Page "Isle of Wight Festival" Paragraph 4

The 1970 event was by far the largest and most famous of these early festivals ; indeed it was said at the time to be one of the largest human gatherings in the world, with estimates of over 600, 000, surpassing the attendance at Woodstock.

Included in the line-up of over fifty performers were The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, The Doors, Ten Years After, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Joni Mitchell, The Moody Blues, Melanie, Donovan, Free, Chicago, Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, Jethro Tull, Taste and Tiny Tim.

The unexpectedly high attendance levels led, in 1971, to Parliament passing the " Isle of Wight Act " preventing gatherings of more than 5, 000 people on the island without a special licence.