Stealing Dylan From Woodstock : When the World Came to the Isle of Wight

For a time, the Isle of Wight Festivals turned a quiet English island into the rock'n'roll captial of the world. Starting with a 1968 fundraiser, the young Foulk brothers outperformed Woodstock by securing a world-exclusive appearance from Bob Dylan. The transformative event reshaped Dylan's career, the brother's lives, and festivals to come.

For a time, the Isle of Wight Festivals transformed a sleepy English island into the rock'n'roll capital of the world. From promoting a one-nighter in 1968, to raise funds for a local swimming pool, the young Foulk brothers were able to outperform Woodstock, by signing the world-exclusive appearance of rock's poet laureate, Bob Dylan. The de facto leader of the counterculture had been hidden away in the artist-town of Woodstock, rarely seen after a motorcycle accident three years earlier. He turned his back on the eponymous festival, put there to persuade him to come out and play, and left for Europe on the day their event began. For the Foulk brothers - lacking experience, resources and time - the coup and ensuing public response was almost overwhelming, but with audacious bravado and steely determination they delivered the most awaited event of the era. Devotees from hippies to celebrities flocked to the Island from mainland Britain, Europe, the Americas and as far away as Australia. As well as changing the lives of Ray and his brothers the phenomenon played its part in a highly transformative period for Bob Dylan, in which the Isle of Wight remained his one and only full concert appearance in seven-and-a-half years.