ISLE OF WIGHT ROCK FESTIVAL

AUGUST 31, 1970

"It's good to be here alone, in front of 600.000 people"

- Leonard Cohen



On August 31, 1970, Leonard Cohen performed at the Isle of Wight Rock Festival. Other artist included Joan Baez, Donovan, Kris Kristofferson, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, Ten Years After, Emerson Lake & Palmer, The Doors, Jethro Tull, Free, The Who, Moody Blues etc.

Cohen started with three poems (Dead Song, They locked up a man and A person who eats meat) and then fourteen songs followed.

The three LP set The First Great Rock Festivals of the Seventies was released by Columbia in approximately 1971 - a combination of the Isle of Wight Festival and the Atlanta Pop Festival. On side one of Record Three, Leonard Cohen can be heard performing Tonight Will Be Fine. This album is long out of print and probably isn't on CD but this very same track also appears on Cohen's first live album (Live Songs, 1973).

Suzanne (4:03) is the only other Isle of Wight live song available at the moment. It is on the 2-CD album Various Artists. Isle of Wight - 1970 released by Essential, a division of Castle Communications, England, in 1995. Cat # EDF CD 327.

The same song is included in the 3-hour television documentary produced by the BBC (Isle of Wight Rock Festival, 1995). Available also on home video (Castle Video):





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