Isle of Wight

Perhaps the most interesting and insightful of the individual films to come out of Murray Lerner's footage shot at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, Nothing Is Easy is also the most ambitious. Jumping between the 1970 events and a rather droll-humored Ian Anderson recalling the events from 2004, the film gives a lot more than an excellent account of the band's music and stage presentation of that era. We also get a close-up look at the threats of violence and hooliganism that lay beneath the peace-and-love rhetoric of the later-'60s counterculture, as the band finds itself caught in the midst of a confrontation between festival organizers trying to retake control of one sliver of the venue, and attendees – most of whom crashed the gate – refusing to cooperate and threatening mayhem.

In August 1970 600,000 fans flocked to the Isle of Wight to witness the third and final festival to be held on the island. Besides the music, they also got a look at the greed, cynicism and corruption that would plague the music industry for years to come. They also witnessed the final, drugged out performance of Jimi Hendrix in England just two weeks before he would meet a tragic death. When it all was over, the fans view of rock and roll was never the same.

Tripple Album with the Isle Of Wight festival from 1970 and the second Atlanta Pop Festival also from 1970 which was held in Byron, Georgia - not in Atlanta again. So many great Stars and great songs on 3 records. Fantastic!

Fleetwood Mac headlines Isle of Wight Festival stage with incredible performance, June 14, 2015.

In 1970, the Isle of Wight Festival took place to an audience of around 600,000 in the English countryside. The lineup was as diverse as it was loaded with talent, including luminaries like Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Chicago, the Doors, the Who, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the Moody Blues, Free, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and many more. Also on the bill was the Irish band Taste, which featured a young guitarist named Rory Gallagher.