Weeley Festival Summer 1971
By Tom Teicholz at 16 July, 2008, 12:27 pm
I spent a good of Saturday night recalling the Weeley Festival that took place in August 1971 with a friend who was there as well. Here’s a link to the BBC’s account of the Weeley Pop festival.
At the time we were both spending the summer at a summer school and went off to see the festival — taking separate routes but finding each other there.
The festival organizers expected 10,000 people. According to news reports anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 people showed up turning it into a free festival. Services were overwhelmed and free food was distributed.
We had no tents, just some blankets and some cheap wine to keep us warm. My buddy recalls that at one point we tried to make a lean-to out of some of the stray or hay there — I don’t really remember that. What I do recall is the music or rather, the memory of having seen some of the acts.
The festival started at midnight on Thursday and ran straight through to Sunday morning at nine. My friend recalled that we left sometime late Saturday or early Sunday morning.
Searching online we found someone who had compiled a list of the bands and when they were on. It’s quite impressive:
It’s said that our memory has the records and all we need is the right cue to bring forward the info.
Reading over the list of performers, some I didn’t even recognize, others I recalled their performances.
Based on the list I’m thinking we must have arrived early Friday.
I seem to recall hearing Tir Na Nog, as well as Mungo Jerry who had that big hit “In the summertime”; Stone the Crows and Maggie Bell. I recall as a great performance she was working some of the territory of Janis, and Grace Slick and Chrissie Hynde.
Barclay James harvest were a big deal but I couldn’t tell you today what kind of music it was (although I do have a faint imagination of what it was). Al Stewart was pretty good, but King Crimson was a treat.
Mott the Hoople I enjoyed but can’t say I recall much. Rory Gallagher was a guitar God. Lindsifarne I recall as being a big deal. And Caravan meant something. But seeing Rod Stewart & The Faces at the peak of his Maggie May popularity and then Marc Bolan and T. Rex were the highlights for me.
Here’s the list of bands and when they performed:
FRIDAY:
Midnight , Hackensack
01.30, The Edgar Broughton Band
03.00, Juicy Lucy
04.30, Principal Edwards
06.00, Status Quo
07.30, Vechio
09.00, Gnidrolog
10.00, Ricotti Albequerque
11.30, Tir Na Nog
Noon, Mungo Jerry
13.00, Gringo
14.00, Fairfield Parlour
15.00, Stone The Crows (including Maggie Bell and Les Harvey)
16.30, Natural Acoustic Band
17.00, Barclay James Harvest
18.30, Al Stewart
19.00, Colosseum
20.30, Comus
21.00, King Crimson
22.30, Mike Maran
SATURDAY
midnight, Mott The Hoople
00.30, Belrig
01.00, Curved Air
02.30, Tudor Lodge
03.00, Groundhogs
04.30, Mick Saunders
05.00, Rory Gallagher
07.00, On
08.00, Bell & Arc
09.30, Caravan
11.00, Lindisfarne
Noon, Heads, Hands and Feet
14.00, Julie Felix
14.30, Quintessence
16.00, Paul Bretts Sage
16.30, Gerry Laughran
17.30, Grease Band
19.00, Faces/Rod Stewart
20.30, Steve Tilston
21.00, T Rex
23.00, Country Jug
23.30, Van Der Graaf Generator
SUNDAY
01.00, Stray
02.30, Arthur Brown
04.00, Louise
05.00, Fusion Orchestra
06.00, Assegai
07.00, Horne
08.00, Crow
09.00, Castle
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