Pure bliss: revisiting the Isle of Wight Festival of August 1969

Pure bliss: revisiting the Isle of Wight Festival of August 1969
Summer of love — Photographer David Hurn recounts documenting the counterculture music event at the height of the swinging ‘60s, which saw performance from the likes of Bob Dylan, The Who and Joe Cocker.

Now age 87, Magnum Photos member David Hurn remembers the fateful day in February 1954 that first brought photography into his life. While on break, the young army cadet training at Sandhurst Military Academy was paging a copy of Picture Post magazine and stumbled upon a photograph of a Russian army officer buying his wife a hat in a Moscow department store. 

“I started to cry – not something one normally did in the officers mess,” says Hurn, who describes how the picture triggered a memory of his father who he hardly saw during World War II. “One of the first acts he did at the war’s end was to take my mother, me in tow, to Howells, a department store in Cardiff, to buy her a hat: my first recollection of their love for each other.”

Suddenly understanding the power of the photography, Hurn decided in that moment to become a photographer despite knowing nothing about the medium. “Thinking back, I have no recollection of ever having taken any pictures,” he says. “To give up a firm profession for a total abstract one was reckless.”

But Hurn’s gamble paid off. He began his career the following year with Reflex Agency, before joining Magnum in 1967. “I was very much interested in what is now know as the Swinging ’60s,” says Hurn. 

In 1969, Telegraph Magazine commissioned Hurn to travel to the Isle of Wight Festival, which was held August 29th to 31st, producing a series of images collected in the new book, Isle of Wight Festival 1969 (Café Royal Books).

Headlined by Bob Dylan, in his first major public appearance since his near-fatal motorcycle accident in July 1966, the festival drew some 150,000 people for performances by The Who, The Band, Richie Havens, Joe Cocker and The Moody Blues, among others. 

This was Hurn’s first visit the festival, and he arrived in style. “I was staying with Jane Fonda, in France, and we actually flew in by helicopter,” he recalls. Other artists in attendance included John Lennon, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Elton John, and Syd Barrett, who were ensconced in a sealed-off VIP section in front of the stage. “I was surprised by the apparent loneliness of some of the artists. I sensed a very hierarchical system,” Hurn says.

Admittedly not an “excessive fan” of pop groups and bands, Hurn spent his time photographing the revellers across the Wootton countryside. “The biggest bonus was happening to be on the beach when for a comparatively short period of time a large group discarded all their clothes – a case of by luck being at the right place at the right time,” he says.

Surrounded by the masses, Hurn remembers feeling that “apart from a corralled few, there were few discriminations in the audience… All are having the time of their lives. All were friends, at least for a couple of days, with a common purpose: generous fun. We could do with more of it.”

Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter. 

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

 

Latest on Huck

The party starters fighting to revive Stonehenge’s Solstice Free Festival
Huck Presents

The party starters fighting to revive Stonehenge’s Solstice Free Festival

Free the Stones! delves into the vibrant community that reignites Stonehenge’s Solstice Free Festival, a celebration suppressed for nearly four decades. 

Written by: Laura Witucka

Hypnotic Scenes of 90s London Nightlife
Photography

Hypnotic Scenes of 90s London Nightlife

Legendary photographer Eddie Otchere looks back at this epic chapter of the capital’s story in new photobook ‘Metalheadz, Blue Note London 1994–1996’

Written by: Miss Rosen

The White Pube: “Artists are skint, knackered and sharing the same 20 quid”
Culture

The White Pube: “Artists are skint, knackered and sharing the same 20 quid”

We caught up with the two art rebels to chat about their journey, playing the game that they hate, and why anarchism might be the solution to all of art’s (and the wider world’s) problems.

Written by: Isaac Muk

The Chinese youth movement ditching big cities for the coast
Photography

The Chinese youth movement ditching big cities for the coast

In ’Fissure of a Sweetdream’ photographer Jialin Yan documents the growing number of Chinese young people turning their backs on careerist grind in favour of a slower pace of life on Hainan Island.

Written by: Isaac Muk

The LGBT Travellers fundraising for survival
Activism

The LGBT Travellers fundraising for survival

This Christmas, Traveller Pride are raising money to continue supporting LGBT Travellers (used inclusively) across the country through the festive season and on into next year, here’s how you can support them.

Written by: Percy Henderson

The fight to save Bristol’s radical heart
Activism

The fight to save Bristol’s radical heart

As the city’s Turbo Island comes under threat activists and community members are rallying round to try and stop the tide of gentrification.

Written by: Ruby Conway

Sign up to our newsletter

Issue 81: The more than a game issue

Buy it now