In mid August 1969, Bob Dylan had confounded the media's expectations by shunning the Woodstock Festival, an event he had helped to inspire. Instead, after three years in virtual seclusion with his family, Dylan decided to make his comeback a fortnight after Woodstock, by headlining the Isle of Wight Festival at Wootton, just off the south coast of England. Now a popular act in their own right, the Band agreed to back Dylan for the performance, just as they had (as the Hawks) on his controversial 1966 world tour. In a repeat of his UK concerts from 1966, leading figures in the English music scene began to gather on the island to show their support for Dylan, the singer widely considered "the minstrel to a generation".