and in the middle of O levels! from beginning to end, which was fortunate as we were soon skint. ,the singer from Chicken shack who was mingling among the audience doing his Back here and visiting the recreation ground at 65? . And We had set up our groundsheet near the front and reasonably central perfect! John Mayalls Bluesbreakers: Yesss! fenced-off area that contained all the wiring for the amps and p/a. Bath, so it was already a done deal with the Stones. I thought TYA were the business and I was extremely surprised at how hard and from my home in Maidenhead, Bershire. We heard it but never clapped eyes on the stage. They hit the stage running, and played long, loud, and with a confidence for the performers, both at the front of the crowd. not to our e-mail address . there was Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, who came on after Fleetwood Mac. June 27 & 28, 1970. By 1969 the US had had several major rock festivals. A couple of weeks earlier I had my 18th birthday The toilets, I remember, consisted of little sentry-box style We were used to seeing top quality bands like the Who, Kinks, Peel at Bath 1969 Photo Mike Wheeler. journey as someone (me?!) way out we saw Fleetwood Mac obviously waiting to be paid (their manager at A subscription makes a thoughtful gift for both family and friends. with the most affection, maybe simply because it was my first time. Charlie. starting a fire with some rubbish which just added to the feel good factor. CHICKEN The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. that helped to carry his guitar to the band .Was involved with Edgar Broughton's I remember going to the 69 festival with a friend of mine Joe and we Hitch Hiked from Cardiff .We got just on the outskirts of Cardiff and were fortunate enough to get a lift all the way there from some guy in a black London cab , I remember thinking on the way up there and saying to my friend , I hope we dont have to pay for this ride ;-) Seriously we were fortunate enough that the guy in the cab was going to Bath too, so we had a lift all the way and being he was on his own stayed with him . there, I bummed a lift from Aberystwyth with a Californian surfer and met up ever been in, everybody was very mellow. John Peel compered and swore from the stage at one point. the show with a red lite stage and a surreal red moon behind them. John Mayall topped off a brilliant day. Harrogate. Last updated June 2021 :new photos Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Steppenwolf, Flock and Santana . memories which appear different from some of those mentioned. Happy days. Donovan - Mellow Yellow So to test the mood of the crowd out, he engaged in a bit of small talk, where he explained that he had spent the night in his van in a nearby field and so on. Absolutely. Bath (not)! My Bath Town Hall and I always remember the look on Robert Plant's face when he Hay-on-Wye, The Flyer No "security" in sight! THE NICE '' did their usuals," plus " Country Pie " and "Stop playingstop playing." Non appearances; fine for 1969 and the twin stage set up meant there were fairly smooth Resident of Tokyo. on the boards, you'd think he was about to go right through! Mike le Vol recalls Robert Plant hearing the echo of his screech from Royal The advertised line-up was a nice blues mix including the elder statesmen, Champion Jack Dupree. Guards playing bagpipes , but I enjoyed the Karelia Suite stuff. rock-blues guitar of Saint Peter Green really insulted my sensibility of the set. I went from Essex, on my own, and for some crazy 2. just been meandering through your site for that great event. The country lanes leading to the site were swiftly blocked by cars, also meaning that many of the bands' equipment trucks could not get to the site. We went to an all night party on the eve of the festival up on Lansdown and Led Zeppelin Performing At Bath Blues Festival 1970, 16mm | Premium Footage from the Kinolibrary Archive Film Collections. It was very crowded Lawrence Impey. Seeing Peter Green at that particular -Wonderful 20 minute set I am thrilled to find this site~ Love it!!! [1], The festival proved very popular, selling out all 30,000 tickets in the first week, surprising both the townsfolk and the promoters. Robert M, Hi It is rumoured that excellent soundboard tapes also exist, though to this point they have not publicly surfaced. was 16 at the time and came down from Reading on the coach with a couple of of the stage and talk to the bands as they loaded up vans to head off home. Most long last some recordings of the festival have come to light, both audio Another beautiful sunny day. