Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 (Live)

Along with "Cream" and "Led Zeppelin", "Free" stands as one of the most influential bands of the late 1960’s British blues boom. Formed in London during the spring of 1968, Free‘s original lineup included drummer Simon Kirke, bassist Andy Fraser, lead vocalist Paul Rodgers and guitarist Paul Kossoff. Kirke and Kossoff were heavily influenced by American blues artists and, as teenagers, joined in R&B band called Black Cat Bones.
With two strong albums and nearly two years of touring already under their belt, the quartet’s combination of blues and rock was, perhaps, best captured on their seminal FIRE AND WATER album, released in 1970. An engaging mix of ballads and strident rockers. "Fire and Water" also featured "All Right Now", the group’s breakthrough single. An edited version of "All Right Now", had a major chart impact, reaching No. 2 on the U.K. single chart and, in the USA, No. 4 on the Billboard chart.
"Free" performing live at the Isle of Wight "All Right Now" was created after a bad gig in Durham, England. Our repertoire at that time was mostly slow and medium paced blues songs which was alright if you were a student sitting quietly and nodding your head to the beat. However, we finished our show in Durham and walked off the stage to the sound of our own footsteps. The applause had died before I had even left the drum riser. When we got into the dressing room, it was obvious that we needed an uptempo number, a rocker to close our shows. All of sudden, the Inspiration struck Fraser, and he started bopping around singing ALL RIGHT NOW…. He sat down and wrote it right there in the dressing room. It couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes.”
"Free" performing live at the Isle of Wight “All Right Now" was created after a bad gig in Durham, England. Our repertoire at that time was mostly slow and medium paced blues songs which was alright if you were a student sitting quietly and nodding your head to the beat. However, we finished our show in Durham and walked off the stage to the sound of our own footsteps. The applause had died before I had even left the drum riser. When we got into the dressing room, it was obvious that we needed an uptempo number, a rocker to close our shows. All of sudden, the Inspiration struck Fraser, and he started bopping around singing "All Right Now"…. He sat down and wrote it right there in the dressing room. It couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes.”
Building on the momentum created by the international success of “All Right Now" and their acclaimed performance at the massive Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970, "Fire and Water" enjoyed tremendous success in both US and UK. "The Stealer", the group’s follow up single and "Highway", the group’s fourth album, sold poorly, confounding the young band. “There was a lot of pressure on us to follow up "Fire and Water", recalls Kirke, “after that hit we started touring country’s rather than towns. But we just didn’t have the seasoning. I mean how do you follow "All Right Now"? We tried "The Stealer" but we knew it wasn’t enough.
By July of 1973, "Free" disbanded for good.
"Free's" performance at Isle of Wight Festival 1970 as maybe one of the best live performances of a rock band ever.