The co-founder of the Isle of Wight Festival, Ray Foulk, has said it “grieves” him that festivals now are not as political as they were in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Foulk, who set up the music event alongside his brothers Ron and Bill, is having the workspace he used as curator recreated for an exhibition celebrating 25 editions of the festival. He told the PA news agency: “The festival, with the likes of Bob Dylan and (Jimi) Hendrix and Joni Mitchell and people, it was a pilgrimage for the counter-culture, and the songs and the artists were singing about trying to make a better world.
“It was very political in that sense. Nowadays, it’s not that, it’s entertainment rather than a pilgrimage for people thinking about how to make a better world.” The music event first took place in 1968, with festivals in 1969 and 1970 before it was stopped, returning in 2002 for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s golden jubilee, and each year since, apart from in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Festivals are beautifully organised now,” Foulk said. “I mean, our thing was fairly well organised in many ways, but it wasn’t anything like a festival today in terms of the range of facilities and things going on and great organisation. “I’m certain they’re better in that respect, but in another way, it grieves me that young people are not out there seeking a better world in the way that we were.
“You’ve only got to look at the great anthem of Bob Dylan’s in .