He sang for all he was worth, but moved nary a muscle. “We played with a controlled fury and Jim was in fine vocal form. “Our set was subdued but very intense”, Ray Manzarek later stated. Illuminating The Doors with a mere red spotlight (the band hadn’t been informed that they needed to bring their own lighting equipment) gave the show an eerie crimson hue, almost echoing the figurative weight of the trial.
In this 84-minute DVD, Morrison, organist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore traverse such staples as ‘Roadhouse Blues’, ‘Break On Through (To The Other Side)’, and ‘Light My Fire’. The Doors hit the stage at 2:00AM on August 30, 1970, delivering a set that further proved the musical power that marked them as a beacon of the Summer of Love.
The Doors: Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970 captures and showcases the essence of this poignant performance, as well as offering a snapshot of the era, with footage of fans (over 600,000 in attendance) tearing down barriers and crashing the gates to gain access to the event. The band touches down on the Isle of Wight. “The Last Great Festival” is taking place in England, which boasted a venerable who’s who of 1970’s top acts: Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and more…. The scene is August 1970… Frontman Jim Morrison’s ongoing obscenity trial, from an incident a year prior in Miami, weighs heavily on the band. Fans may have caught a glimpse of this performance in the 1997 Isle of Wight film Message To Love, however this DVD presents The Doors’ set with the full-length songs in maximum visual and sound quality. The entire concert, which is now presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, was mixed from the original multi-track audio by long-time Doors engineer/mixer/co-producer Bruce Botnick.