| Early
'70's Eavis (Above, from www.bbc.co.uk).
The original Glastonbury poster (Right): |
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1970
– Speaking today, Michael Eavis gives the impression that
his first attempt at festival organising was pretty straightforward,
“it just seemed to involve getting some scaffolding and
a bit of polythene…” he told the 1998 Festival Programme.
But before the “Pilton Pop, Folk & Blues Festival”
(as it was then known) had even commenced things started going
wrong… The first ever Glastonbury fire was ignited by the
Hell’s Angels in the week preceding the event, who torched
Eavis’ hay wagon after he declined their kind offer of providing
“security services” for the weekend. And then on the
morning of the first ever Glastonbury, festival-goers were awoken
by the news that Jimi Hendrix had died the previous night of a
suspected drugs overdose. The somber mood that this cast over
the festival was increased further by the announcement that headline
act The Kinks had pulled out with sore throats. Their record company
hastily drafted in T-Rex (who had been playing in Minehead the
previous night) as replacements. |
 |
| This
was a few years before Marc Bolan’s band had hit the charts
with songs like “20th Century Boy”, and Eavis admitted
that he “didn’t really know what he looked like.”
He was soon to find out with Bolan rushing over shouting “don’t
touch my car, man!” after Eavis had spotted the T-Rex singer’s
huge velvet-covered American machine and had gone over to stroke
it. Despite the setbacks, it was evitable that with any festival
held at Glastonbury, on ancient ley lines, at the heart of cider-drinking
Somerset, good vibes would prevail… T-Rex turned in a great
set that night, and the festival was a memorable success. The
Glastonbury legend was born. Also on the
bill: Keith Christmas, Al Stewart, Roy Harper, Quintessence, Amazing
Blondel, Sam Apple Pie, Steamhammer, Ian Anderson, Duster Bennet,
Alan Bown, Wayne Fontana, Stack Ridge, Ian Hunt, Marsupilami,
Originn, with Mad Mick + Derek James, plus “Freaks and Funny
things”. Price = £1 + free milk.
Attendance = 2,000 |
| 1971
– This year’s “Glastonbury Fayre” was
one of few not actually organized by Michael Eavis, but a rich
society drop-out called Andrew Kerr. Kerr had woken up during
the previous year’s festival on Glastonbury Tor to the view
of a rainbow touching Worthy Farm, and saw this as a sign telling
him to organize his own fest. Kerr was aided by another man on
a mission, who’d had a vision, – Bill Harkin. Mysteriously
drawn to the site by recurring dreams of Worthy Farm enclosed
by two beams of light forming a pyramid shape, Harkin (a designer,
conveniently), designed and built the first ever Pyramid Stage
out of expanded metal, plastic sheeting and scaffolding. The
organizational team was completed by a guru called Zee and a girl
called Toad. Bloody hell! It sounds like it would take a miracle
for anything that this bunch of weirdos had organized to be a
success! |
|
|
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| "I
am the God of HellFire" - Arthur Brown, '71 |
|
But,
this is Glastonbury, and miracles are rife – especially
with God himself on site to dish them out, and according to festival
veteran Anth Ginn “God was there…!” Ginn explained
to the 1999 Festival Programme “…he shared a tent
with a bloke from Nottingham. They never actually met, which was
probably for the best because God was a bit aggressive.”
Also making a spiritual appearance was an angel at the Pyramid
Stage, “it sounds ridiculous but there it was, about fifty
feet in the air to the left of the stage” says Ginn again,
who is obviously a bit mental, but incredibly he was not the only
one to spot it. Festival MC, Mad Mick is quoted as asking, “whatever
you are, talk to us” to the visiting angel. Interestingly,
the angel appeared during the set of Melanie, whose song “Brand
New Key” was later given new lyrics by Somerset heroes the
Wurzels and taken to the top of the charts as “Combine Harvester”!! |
| If
you think the toilets are bad now, then think again! In 1971
they were “trenches about six foot deep, five foot wide,
and thirty foot long, with railway sleepers across them,”
Anth Ginn told the 1997 programme. “You had to wobble
out, getting splinters in your arse, and crap into them.”
The Bath Arts Workshop did little to elevate the stinking toilet
situation by selling curried beans for 5p a portion. A yound
David Bowie headlined this second Glastonbury, however due to
the late running of bands during the day he was billed to finish,
he was unable to squeeze his set in before the curfew. Instead
he performed at 5am the next morning as the sun was rising and
confused campers were just waking up. Also
on the bill: Terry Reid, Traffic, Hawkwind, The Crazy World
of Arthur Brown, Gong, Family, Melanie, Joan Baez, Pink Fairies,
Fairport Convention, Edgar Broughton Band, Quintessence.Price
= Free. Attendance = 12,000 |
|
1972
to 1978
– Although no official festivals were held during these
years, the two previous years’ events had created such
a mystique around Worthy farm that revelers would turn up each
summer to hold a spontaneous celebration. 500 turned up in 1978,
to see bands who just queued up at the stage to wait their turn
and play. There were no toilets whatsoever. Michael Eavis finally
took the hint, and resurrected the Glastonbury Festival in................
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1979
– A
triumphant comeback in terms of numbers (12,000 attending),
but a disaster financially. Eavis had dedicated his festival
return to the UN Year Of The Child, but heavy losses meant he
had no money to donate to the cause. The line-up still consisted
largely of folk-rock bands aimed at the travelers who had turned
up each year since the festival. But this movement was gradually
disappearing. Mark Simpson, a Bristol man involved in promoting
the festival said that 1979’s hippy wig-out “looked
a bit stale.” He worked hard during 1980 (a year-off for
the festival) to persuade Michael Eavis into booking fresher
bands for next time… On
the bill: Phil Collins, Steve Hillage, Gong, Roy Harper, Sky
& The Footsbarn Theatre, Alex Harvey, john Martyn, Leyton
Buzzards, The Pop Group, The Only Ones, Peter Gabriel, Tom Robinson,
Nona Hendryx, UK Subs. Price = £5.
Attendance = 12,000 |
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Buy CDs from these Glastonbury 70's Superstars:
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.
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Hawkwind
T-Rex
Fairport Convention
Gong
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
David Bowie
Phil Collins
Peter Gabriel
