Bob Dylan's Isle of Wight Festival appearance marked 50 years on Published duration 31 August 2019

image caption Bob Dylan had been persuaded to play at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival

A concert is being staged to mark the 50th anniversary of Bob Dylan playing at the Isle of Wight Festival.

The US singer famously snubbed playing the Woodstock festival in favour of the island, despite not having played live since a motorcycle accident in 1966.

Organiser of the Million Dollar Bash in Cowes Richard Harrigan said it would celebrate an "amazing gathering".

Saturday's line up includes artists who played the festival in 1969 and has been set up to be dementia friendly.

More than 150,000 people flocked to Isle of Wight festival to see artists including the Who and Free. Dylan had been expected to play at the Woodstock Festival in New York.

'Bag of nerves'

Mr Harrigan, who worked at the event said: "When [festival organisers] the Foulk brothers sent Dylan a film showing him the Isle of Wight, recognising that Tennyson, the great poet, was here, he decided 'this was the place for me' and over he came.

"We literally stole Dylan from Woodstock."

Singer Julie Felix saw him backstage and described his performance as "one of my most treasured memories".

"He hadn't sung for so long, he was just a bag of nerves - even the famous Bob Dylan gets nervous."

image caption Festival organisers received last-minute confirmation via telegram of Dylan's intention to come

Dylan's appearance is credited with giving the Isle of Wight Festival global notoriety.

Mr Harrigan said the Million Dollar Bash would "celebrate the birth of festivals in the UK and everything that spanned out of it".

The event is branded as the "world's first dementia friendly rock festival" with free admission for carers, a quiet zone and an exhibition to trigger memories for people with dementia.

"We've all moved on in age and there are many people living with dementia and every family in many ways is touched by it," Mr Harrigan said.

Julie Felix, Wishbone Ash and Richard Thompson are among the artists performing at the event at the County Showground in Cowes.

The original Isle of Wight festivals ran from 1969 to 1971 before being revived in 2002.

image caption The festival at Wootton attracted more than 150,000 music fans