Library Rock's Backpages

Dylan at Wight: A New Voice and a New Style

Geoffrey Cannon, Los Angeles Times, 14 September 1969

THE TRAIN carrying us from Waterloo station in London to Portsmouth and the ferry across to the Isle of Wight Festival was full of newly discovered companions. Everyone was humming a thesaurus of Bob Dylan, switching from tune to tune as from mood to mood. After the train, the ferry was crowded with black Richie Havens fans. Five hours later, in the afternoon, Havens sang and his intensity caught the audience. His drummer's bongos swayed, almost bounced, to his celebration of Dylan: 'Maggie's Farm', played with very fast cross-rhythms, Afro-style.

Total word count of piece: 1162

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.