Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970

I arrived at the Isle of Wight festival with my manager,

and Neil Young. Neil was also managed by Elliot Roberts.

And for the occasion, Neil Young had rented

an old red Rolls Royce,

that was really a horseless carriage.

It had a driver sitting outside with everything but the reins.

And it was flamboyant.

And as we arrived at the Isle of Wight,

immediately our manager was arrested

for possession of marijuana.

They cheerfully arrested him,

they cheerfully locked him up overnight,

and they cheerfully took a lot of money off of him.

One, one. Two, three.

Four...

Then the festival began, which was...

a bit of a disaster.

-Good morning. -Morning.

I thought it might be a nice idea, this afternoon,

to go down and see the groups.

And ask the groups to play for free

to show they’re willing to transform the mess

that’s happening already like with that fence...

into a peaceful semi-free free concert.

The only problem is, they’ve been paid already.

-They’ve been paid already? -Yeah.

Well we’ll just ask them to give the money back.

It was the ’hate the performer’ festival,

mainly because a lot of the performers showed up

in elaborate vehicles.

There was an expression of wealth taking place

among the performers.

Donovan brought a gypsy caravan with bevelled glass windows.

That was my dressing room at this event.

You will not be allowed in without a ticket.

So please have a ticket.

Have it ready to show the steward.

This festival was started

as a commercial concern, but it’s fast becoming

a people’s festival, you know.

And, if necessary, we’re gonna enter the festival ground

in order to hear what we came to see.

I think most of the musicians would back us up.

And if they don’t want to play

because we’re not paying to hear them play

then they can go, as far as we’re concerned.

I think there’s a few thousand people here

who feel the same way.

If they break the wall down

the Isle of Wight County Council will come here tomorrow,

and get the police in.

They won’t say, "Please put the wall back."

They’ll say, "No festival", take away the electricity.

They’ll take away the water, they’ll take away the lighting,

and there’ll be no festival.

This place stinks, man.

It’s nothing but money, this festival.

You’re the second establishment.

May I ask you to leave? You’re not allowed...

You’re the new establishment, man.

It’s just a rip off.

They’re just ripping us off.

The music isn’t revolutionary at all.

It’s called ’big business’.

The temperament of the festival

was difficult and I was chosen

to come on late at night

when it was dark so I couldn’t really see any disturbances,

with the hope that they would be quiet enough

that I could hear myself.

I’ll get these other monitors widened.

Bob? How’s it going?

Listen, what have you got on next?

Ten Years After, Mungo Jerry,

Free, Miles Davis,

Doors, Who, Melanie, Emerson, Lake & Palmer,

Sly & The Family Stone.

Dunno what’s happened about Tiny Tim.

Ricky, the police said we can’t run on Monday.

-Did they? -Absolutely out of the question.

-Why not? -We just cannot run on Monday.

Well we’re gonna stop early tonight somehow.

We just can’t, it’s impossible. It’s out of the question.

How far’s the running order behind?

The running order’s five hours behind.

Why?

Because none of the artists show up at the right time.

I was sitting in Donovan’s trailer

when the promoters came back and begged me to go on

in the middle of the afternoon.

Acts had pulled out, the audience was hostile.

And I said faintly, "No, no, I don’t go on ’til 9 o’clock."

You know, they begged and pleaded,

said, "Jo, we have no one to go on."

I have a feminine cooperative streak

so, reluctantly, I said, "OK".

And they fed me to the beast.

And we’ve got to get ourselves

Ladies and gentlemen...

for the second time in this country,

and it’s a real honour to have her

on the Isle of Wight festival,

please, everybody, give the warmest welcome

to Miss Joni Mitchell!

Thank you very much.

Looks like they’re making ’Ben Hur’ or something.

This is a song about a midway.

It’s called that. It’s called ’That Song About The Midway’.

In a black man’s ear

I don’t feel like singing that song so much.

Let me sing you a couple of songs at the piano here.

I was an acoustic act,

you know, standing in front of...

mountains of amplifiers that The Who provided,

and only a band like The Who could play successfully

to that enormous of an audience.

In that, an audience that big makes a lot of noise.

Period. They just aren’t all rapt.

And so I approached the thing with dread.

This is a song about a musician who plays in New York City.

There are musicians like him all over the place

just standing around and playing their music and...

hoping that maybe somebody will like what they’re doing.

It’s called "Real Good For Free".