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Mention of 70's bands reminded me of the one and only pop festival I ever attended.

The Great Western, Bardney, Lincoln in May 1972.

It was a total mudbath and I returned home after near freezing to death on the first night.

But the line up looks good, despite the fact I would not have appreciated that at the time.

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/Great-Westernlineup.html

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I went to that one and managed to survive all three days but i think we left early on the third day. Force 8 gales if I remember - I think we slept in a car as the tent just wouldn't stay up, I do remember running out of dry clothes on the first day; and you're right it was flippin freezing.

Despite the weather, it was a pretty good line-up.

Also went to Reading on a few occasions but my favourite was Knebworth which had some classic line-ups - went there in 1975, 1976 (managed to get a backstage pass), 1978 and 1979,

http://www.knebworthhouse.com/rock/rockconcerts.htm

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The Bardney festival sounds great !! what a line up !! ( Incidentally we drive by Bardney fen on our aviation tour!)

The Knebworth festival of 1979 had the great privilege of seeing me there !! Both Saturdays, My sisters feller sent off a cheque for four tickets, which got cashed, but no tickets were forthcoming (I've another story along this same line) so he got in touch with the organizers who promptly dispatched 4 more for the follwing week as there had been that much interest they'd sold out and had managed to organize another the following week, there was also an appology for messing us around (There was also a voucher for a free burger and coke too!! ) About a week before the first show guess what ,?? yup the four tickets for the first show turned up too!! so we went both times!!

Now that was , not one, but two great gigs!!

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Talking Knebworth, I was there in 1975, Floyd supported by The Allman Bros, Beefheart was there as well. 1978 Beach Boys, but we were there to see the support bands. 1979 went there just the once, but weren't they great?

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Remember the bloke with the laser on the end of his Violin bow?? I recall getting scared in case it got us in the eyes !! 'cause back then they were basically things of James Bond and the cold war!!

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I remember Plant standing under a cone of laser light, or at least that's what I think was happening.

At the start the Floyd gig, Rick Wright sent a sound around the four towers of speakers, when this got a bit loud, I looked up and a Spitfire or Hurricane was circling the park in sync with the music. It flew off with most peoples heads in the slipstream.

This was after a B17 had bombed the crowd with thousands of multi-coloured ping-pong balls.

Later just as it was getting dark, a large passenger jet flew over, disappearing behind the stage, My mate said to me 'that must have cost a fortune', I nodded in agreement. It was only several days after that we realised it was not part of the show.

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As a quick aside , I was at an airshow in the 70's which had sadly had quite a few cancellations, to help make up for it they got a Tri Star to do a fly through at zero feet!! It wasn't till the Monday papers that we heard the truth about it . It was actually en route to Majorca at the time !!

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Aircraft were also involved at the 1976 show, during the Todd Rundgren set there was a WWI dogfight, I often wondered how you staged that to coincide with the songs being performed on the stage.

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I seem to remember that the owners of Knebworth Park had a connection with historic aircraft. They either owned some, or more likely, were involved with those who did.

No doubt Beefsteak will let us know.

Regarding the synchronicity between the aircraft and the music, I always thought that was just what happened at Knebworth when everything was right.

Don't even think about the toilets, whoops too late.

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Regarding the synchronicity between the aircraft and the music, I always thought that was just what happened at Knebworth when everything was right.

Or those funny fags that got passed around!!

Re the planes , I don't know but I've put my 'feelers' out so I shall wait to hear back and let you know in due course.

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Mick, with regard to Bardney 72, after suffering the degregations of the place during the previous years Folk Festival, my pal and I nipped over on the Monday and climbed a tree from the outside that was almost overhanging the stage. Soon a bunch of Hippies calling themselves the 'Children Of Earth' started to try and smash up the fence, along came the Police Heavy Brigade who cleared them out, but as we had full camping gear, were considered to be decent student boys, and as we were giving the coppers cups of tea, we were allowed to stay. Eventually, the back gate into the site was opened and we wandered in, attended a party by Rod Stewart and eventually ended up on the side of the main stage with John Peel who suggested we bogged off into the press area at the front, which we did, sitting on a pile of hay bales in order to watch Joe Cocker, who was a complete, drunken arsehole, nevertheless, it was an entertaining day, not one that could be accomplished in this day and age of ID wristbands and security.

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  • 4 years later...

