Judging by my previous concert reviews, you already know how I review so here you go.
As the film opens, we hear Ukulele player Tiny Tim singing "There'll Always Be An England" as we learn about the Isle. We find out that the Isle is near England and you can only take a boat to get there. Tiny Tim's singing sets the mood and tone for this film and even though we don't see him, we do know surprises await us. Can't wait to see the concert.
JIMI HENDRIX
Jimi just woke up and jokes about just showing up and just leaving without performing. Of course we all know he wouldn't do that to us. He sings the films title named after his song "Message To Love" and we see a montage of Hippies entering the Isle. Great song but unfortunately we only see Jimi's face for most of the performance and his performance is cut short. A disappointment right there, but trust me will see more of Jimi.
RIKKI THE MASTER OF CEREMONIES
We meet our host Rikki who tells the people how hard they worked to put on this Festival for the hippies and for those who act rough "Will go to hell!". This concert was a year after the "Altamont Free Concert" with the Rolling Stones. This introduction speaks the language of why this event was made. He also seems like a good host and I can't wait to see more of him. After the speech, we hear music play John Lennon's song "Give Peace A Chance".
THE WHO
The Who take the stage performing "Young Man Blues". The Who, one of the greatest bands of all time do a crazy job performing at the Festival. Roger, Keith and John all do an incredible job but it's Pete who steals the performance. He jumps up and down, he goes crazy with the guitar and does his famous trademark guitar strumming. A really epic performance but Pete steals the whole song.
FREE
Rikki says that this is only the beginning and that he might join in the crowd. We then see the Director interview some hippies about the Festival and what they should put in the film. The band Free takes the set with their hit single "Alright Now". The band rocks out loud, the cinematography captures the epicness of the performance and I like that the film cuts when there's a flash of light in the audience. Things are really getting good.
TASTE
There's some money problems about the concert and the promoters are wondering about pay. We also get an interview of Tiny Tim on his opinions if the Festival should be free. Our next performance is the band Taste playing "Sinner Boy". Just like all the previous performers, they rock the stage. Like Pete Townshed from "The Who", the guitarist Rory Gallagher steals the show with his rockin guitar solo. I also love how hyped the audience are, epically that naked girl.
TINY TIM
Earlier, we heard Tiny Tim sing "There'll Always Be An England", now we get to see him perform it. He sings it through a megaphone and brings the spirit of England with his voice. What interests me the most is the crowd of people, clapping their hands, waving their arms, throwing confetti string and wave their flags. Tiny Tim you really brought that great feel of being from England.
JOHN SEBASTIAN
Next up is John Sebastian singing "Red Eye Express". He puts a lot of groove into the song and has the audience participate to sing the lyric "I'm Flyin'" as John plays and waves his guitar in the air. John brings a very fun performance in this concert and I laughed when he told the audience to smoke a joint for him. It's a shame that it's short performance and I wish to see him do one more song.
DONOVAN
We hear and see a little bit of Donovan sing "Catch The Wind". His song and voice is nice but we're more focused on the audience smoking a joint for John Sebastian. Rikki also sounds like he doesn't care about the young people taking drugs. We even get an interview during the song about the drug situation. Well documented but please not over a performance, in fact we get half a performance.
TEN YEARS AFTER
After a very cut short performance, Ten Years After rocks the stage with "I Can't Keep From Crying". Just like they did at Woodstock, they rock out loud with a drum solo, Alvin Lee's singing and audiences are banging their heads. Again, the person who steals the show is Alvin Lee with his sick guitar playing. Man, we have lots of great guitarist but I want to see more of Jimi.
THE DOORS
We see Desolation Row, home to the "Free Festival" radicals paint the walls and write mean spirited stuff. This montage is short but it's shocking and the music fits in. We also see more problems with the radicals as they try to break through the rolls, make speeches of freedom and Rikki and the guards are trying to stop them and keep the peace. This is perhaps the tragic part of the festival. Oh and the toilets...ill.After seeing all that mayhem, the Doors take the stage playing "When The Music Is Over". Jim Morrison is the only one we see in the band instead of giving the band any screen time or at least over a few seconds and that's a disappointment because I would love to see the band play. With that aside Jim has soothing and rockin voice, the musics calm and it's a very chill performance that only the Doors can bring, epically Jim Morrison.
MOODY BLUES
Moody Blues plays their hit "Nights In White Satin". The minute I heard this song and saw this performance, I immediately got chills and really felt the mood of Moody Blues. The singer is calm,the piccolo solo is beautiful and the drum roll at the end is great. It's one of the best performances in the concert and to be honest this is the first time I listened to Moody Blues.