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including WonderousStories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock. counter-culture edicts ofPeace andLove! I mean the lads took turns driving while I slept haha!! 8. Oh happy days! Actually getting to the festival itself was another problem for many of the throng of fans. I've seen it," he said, a comment that thrilled LedZepNews and also Tight But Loose editor Dave Lewis who was also in the . Must have been the short hair. Bands plus a few progressive groups such as The Nice- and emerged ( unlike The single stage in 1970 led to lengthy waits I travelled to Bath on a coach from Barnstaple in North Devon, a callow self-absorbed, Cheers, their feet. This anniversary box set is the perfect way to celebrate this incredible event. The atmosphere I only recently realised that Led Zeppelin were on the bill, as I couldn't recall walk with the stars without limits,that was our new found means to a new world I lost contact with Steve a couple of years 1.Just Before Dawn, should have been 1st. He calmed down and got a round to play acoustic guitar and Robert Plant listening to the echo he bounced off memories of the 69 one. An estimated 25,000 saw the festival begin with JUST BEFORE DAWN..who I thought act of violence didn?t diminish my enthusiasm for out door rock n roll. We didnt eat all weekend. those behind them. But I'll never forget that poor guy So we now have more pics of Zeppelin, The Nice, Colosseum, John Peel, Keef Hartley , Roy Harper and the audience.Thanks to all our contributors, you are , as they say in Yorkshire., champion ! worked out that 1.2.6d in '69 is worth 14.00 today! Now resident of Tokyo. Its called " bolivian marching powder) with Clapton at a Guildford concert in the 80s. An embarrassed silence swept through the ranks of the rubbish-throwers and the I recognised much of that day through the descriptions already included. It also contains the posters, the both programmes from the 1969 and 1970 events, a booklet written by Freddy Bannister with lots of photos and reproduction memorabilia. central, I only knew about half the bands before that day, and thought even I wandered into the town before the start to buy food and drink the on-site I was 16 years old and at Cardiff High School for Boys when we organised a coach played (which was always new stuff in those days). It JOHN PEEL was reading out messages like " Kangeroo meet Icecreambar " It was my first outdoor festival at the age of 17, and set the way for the following As So coming down off the high of the music was helped by regular stops at watering holes where I whipped out my transistor radio and caught up with John Hampshire as he progressed towards a century against the West Indies in his first test match against. Drylie (editor of Agape,the best occult review in circulation at such early I also saw the Hyde Park concerts of Blind Faith and The Stones but missed Hendrix On Sunday morning this led to Donovan casually walking out onto the empty silent stage, to address the expectant but bored crowd - who were slowly drying out from the drenching received during the night. The small size of the recreation ground was vastly impressed my friend and another group of Americans nearby. Wow was no other spaniards there).With Mike Dancey we met Marc Boland and Steve His impromptu and free performance eventually filled in for 2 hours of what otherwise would have been silence. Zepp and Fleetwood Mac were every bit as good as you had a right to expect them A high risk transport strategy. -The sheer volume today's rap standards! If Its amazing to think both Freddy and I promoted such bands as Led Zeppelin. a.k.a. And a hell of a lot of that number were there for Led Zep. Bannister about the 69and 70 festivals. Updated Jan 2013 Bank Holiday Bluesology Festival. all the hippies eh ? again, and didn't for about three years. The perpetrator ran off and the victim was immediately surrounded It was pretty unreal for me, rubbing shoulders with some of the great musicians I had only read about like: Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After and the man who launched so many great names from his Bluesbreakers, Mr. John Mayall. The festival was developed by Freddy Bannister and Wendy Bannister, who had been promoting club shows in London, with the permission of the Bath Festival Society. The Nice Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa, Byrds, Steppenwolf, Johnny Winter, etc. - hated them soon after!) I also had the good fortune to be at Windsor for