THE DOORS LIVE AT ISLE OF WIGHT 1970: MUSIC AND CONTEXT

The third Isle of Wight Festival was a historic musical event: more than 400,000 people enjoying the five days of music (from August 26 to 30, 1970).

After the previous two editions (1968 and '69), the gathering held on the small piece of land off the English coast was also the most attended of the three and the most prestigious from an artistic point of view.

Dozens of bands and songwriters delighted the audience with an exciting mix of different musical genres: 1960s electric blues, rock blues, progressive rock, rock, psychedelic rock, 1960s songwriting, folk-rock, and jazz rock.

Following Woodstock (August 1969 on the east coast of the United States), the concerts that took place on the Isle of Wight stage definitively paved the way for the major music events that characterized the first half of the 1970s.

The Doors were among the groups invited and were originally scheduled as the Saturday 29^th of August opening act. However, with the official order of appearance altered, the Californian quartet performed at 1 a.m., preceded by Emerson Lake & Palmer and followed by a wonderful and incendiary performance by The Who.

Having just finished a long American tour to promote their LP "Morrison Hotel" (released in February 1970), The Doors arrived in Europe for the second time since their first visit in September 1968, when they were riding on the wave of success they had achieved with the album "Waiting For The Sun" and the single "Hello I Love You."

Despite suffering from the inclement weather and severe jet lag, the band played for about sixty-four minutes (divided into seven tracks with good audio quality) on the evening they arrived from the US.

For this occasion, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore decided to return to the set list they had frequently performed during their autumn 1967 live shows.

With the exception of two tracks taken from the aforementioned "Morrison Hotel" ("Roadhouse Blues" and "Ship of Fools"), the chosen tracklist consisted of: "Back Door Man", "Break On Through (To The Other Side)", "When The Music's Over", "Light My Fire" and "The End".

It was a sequence of the highest caliber, specifically designed to capture the attention of those in England who were unfamiliar with the American band's lesser-known tracks.

While mostly faithful to their respective album versions, the compositions did not reach the heights to which The Doors had accustomed their fans over the years. Nonetheless, they were convincing and, at times, decidedly engaging.

In particular, Morrison's voice was somewhat less incisive and expressive than usual (although still exciting), and was supported by Manzarek's in "Break On Through" and "Light My Fire."

This can be attributed both to the fatigue accumulated throughout the long journey to the U.K. and to the frontman’s poor health conditions, which would lead to his death ten months later.

However, this did not compromise the concert’s overall quality, during which the singer sporadically embellished some songs with short and rhythmic maracas interjections.

Morrison found his moment of greatest inspiration in the central section of "The End", where he improvised several musical poems: "Away In India", a fleeting sketch of "Dead Cats Dead Rats" and "Wake Up". The latter was usually performed as a striking poetic introduction to "Light My Fire", but here is inserted with outstanding flair in an entirely different context.

The promptness, instinct and skill with which the other three group members immediately pick up and reinforce the unexpected, piercing cry that heralds the arrival of "Wake Up" is also notable.

The instrumental sections are undoubtedly the highlight of the concert and its most vivid feature.

This is apparent in the extended rendition of "Light My Fire" (lasting about fifteen minutes), where the electric organ and electric guitar solos stretch out for five evocative minutes each.

In their protracted solo explorations, the two musicians pay an exciting tribute to the Jazz style known as Hard Bop.

Manzarek concludes his performance with rarefied notes, deconstructing and fragmenting the melody without losing any of its lyricism.

Krieger enhances his solo with an extensive quotation from the theme of "My Favorite Things" (as played in John Coltrane's version, recorded in October 1960).

"Ship Of Fools" is also doubled in length on the Isle of Wight stage, once again thanks to the keyboardist's and guitarist's solos.

Here the electric organ runs through a remarkable and lengthy solo that was absent from the original LP track, featuring fluid and tight chords.

Shortly afterwards, Krieger's six strings call upon the influences of Hard Bop Jazz once again, tracing unexpected high-pitched turns and colorful sound curves that further spice up this fascinating rock song.

The next day, August 30, Morrison is interviewed by the music magazine “Zigzag”, offering some interesting opinions.

Among these is his correct prediction of the increasingly important role that music festivals will play in Rock music: “I think they’re going to become increasingly significant in the next three-four-five years”.

He also stated that The Doors had wanted to go on a European tour after the Isle of Wight show, visiting Paris, Switzerland and Italy. He added that the lingering of the Miami trial had prevented these plans from coming to fruition.

In the interview the singer alternated between fond memories of the London gig that opened the 1968 European tour and praise for Love (the band led by Arthur Lee).

He also commented on the cultural revolution that was taking place among the youth in the United States and England: “It has to be a constant thing, not something that’s going to change things and that’s it, you know … it has to be every day”.

1970 was also the last edition of the festival, which was interrupted due to financial and organizational difficulties. It was revived in the 2000s, but with vastly inferior results from a musical point of view.

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