Bob Dylan - Isle of Wight 31-08-1969

On 31 August a nervous Bob Dylan arrived on stage in a cream suit recalling Hank Williams, with a haircut and a short beard, performing his recent pieces from Nashville Skyline and John Wesley Harding: much to the surprise and confusion/consternation of the audience. During the press conference prior to his performance, Dylan remarked that he came to the Isle of Wight to see the birthplace of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, because he was "just curious". John Lennon opined that his performance was reasonable, though slightly flat; and still the audience was waiting Godot or Jesus. Eric Clapton, however, was mesmerized, clearly - as he has stated, being inspired back to the blues and country by Bob Dylan and The Band's album Music From Big Pink - saying "Dylan was fantastic. He changed everything. ... [The audience] couldn't understand it. You had to be a musician to understand it."



I Threw It All Away
Levon Helm commented on their latency on the bill: "Bob had an extra list of songs with about eight or ten different titles ... that we would've gone ahead and done had it seemed like the right thing to do. But it seemed like everyone was a bit tired ... the festival was three days old by then." Tom Paxton mentions the "negative reaction in the British press, including downright fabrications: like saying he had run off stage half-way through. ... I went with him and The Beatles to the farmhouse where he was clearly in a merry mood because he had felt it had gone so well. ... The Beatles had brought a test pressing of [ Abbey Road ] and we listened to it and had quite a party.


Highway 61 Revisited

Dylan' setlist included "She Belongs to Me", "I Threw It All Away", "Maggie's Farm", "The Wild Mountain Thyme", "It Ain't Me Babe", "To Ramona", "Lay Lady Lay", "Highway 61 Revisited", "One Too Many Mornings", "I Pity the Poor Immigrant", "Like A Rolling Stone", "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)", "Minstrel Boy", "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35", "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine".
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