Original Isle of Wight Festival organiser Ray Foulk on making music history, Bob Dylan and the Oasis song that annoyed him...
Ray Foulk is the man who came up with the idea to launch the Isle of Wight Festival, and ultimately create music history when he booked Bob Dylan for the event in 1969. Here Ray recalls his memories of creating the festival and pulling off the live coup of the decade...
Ray Foulk, along with his brothers Ron and Bill, made music history when they convinced Bob Dylan to play the Isle of Wight Festival in 1969. It was Dylan's first full pre-announced concert since May 1966.
It was the second time the event took place, and it put the festival on the map.
Thanks to Bob paying, the following year the Isle of Wight boasted an array of legends on stage; Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, The Who, The Doors, Chicago, Jethro Tull, Sly and the Family Stone, Procol Harum and many more. Between 600,000 and 700,000 people attended.
But in 1971, after realising his dream, Ray's festival was axed. The then Isle of Wight MP Mark Woodnutt passed a Private Member’s Bill – The Isle of Wight Act, 1971 - which restricted gatherings of more than 5,000 between the hours of midnight and 6.00am.
The Act passed by Woodnutt - who was an MP for the Conservative party - ended the prospect of more large scale festivals on the English island. That was until 2002. The Act was overturned for the Queen's Golden Jubilee, and music agent John Giddings decided to revive the festival.
Since then, the Isle of Wight Festival has been a highlight of the British live music calendar and in 2024 it celebrated 25 events.
We caught up with original organiser Ray to get his thoughts on the first three festivals, the importance of Bob Dylan's booking, why Oasis upset him and the chances of the 'Blowin' In The Wind' singer returning to the Isle of Wight...
Contact Music: How important was Bob Dylan to the festival?
Ray Foulk: Bob Dylan playing in 1969 was an extraordinary moment in our lives and in rock history because it was Dylan’s only performance in seven years and he came to the Isle of Wight. He turned his back on Woodstock and decided to do the Isle of Wight, that’s what got the whole thing going … Woodstock Festival was pretty much in his backyard thinking they were going to get him to come out and play and he didn’t like that.
What are your memories of Bob and your interactions with him?
Well, I was not one to mix with the stars. I did have to look after him and his management and entourage for a week when he came here.
He was very quiet and modest and didn’t have a lot to say to me. He was with The Beatles and I remember one day Dylan was sitting by the swimming pool at this place I’d supplied him with talking with George Harrison and Dylan’s manager came up to me and said, ‘Look at those two, star-struck with each other.'
In those days there were three acts in the world at that level; Elvis Presley – who was old hat in all intense and purposes – The Beatles and Dylan. There was nobody else in that league.
When you were planning the first Isle of Wight Festival, what were the real obstacles?
There were a number of things, the big one was financial backing, we didn’t have any money, that was our problem, we had to get backing. We did get backing but we didn’t really get any backing at all until we got Bob Dylan. Getting Bob Dylan attracted financiers. Having Bob Dylan was a very expensive thing to get an act like that. We had to raise three quarters of a million pounds in today’s money, and we got backing for that. So that was a hugely important moment.
The following year was very different. Because of Dylan in 1969 the world beat a path to our door in terms of artists. We got people like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Miles Davis, an incredible roster of artists.
Great memories...
The experiences were incredible over those three years.
Of course there was that famous quote from the 1970 event that ended up being used on the Oasis song 'F***in' in the Bushes'. Did you like that?
I’m very annoyed by that, as it happens.
Well, I don’t know whether I was annoyed or not, I was used to that sort of thing, but it wasn’t something I particularly liked, let’s put it that way. It was a very unfortunate outburst by the compere having a go at the audience, which is a ridiculous thing to do. The reason why it’s so annoying is that it appears in the film 'Message To Love', which is a documentary about the festival, in the course of trashing the festival as though it was all a load of trouble, which upsets me because it wasn’t a load of trouble at all, it was a very smooth running event, on the most part. A few skirmishes around the edges, but nothing much.
Would Bob Dylan headlining again be a wonderful bookend to his career?
I have tried to get him to come back for John, but I don’t think John is interested in paying the kind of fee that he wants!
It would be rather good if he could come back. I’m on good terms with his management. We don’t know how long he’s going to be working for, he’s 83 now, I’m surprised he’s still going strong.
Do you think he'd be more inclined to play Glastonbury?
He’s probably the only artist of great stature in the world that hasn’t done Glastonbury. Maybe he’ll do that someday. If he does Glastonbury it doesn’t alter the history of what happened. He did do Woodstock eventually and that was a bit of a washout.