I went to the Isle of Wight pop festival with 3 mates, had a ball over the 3 days we were there, mind it was a bit chaotic to say the least, the facilities (read toilets) just could not handle the crowds and well I'll leave that to the imagination.

The local pubs did a roaring trade with massive queues building before opening times, as they opened the crowd would rush in, not to the bar but the toilets ! In the end the toilets all became blocked and unusable.

We got sick of the mess and crowds and headed back to the mainland. One memory was of sitting on "suicide hill" watching Jimmy Hendrix in action in the distance and the haze of marijuana was so bad drifting up the slope it was like fog ! we didn't do drugs, but god we did that night without even trying.

Slept in a field under a milk churn stand and nearly froze to death doing it it was so cold in the early hours.

The joys of youth ! wouldn't have missed it for the world though.

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Thanks for the bump.

Looking again at the list of bands, I had probably not heard of many of them at the time.

I only went to see Rod & the faces, Buddy Miles, Heads Hands and Feet and a couple of others.

I never saw the faces and thought the did not attend until I re-read that page this morning.

"The Great Western Express Festival was billed as the 'festival they could not stop' and was held at Bardney near Lincoln UK over the period Friday 26th May 1972 to Monday 29th May 1972. The advance ticket price of £4.50 got you four days worth of music including, Genesis, Rory Gallagher, Don McLean. the Beach Boys, the Faces, Joe Cocker, Monty Pythons Flying Circus etc."

Did I really pay £4.50 for all that?

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I went to the Isle of Wight pop festival with 3 mates, had a ball over the 3 days we were there, mind it was a bit chaotic to say the least, the facilities (read toilets) just could not handle the crowds and well I'll leave that to the imagination.

There's a reasonable chance you might see yourself somewhere on this lot. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_5_5?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=isle+of+wight&sprefix=isle+%2Cdvd%2C153&rh=n%3A283926%2Ck%3Aisle+of+wight

I've got a few of them and they are surprisingly good, considering the technology of the times.

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The one we're all waiting for is Taste at the I o W. According to the Rory Gallagher website, the rights to this performance are privately owned and currently Donal Gallagher, Rory's brother is in negotiations with the owner to procure it's release.

It's where Taste got five encores I believe and totally blew away every other performer.

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I remember Plant standing under a cone of laser light, or at least that's what I think was happening.

At the start the Floyd gig, Rick Wright sent a sound around the four towers of speakers, when this got a bit loud, I looked up and a Spitfire or Hurricane was circling the park in sync with the music. It flew off with most peoples heads in the slipstream.

This was after a B17 had bombed the crowd with thousands of multi-coloured ping-pong balls.

Later just as it was getting dark, a large passenger jet flew over, disappearing behind the stage, My mate said to me 'that must have cost a fortune', I nodded in agreement. It was only several days after that we realised it was not part of the show.

Reckon I was at that one, Lynard Skynrd ,Floyd main act, and there was one of the Monty Pyhton crew there if its the same one

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Here seems to have been quite a few of us at Knebworth that year! Apart from Floyd and Beefheart, the most enduring memory is the state of the toilets! If there was ever a reason to hold your peace or make for the woods, that was it.

By contrast, Reading was almost too well organised. I was there in 74, 75, and 76, and every year, it all got slicker.

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can anyone rememember a pop concert at colwick race course in the 70s? i am sure i havnt imagined it.The edgar broughton band,status quo,yes,and i think rick wakeman,were there.i was there with my boyfriend and my sister,we sat right next to the stage,but i dont think they ever had any more concerts there.

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no not me ,i think people who lived nearby complained about the noise ,wish i could hear from someone who remembers the concert or has photos.i was in love with francis rossi (quo)at the time but everyone there was calling him mike ,dont think my boyfriend was too pleased with me staring at mike rossi all night.,but the boyfriend won in the end ,i married him.

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  • 11 months later...

Mention of 70's bands reminded me of the one and only pop festival I ever attended.

The Great Western, Bardney, Lincoln in May 1972.

It was a total mudbath and I returned home after near freezing to death on the first night.

But the line up looks good, despite the fact I would not have appreciated that at the time.

http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/Great-Westernlineup.html

Me too. Stayed all three days and lived on soup and cob for breakfast, six cans of Worthington E for lunch and for tea/supper mainly stuff we got from our friendly neighbourhood alchemist. We were put in an overspill field which was ploughed and like a swamp. The line up was top shelf and worth all the four quid.

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