Plumpton Race Track.
Streat.
East Sussex.
The Archive.
updated June 2021
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Plumpton Race Track. Streat. East Sussex. |
Day 2: 9th
August 1969.
The Plumpton Pilgrimage.
FANS PLAY IT COOL IN 'VILLAGE
OF FEAR'
It was all systems go at Plumpton today as thousands of fans descended on the village for the second day of the Ninth National Jazz, Blues and Pop Festival. Mr. Brian Sommerville, festival spokesman, said : "the Saturday attendance at last year's festival was between 50,000 and 60,000. This year the advance bookings have been bigger than ever before, so we are expecting at least this number and possibly more."Almost 10,000 youngsters slept on the festival site last night, many of them in the open air. Hundreds more slept under hedges by the side of the roads. But despite the villagers fears there were no signs of trouble. The security officer , Douglas Fairweather, who was on patrol all night in a mini-moke, said: "After midnight the area was as quiet as a grave.A lot of young people went out looking for excitement after the festival had finished but all they found were country lanes so they just went to sleep.".Mr. Alan Carter. in charge of catering at the festival camp site, said he had already sold 30,000 bottles of soft drinks and 7000 sandwiches and had served 3.000 meals. ' "The festival has hardly started yet so-l just can't imagine how much food we are going to get through over the weekend." |
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DRUMMER
A spokesman for the organizers said today that an electrical
fault which stopped a performance by The
Soft Machine last night was caused by the group's own equipment.
He added: "There is adequate power laid on at the race
course and as far as we know, the failure was not our fault.''
The Soft Machine's drummer collapsed in tears
on stage when a power failure brought the opening night to a halt last night.
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The
group's drummer 24-year old Robert Wyatt kicked away his drums and broke down
into tears . He was helped off the stage in a state of collapse. Afterwards
the group's manager, 26 year -old Sean Murphy said:
"Robert is too upset to talk to anyone. He is crying his
eyes out. He takes his music very seriously. He has had five 4 years of classical
-training. "
By the time the fault was finally corrected,
their scheduled hour was over and they did not reappear. The festival organizers
believe that overloading may have caused the breakdown.
CAMPING
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An estimated 25,000 fans were at
the opening night of the three day festival. On the whole they were restrained
and well behaved, and there was no violence. Thousands had brought their own
tents and bedded down on the prepared camping site. Others were charged
2s. each to sleep in huge marquees, but the organizers segregated the boys from
the girls.
Fans, some from the United States, Canada and all over Europe-many. colourfully
dressed, boys wearing beads. and ribbons in their hair. A great number were
barefoot. Throughout the festival groups are playing simultaneously on
two stages -one in the open air and the other in a giant marquee behind the
festival's own "mini village"
which has been set out in tents to try to make the festival self-supporting.
This includes a discotheque , fashion boutiques, record
and book shops. a camping equipment
Tonight (from 6;30 p.m.) fans can hear ; |
You can view many great photos of the acts at Plumpton by visiting the Repfoto site .
The early festivals.
You can find out the complete
line ups of the first festivals if you follow the links below.
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Festivals 65-83
Most of these have fairly complete documentation .
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