The Buxton Rock festivals 1972

A promoter would have to be slightly crazy to stage a festival in such a bleak spot in mid September ! © Pat Green

Hi there

I was at Buxton festival in 1972 as well as the bands you have listed, I remember there being a band called Glencoe, and a couple more I cannot remember. But I do know that Curved Air were there but did not perform, because Sonia Christina the lead singer said it was too cold and too late . I remember being very cold ,wet and hungry. It was September and I spent the night under a plastic sheet wearing just a t shirt and denim jacket.
Thanks

Chris Guest

Brian Armstrong was also there with Chris !

I was at Buxton in 1972 with one of your contributors, Chris Guest!
My memories-
A bus ride to Buxton changing in Sheffield, followed by a long walk from Buxton town centre because the promised shuttle bus service never materialised.
The fences being broken down and people getting in for free after I'd just paid!
Cold.
Wet.
John Peel's nasal scouse tones.
Curved Air - sadly missed.
Family - I missed most of their set because I fell asleep but I do remember them playing "The Weaver's Answer" my favourite Family number.
Waking up to the sound of Pink Floyd's "One of these Days" thundering round the hills on record.
Wishbone Ash - brilliant, they were the band I went to see, worth all the hassle.
Sleeping under a plastic sheet, wet and cold.
Thinking it was a crazy place to have a Rock Festival.
Receiving respect from my mates at school because I was there.
Regards,
Brian Armstrong

© Pat Green

I was at Buxton 72 and your list shows Slade who never played. Also don't recall the Wild Angels being on the bill. Curved Air were there but chose not to play as it had run too late.

John Peel announced it and everybody booed. We were all geared up to give Sonja Kristina some drunken lecherous leers. Wishbone Ash closed the show very early in the morning with an encore of "No Easy Road". Don't recall rain but it was very cold at night. The beer tent was selling "Party Seven" giant cans of beer with seven pints in them. The queues for them were so long you had to make an important decision - one PartySeven and face queing again or or two Party Sevens ? Unfortuntely I chose the latter and while one Party Seven wasn't enough, two was too much for a sixteen year old. Part way through the second can, I got up to dance to "Easy Livin" by Uriah Heep and fell flat on my face. Remained prostrate as the world was spinning during the rest of their set and John Kay Band and Steppenwolf but heard them all right. The John Kay Band was a vehicle to promote his recent "Forgotten Songs and Unsung Heroes" solo album and consisted of Steppenwolf with a different drummer and organist. They then went off for a bit and came back with Jerry Edmonton on drums and Goldie McJohn on organ and did their Steppenwolf greatest hits.

Earlier in the day, Wizzard had played a good set. Their piano player (Bill Hunt ?) looked as though he was on something (three Party Sevens ?) and after a couple of numbers pushed his electric piano offstage into the pit then climbed up onto the roof of the stage and pranced about for the whole of the set !
Also went to Bickershaw and other Buxtons.
Cheers
Tim Hardman

Queuing up for chips, anything to keep warm ! © Elias Welch

Remember being very disappointed that Curved Air were too cold to play,but does anybody else remember Roy Wood and Wizard being pelted with beer cans and Wood losing it and storming off. Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash played great sets, I think Ash finished it all off about 4.00am.

Alexender

I remember this one and agree with just about everything else said by earlier contributors -wind - huddled up in the cold etc. Particularly remember Curved Air's no show and John Peel's scathing remarks about them. I seem to remember (which nobody else seems to have commented on) that the 4am finish wasn't just Wishbone Ash but a bit of a jam with lots of other people from other bands coming on and off. I might be wrong!There were two other bands I don't think mentioned anywhere else. The band that opened the festival were called COLD COMFORT FARM and played a number of blues standards. They were followed by GLENCOE. Another band I don't think are mentioned called SUNSHINE (with a singer called Ethel!) and then the WILD ANGELS. Then Roy Wood - Uriah Heep - John Kay Band - Steppenwolf - Family - Wishbone Ash.

David Owen Davies.

Huh ?© Pat Green

I was there . It put me off festivals for life. I lived in the next county and went with a couple of mates. It was freezing all day and some people down the front lit a fire. Family were excellent and the rest is just a blur as I never did like Uriah Heap or some of the others. Do remember the wizzard bloke dancing on the roof as others frantically tried to get him down. Left fairly early suffering from frostbite. What was I thinking in those days ? .

BOB

First memories were arriving from Nottingham on an old bus to see the centre of Buxton surrounded by freaks. This was a great start. The buzz on the ground was that the town was crawling with undercover drug squad members, a rumour that was quickly confirmed by the shuttle bus which passed two lots of dodgily dressed "freaks" who even my grandmother could have spotted were dressed up for the day. Years later an uncle of mine working for the scientific civil service confirmed their presence and the fact that one of their buses got lost en route to the festival...thick or what!!

