rolled off the hovercraft and ferries, all making their way to Wootton. The Island’s younger residents, for the most part, thought it was great.
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The festival began on Friday 29th, opened by ‘Mighty Baby’, an outfit formerly known as the ‘Action’ (they were, in fact, unbilled). The folky (but gospel/blues-tinged) ‘Eclection’, followed, and then the zany antics of ‘The Bonzo Dog Band’. The show- stoppers of thenight were the keyboard-dominated ‘Nice’, forebear of ‘Emerson, Lake, and Palmer’ with their blazing mixture of spectacle, rock, and classical tocatas.
Over the next two days, the traditional late sixties’ fare of an Aquarian Age rock ‘happening’ pulsated across the rural meadows and woodland of this chosen corner of the Island. There was little violence -but much bonhomie and forbearance as an estimated 250,000 plus people roughed it amid the primitive conditions, imbibing the light and shade of the diverse range of artists involved -stretching in character from pre-metal rockers like ‘Blodwyn Pig,’ and the ‘Edgar Broughton Band’, to the gentle, reflective melodies of folk singers such as Tom Paxton and Julie Felix.
Around 10.20, on the final night, the electricity in the air seemed to double as the ‘Band’ took the stage -but without Dylan. These five very fine musicians broke into some equally fine songs -all of them deftly performed with consummate skill and alacrity. Towards the end of the set, however, less patient (and ruder) elements in the crowd began to shout for the man they’d come all this way to see. To the consternation of the punters, the ‘Band’ put down their instruments, and left the stage. The watching mass -who had expected Dylan to simply walk on and join the quintet became decidedly restive.
Time crawled by, the restiveness became more apparent. Rikki Farr appealed to the audience: “Cool it, people. You’ve waited three days. Wait another five minutes and you’ll have the sound 100% . . . 200%”At last, a spot light illuminated the stage. The ‘Band’ came back on, and with them, a bearded figure with shortish hair, and clad in a