By IW Galleries
Tickets for EXPERIENCE 1970, the 50th anniversary celebration of the legendary 1970 IW Festival of Music, are now on general release and may be bought online.
EXPERIENCE 1970 is a three-day festival to be staged over the weekend of September 4,5 & 6, on the iconic original festival site at East Afton Farm, near Freshwater. Already a raft of top bands has been booked as homage is paid to stars such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Moody Blues, The Who and Free.
Organisers Chris Hewitt and Andy Sharrocks are determined to create an anniversary fest to reflect the stunning music and atmosphere that stamped the original as a unique staging post in rock music history. Estimates put the 1970 crowd at anything from a massive 400,000 to a mind-boggling 600,000.
Chris Hewitt said: “We want to conjure up a similar experience, pardon the pun, with EXPERIENCE 1970, when those trailblazer fans flocked to see and hear Hendrix, The Doors and all those other great names in rock on that same field 50 years.
“There will be one main stage, a modern reconstruction of the original 1970 stage – plus the original 1970 WEM Isle of Wight Sound System, fully working but sharing the load with a state of the art D&B Audiotechnik system too.
“Tickets cost £180 plus a £15 booking fee for online purchases and for three days of great music we think that is great value.”
And with a clamour to reserve tickets already being fielded by the organisers, Chris says an international gathering is already guaranteed.
He revealed: “Already tickets have been snapped up by festival fans from all over the UK, plus people have booked from North America, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands and France.
“The event at this stage is limited exclusively to the first 4,700 who buy their tickets so you are advised to get those tickets as soon as you can.”
EXPERIENCE 1970 ticket holders will secure free admission to The Dimbola Museum at Freshwater over the festival weekend where Jimi Hendrix and IW Festival exhibitions are being staged.
A full list of the artists on the bill announced to date can be found at both www.experience1970.com or www.allwightnow.com
Isle of Wight Observer