the Sunday night the year before look of astonishment when smacking the bow onto his strings, expecting an echo 'Peelmobile'. Lots of hairy people in a field. from the middle of the crowd using an ultra long cable and Adrian Henri & since I had partaken of a small yellow pill on arriving in Bath. think it was pretty dark by the time they came on (and the pictures seem to Ten Years after and Keef Hartley would make the trip to Bethel, NY in August, Those asterisked may not have played: 1969 Bath Festival Blues My Brother John overheating every few miles, but we got there. I and my friend sat on the grass looking towards the stage and desperately tried Bath Festival, June 1969 & June 1970; Mike Watt; in, Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music, introducing citations to additional sources, List of music festivals in the United Kingdom, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bath_Festival_of_Blues&oldid=1083035525, This page was last edited on 16 April 2022, at 16:34. stick in my mind. Fleetwood Mac finished their set before midnight. scraps behind the bike sheds but nothing as callous as this. covered in an exotic herbal cloud. What a fabulous day that was. all together and there was no huge gap between artist and audience. in the ground. A Just One point was blown away, enjoyed Liverpool Scene, Chicken Shack, Taste, Ten Years After Last update Sept 2022- new pix Led Zeppelin, The Nice and Liverpool Scene. My memory was that he had a mini with a psychedelic spray job which further underlined the inferior finish Mac and I had achieved. as if it was happening now. Chateau Impney grounds. HISEMAN'S COLOSSEUM " who outplayed almost everyone.leisurely, brilliant John Mayall, (for it was even he), said, sotto voce, though audibly, Well, thanks for making this site, brought up some great youth moments! And what a line-up! A set by Fleetwood Mac in the Nags Head, Battersea had one of my top 10 music moments: Peter Green doing two solo numbers on a National Steel guitar. me on my shoulder (which could have been worse) but I ate it, and was quite Sad that I had to leave before Fleetwood Mac's set (would have missed my lift I [1] The festival was well received and both the promoters and the Bath Chamber of Commerce were keen to put on another festival the next year, becoming the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music and reinviting both many of the same acts back and other bigger names, especially from the United States.[1]. TEN YEARS AFTER" were even more exciting than Fleetwood Mac. bill as loads of other bands! happy about that. Watching the band that afternoon one could really notice how that second tour of the States had honed them into a really sharp outfit oozing confidence. I saw him enough walking around the site to recognise him from the underground the vastness of the crowd, though I was told later, (or read a quite possibly The at a local shop. I recall any of the festivals he was at. draw in more information from festival goers and ( hopefully ) tapers. Fate got me a room at 75,Pultney long hair. Well I remember and I was there!! Mark Helme remembers things differently -A great sunny day. was amazing, especially the appearance of Led Zep.They were the absolute highlight The festival, Lawrence said, is "about where . As we were waiting for the bus in The Parade in Cardiff the local drug We had a number of new images donated in 2018 after Melvin Green, Peter Clinick and Nigel Hall. comments which I'm not going to share with you. for a really great day of music. Edward's Magic Theatre' but I'm fairly sure they didn't ever make an appearance. home I was picked up by the same VW guy and my by now ex-girlfiend, which was in 2022 we had more from Alwyne Bates. mind anyone crashing in the park after the event was over. it now, except the line-up. Mayall set, which had Marc Almond on guitar, and I certainly do not remember at School in Bath and in those days part of the local 'blues' community. A brilliant set from Chicken Shack (Christine and Stan) all flooding back. Roy Harper. to say I was there with three friends, Sandy Marilon and Rob, who they reckened I was looking out of the back of a maroon Jaguar as we left the festival at the end at the old Marquee club in Wardour Street. Girl. "[5], Led Zeppelin played for three hours. finished my lunch! We camped overnight in the rec I seem to remember. The poster is an artist's . The only major problem occurred when The Nice's use of bagpipers caused the stage to collapse and had to be repaired. 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