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON
The "Free Festival" radicals are banging on the walls and are trying to brake in. Kris Kristofferson is singing "Me And Bobby McGee" andhe sings good and the country music is really swingin'. However, people can barley hear him due to the banging on the walls; not many people like him; and right in the middle of the performance he stops. Afterwords Rikki, yells at everyone and says that they shouldn't have come to Isle if they weren't going to pay. Man, this is getting as insane as "The Altamont Free Concert".
JONI MITCHELL
Joni Mitchell sings her song "Woodstock" and plays it on the piano. Her performance and song really capture the "Woodstock" feel and she sings it very beautifully. However, after the song she gets interrupted by a radical and it makes her speak her feelings out about the Festival. After the interruption, she picks up her guitar and plays "Big Yellow Taxi". Again her performance is great and she beautifully sings it, aside from the interruption, Joni Mitchell is one of the highlights of the concert.
MILES DAVIS
Miles Davis and his band Jam up the set with "Call It Anything". Miles Davis does a killer job with his trumpet, the music is layed back and peaceful and I'm pleased they put him in the film. The audience themselves get lost in the music as he plays and to be honest I nearly did too. To bad it's too short and only a few minutes.
LEONARD COHEN
Leonard Cohen steps on the stage to sing "Suzanne". This is another calm performance. His voice is soothing and the organ music brings a very relaxing feel. The people watching him perform also look and feel relaxed.
EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER
Rikki thanks the audience for being so good and introduces the next band (Who are making their debut) Emerson, Lake & Palmer performing "Pictures At An Exhibition". People say they did a not so great job and as a result we hear a little bit of singing and then cuts to their grand finale, where they fire cannons, the drummers takes off his shirt and beats those drums like a mad man and the piano player messes with the piano. Epic finale but I don't see the point of putting them in the film if they didn't do a good performance.
JIMI HENDRIX
There's a fire on the stage but it appears to be a firecracker, we then cut to Jimi Hendrix's who's performance has returned to the film (Thank Heavens). He rocks off with a killer guitar solo playing "Machine Gun". Then he moves on to do "Voodoo Chile" and again a killer performance. Jimi Hendrix sure knows how to sound great and I'm really glad that we get to see him again.
JOAN BAEZ
Rikki announces that they need "a hundred and seventy thousand people to break even". We then cut to the lovely Joan Baez performing her cover on "The Beatles" song "Let It Be". Instead playing a piano, we have the song played on a Guitar and it works just as well as when "The Animals" played "Paint It Black" on the violin instead of a sitar at "The Monterrey Pop Festival". Joan Baez is great as usual and I truly love her cover on this classic Beatles song.
JETHRO TULL
Things are getting even more rough and some artists refuse to play if they don't get paid. Next up is Jethro Tull playing "My Sunday Feeling". His Flute playing is outstanding and his voice is rockin and the talent to do both at the same time is magnificent. By the way, what's up with the weird noises he makes towards the end of the song?
THE DOORS
The radicals have broke down the fences and are entering the festival. We then cut to "The Doors" playing their hit song "The End". This has to be not only one of the best performances in the film but is also a great performance of the song. It relaxes you, it rocks out loud when it wants too and Jim does an epic performance. We also get to see the band members this time which makes it a lot better than their last performance.
PEACE
Rikki announces that the walls are going down and people are aloud to come and go if they want. They only thing they're losing is money, but they realize money isn't important for this festival. Everyone then puts up their peace sign to the tune of "Amazing Grace" played by "Great Awakening". This part really had me moving and I almost even shed a tear of Joy. Oh and I love the interview of Keith Moon.
JIMI HENDRIX
Jimi is back and rocks the concert out loud with "Foxy Lady". His guitar playing is really sick and even plays with his teeth. His singing is also cool as well and we get a good drummer as well playing as well. Hendrix never ceases to impress me, he's an out of this world player. It's sad that he died two weeks later.
THE WHO
The Who returns to the film with "Naked Eye". Roger rocks the beginning of the song with his rock out loud voice and the song ends with Pete Townshed doing another rockin guitar solo. The audience seem to be enjoying every minute of their performance and so do I. The Who are one of the best rock bands of all time.
BOB DYLAN
The Festival is now over and is full of filth like "Woodstock". Rikki feels like it's the last major event ever in music History and it is, well until "Live Aid" (In my opinion). We find out what happened to the people who set up the Festival. The credits role a montage and we hear the great Bob Dylan sing "Desolation Row".
OVERALL
Even though the performances feel short and I wish it was as long as the film "Woodstock". It's still a great concert film and really captures this event very well.
RATING 4/5
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