Both Sides Now: Joni Mitchell At The Isle Of Wight

[Canard]

A documentary film about what was probably Mitchell's most difficult gig ever, the notorious Isle of Whight Festival, August 1970.

Mitchell had been thrown off by being badgered into going on stage several hours early and was placed in front of a difficult crowd in a troubled hostile environment. Other musicians had bailed out of the festival in fear.

Michell has had a reputation for being nervous, sensitive, flighty and stage-shy, but here the fight side of the fight-flight dilemma kicks in, and she launches off into a nervous and somewhat hesitant performance, eventually getting fed up with the crowd and then showing a bit of iron-fist-in-velvet-glove, winning the crowd over in the process. And she shines.

Of particular note (apart from her excellent performances) is just how stunningly beautiful she was in her youth, something that I had unforgivably forgotten.

Streaming on CBC Gem. Well worth finding a way/somewhere to watch.

Both Sides Now: Joni Mitchell at the Isle of Wight | Season 1 | CBC Gem

When Joni Mitchell took the stage Saturday afternoon, August 29th 1970, the Isle of Wight Festival had already seen its share of tumult. The promoters created, at great expense, one of the era’s finest concert lineups, including Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Miles Davis, Emerson Lake and Palmer, The...

gem.cbc.ca

 

[geoguy]

A brave lady, performing solo in front of that monstrous crowd . . . this clip shows the performance:

 

[Canard]

A brave lady, performing solo in front of that monstrous crowd . . . this clip shows the performance:

Cool. The clip is in some ways better than the documentary if all you want to see is her performing without interruptions (other than those from the audience).

The documentary, however, offers a number of other things beyond just the performances.

It sets a context which explains a lot of what is happening in the performances and in doing so highlights her courage.

And it has reflections back upon the event from a much older Ms. Mitchell in which she explains her motivations and feelings.

 

[lungimsam]

Why was the crowd acting so rough?
Please elaborate why the environment was hostile. I never saw the film. Just curious what was going on.
Side note:
Jefferson Airplane headlighned the ‘68 version.

 

[Bernie]

The mix is not good, and the sound engineer is bad, as the guitar is not loud enough compared to the voice. Joni Mitchell is an interesting guitar player and that should be heard too... Fortunately she sings well as well...(discovering the video -still listening to the 1st song while writing-).

 

[Canard]

Why was the crowd acting so rough?
Please elaborate why the environment was hostile. I never saw the film. Just curious what was going on.

It would require a long explanation to explain fullly, and a long explanation would probably get flagged as political and would probably be deleted.

However, there are some dots that you can draw lines between: a large number of people with tickets inside fences disgruntled by acts dropping out and by the general chaos of the event; a large number of menacing people without tickets outside fences disgruntled in their belief that music should be free; uniformed police-like security guards with dogs; late 60s radical politics; etc.

 

[Canard]

The mix is not good, and the sound engineer is bad, as the guitar is not loud enough compared to the voice. Joni Mitchell is an interesting guitar player and that should be heard too... Fortunately she sings well as well...(discovering the video -still listening to the 1st song while writing-).

The sound in the documentary is better than that in the Youtube video. Mitchell also discusses the problems with sound for an acoustic artist at a huge festival in the days before really high-tech PAs. The stage gear belonged to The Who and was lent to the festival - not an optimal rig for a singer with an acoustic guitar. Mitchell also discusses, quite perceptively I think, the dynamics of audience/crowd psychology - a tangent to the post above.

 

[lungimsam]

This read explains alot for anyone interested in the events at the festival.
It is interesting reading the experiences quoted of the musicians who were there.
Sounds like just having a huge crowd even in itself is a risky business.
Interesting that not one Guild was mentioned.

Anarchists, fire and rock'n'roll: the ultimate guide to the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival

They thought the 1970 Isle Of Wight festival was going to be several days of peace, love and music – just like Woodstock the previous year. They thought wrong

www.loudersound.com

 

[walrus]

That's a great summary!

walrus

 

[jp]

I wonder if the atmosphere there was induced by the of the temperament of the era. I've seen in several rock history documentaries that the infamous events at the Altamont Speedway Free Festival in December 1969 marked the end of the feel-good 60s. Supposedly, after the Altamont incidents, along with compiled frustrations with the events in the world, there was a pall looming over the rock and roll community. As I've also read, the deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin right after the Isle of Wight contributed heavily to the gloom hanging over the rock scene.

I was still a toddler at the time, so I can't attest to any sophisticated observations beyond Sesame Street, toys, and drool.