Tomorrow were wonderful as always, playing 'Strawberry Fields Forever', 'My White Bicycle', 'Incredible Journey of Timothy Chase', 'Real Life Permanent Dream' and several other songs, with Steve Howe doing all the musical work on his big wah-wah Gibson guitar whilst Keith, Junior and Twink freaked out playing with an imaginary volleyball - you know the way they used to do.

Blossom Toes were smashing, even though the power failed on them and they had to finish their set chanting 'Love us like we love you' to a tambourine rather than playing the instruments. It was the first time I had ever seen them and they were always excellent value.      Eric Burdon and the New Animals were impressive and really quite psychedelic, performing 'Sky Pilot' and some other stuff. I bumped into Julie Driscoll at a Keith Tippett concert the other day and mentioned that I had once seen her singing 'Season of the Witch' with the Brian Auger Trinity, but she denied that it was her. Do I believe her or my own memory of Ally Pally?

Blossom Toes onstage at the "Love In" © Brian Godding.

      Anyway the stars of the show were The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. As I recall it, he started off in an insect costume and only moved on the stand-up-for-the-fire-demon costume later. Vincent Crane was superb, as you have to be if you are going to play all the instruments including the bass pedals. 'You're going to burn, Brown! Ha Ha Ha!' he leered, gloatingly. They did 'I put a spell on you', 'Devil's Grip', the hysterical 'Give him a flower', 'Fire' and that long track from the album - can't remember the title - 'Spontaneous Apple Creation' possibly?.  

    Entry cost one pound , there were a few busts, and there was also a stabbing . Reportedly 10,000 attended, which would have filled the Ally Pally quite nicely . Eric Burdon , leading the New Animals , was one of the highlights of the night , with Johnny Weider playing exquisite violin parts on " Paint it Black " . A fire extinguisher was ripped from the wall, causing a minor flood , whilst signs were displayed bearing mottos such as 'Super Pot, Dr Timo and ...... can anyone explain this one ..... Jenkins Is High ?

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My names Brian Godding
Just come across your site and specifically the page related to the Ally pally 'love in'(?) 1967 !
Well I was with the Blossom Toes and strangely enough(!) remember that shindig fairly well!
There's actually a pic' of us on my site www.briangodding.co.uk music so far pages, Blossom Toes in full color taken from the side of the stage ( we look like we're trying to extricate ourselves from the back of a removal truck !! ( so much clobber on stage!).

Julie Driscoll( my sister in law !) did perform at the event with the trinity( whether she cares to remember it or not ! )

We (the blossies) did not have a power failure,,, we just run out of things to play!! ( it was one of our first outings as the Toes and we were a 'little' under rehearsed!! ).

Like many of the so called 'love ins' of the time it was really quite shambolic and actually quite dangerous as you had the' beautiful people' at the front but further back were all the Holloway and Archway yobs looking for trouble (cripes Jeeves!! )

The most pleasant and memorable moment for me was upon finally escaping the building early in the morning and walking home to our home the other side of Hampstead Heath, me and my wife came across an elderly gent pruning his roses and upon seeing us he cut one and gave it to Angie !! ( Now that's what I call Flower Power!! )

all the best
Brian Godding.

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I went to the all night 'Love-In' at Ally Pally with two of my friends from school in St Albans, We were ex-mods transforming ourselves into juvenile hippies. I spent a the previous day tie-dying and old shirt, and drying and threading melon seeds to make a necklace (sad, but true). We had told our parents that were were staying with my friend's mother overnight as an excuse for staying out all night.

On arrival we were all given a flower at the entrance. The atmosphere inside was fantastic, and did not feel at all aggressive, unlike the pilled-up amphetamine fuelled mod dances that we had been going to previously. We were used to aggressive males coming up behind us in the dance hall, treading on our heels, waiting for us to turn around whereupon they would say' 'who are you looking at?' and promptly nut you in the face. It was all 'peace and love and understanding' at the Alley Pally.

Others have described the bands very well, so I'll add a few of my own recollections about the event.
There were light shows of course, but also a large white sheet mid-hall onto which was projected Bunuel and Dali's 'Un Chien Andalou'. The Brian Auger Trinity with Julie Driscoll and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown were the outstanding bands, particularly the latter (soon after I bought their debut single with the A-side 'Devil's Grip' and B-side 'Give Him A Flower'). Unfortunately Pink Floyd were dire, even though I loved their Syd Barrett era music. Syd was really out of it, and as I recall they played 'Astromine Domine' for ages and ages before leaving the stage. In deference to Brian Godding who has commented on this page, we did genuinely enjoy Blossom Toes' set too.
One humorous anectode: my friends and I were not drug takers at this time, and we were fairly naive about such things. Several people approached us asking "where's the bus stop man?" We tried to ascertain their destination so that we could be of help, but this obviously confused them. I later surmised that this was current hippie-talk for 'dope dealer'.
We did come away from the event thinking that ours was the generation that was going to change the world. Hopelessly naive I'm afraid, but then we were only 17 years old.
Andy Pegg

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was there July 29th and have never forgotten it. I was fifteen years old, with a bit under a quid in coppers making my pockets sag. The guy on the door said, “I’ll take your word for it!” which was an unexpected kindness, and let me in. Despite all retrospective comments from observers at the time that it was too commercialised – it really wasn’t. The stage looked awesome as the liquid lights blipped over a massive screen of sheets – I’ll never forget Arthur Brown...scary as hell...literally.

Creation were my pick of the bunch – second line up with Kim Gardner I recall – truly brilliant band. Indeed Julie Driscoll appeared with Trinity. Sam Gopal just plain weird ragas, all sat cross legged on stage. Eric Burdon telling us that they’d recently played Monterey and then playing a great set. But the Floyd...was I at a different gig than most commentators? I thought they were awesome, and Syd right there centre stage. I can only clearly recall Pow R Toch H and bits, but they hit the mark for everyone. Such a buzz when they walked onstage.

Nobody ever mentions the MC’s – I think one was a member of Scaffold, wearing a Cardinal’s outfit. Apostolic Intervention – didn’t that lined up include a ‘Wing’? Blossom Toes also great “Look at me I’m you” was a trip. Tomorrow were always great whenever I saw them. Just what would have happened if Steve Howe had replace Syd instead of Gilmour doing so? A final mention for the lightshows. Mark Boyle and various others transformed the Ally Pally into an absolute wonderland with slo-mo movies, liquids, and indeed, the strobed spotlights (we were told they were WW11 searchlights...and we believed them!)

The Ally Pally is a spiritual site for me now. Anyway, it’s beautiful that so many of us are still around.

Love
Ian Macintosh