It was a cold and grey day with a long long walk to the queues for the toilets, too cold to relax, and worse later on. Musically things were slow, with an Amercian funk band deluging part of the site with their flyers...might have been Cold Farm Comfort or some such band. Glencoe were a muscular outfit who were well rehearsed and to the point. I remember the John Kay band coming on big time about the fact that they were no longer Steppenwolf, but having to remind a dozy uninterested crowd that, this was THE John Kay from, er Steppenwolf!

Wizzard were entertaining if only for the guy climbing the scoffolding ..I thought it was Ace Kefford, but now I dont think he was even in the band...but the sound was atrocious and diluted anything in the way of light and shade.

We presume the surroundings of the stage are blocks of hay, not bricks, a strange contraption indeed.

I too remember Peely being extemely pissed off - nay, even swearing - about Curved Air's absence. I'd love to say I remembered Uriah Heep's "July Morning", but I can't. I do however remember three more things, it got colder, it periodically got wet, but up stepped Family, and Chappo hit the stage with a passion that belied everything that had gone before. Peel was obviously glad to have them there, and I remember a magnificent feeling of controlled power -one minute Chapman spat out his lines, and the next the band would play some gorgeous melodies. The vibes sounded splendid, the crowd at the front really went for it, we all stood up and tried to keep warm, without losing sight of our little patch of space, and Weavers Answer was a memorable highlight.

Later on Wishbone Ash belied the early hours, the cold , the damp and the darkness and worked up the crowd, only to come out with the immortal lines, "You are great, you've got us all night now"; They promptly played one more number and left us to the cold and dark.

I was glad I was there, even if it was a warning of how things had changed over the last 2 years or so. The yanks were crass, the new british bands didnt really cut it , Ash did well but Family proved to be the kings of a disappointing festival, if only by virtue of Chappo apart, they played some inspiring music, and connected with the crowd.

The journey home next day , was marked by lots of mud, but a real sense of achivement that we stuck it out through the night.
Regards,
Pete Feenstra

The crowd,dirty ,cold, wet , but undaunted, becos they are BRITISH ( and are used to it ) © Phil Dauntsey

Bloody cold. Interminable wait between bands. Standing in a tent having a piss next to John Peel (one of the highlights of my life up to that point and possibly since). Wishbone Ash coming on at some ridiculous hour of the morning yelling “It’s Wishbone time” over a PA that barely woke us all up. Absolutely brilliant. Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Nick Cassidy

    This was my first ever festival, I went with a few friends, Mick and Mary Corrigan, Dave Cawley and a few unremembered others.

    It was cold and wet, and I am sure it snowed at one point. I remember being near the front and being terrified by the Hells Angels who were close by. I remember them relieving people of their sleeping bags and using them as fuel on their fire, when they attempted to take ours, they had not anticipated the fury of Mary, who was a diminutive blue eyed blonde, she sent them scattering, they left us well alone for the rest of the festival.

   One of the highlights for me was when Dave and I went looking for an alternative toilet, found ourselves at the back of the stage and ended up playing football with John Peel, I think Roy Wood was there, but was in awe that Peely would invite me for a game of improvised football.

   I remember the party sevens (and the queues to get them), but I don't remember much of the bands except Uriah Heep who I thought were very good, and being disappointed by Steppenwolf.

    Overall, I am glad I experienced the festival even though it was cold and wet, but I remember Reading 1975 better, two nurses from London and one single sleeping bag, don't remember seeing any bands except Hawkwind :)

Trevor

Uriah Heep Buxton 1974

I can't really add much to what has been written so far except that the longer it went on the colder it got. Can't recall rain, but it was 30-odd years ago and the memory is failing to match the body. It's amazing how much heat plastic sheeting can retain! The highlights for me were Family and Wishbone Ash. The former for having Roger Chapman as a frontman - a truly inspiring performer. The latter for having the commitment to get on stage at some stupid time of the morning in the freezing cold and playing some inspired music. Can't remember Roy Wood! Uriah Heep were ok but Steppenwolf and the John Kay band were poor.

I went with two mates from school. Managed to hitch a lift part of the way back but had to walk the last 6 miles home as there were no buses at that time of the morning on a Sunday. Nicked milk off doorsteps to keep the energy up!! I take this opportunity to apologise to those residents of Hazel Grove who's Sunday pintas mysteriously disappeared.

We only went to this concert as we'd been to the previous year's indoor event. Which, even though was hot, noisy and cramped at least was sheltered from the elements. The only bands I can remember from that gig was Juicy Lucy, the Groundhogs and Brewers Droop, who's song "It's Not The Meat, It's The Motion" I still remember if only the title!!!

Happy days!!

Keith Humphreys

© Pat Green

I was 19 in 1972 when I took the ferry from the Isle of Wight and train from Southampton and ended up, more by luck than judgement, in Buxton being loaded onto a pickup lorry with a bunch of other festival goers. Trucked up to the festival past busloads of unfriendly looking policemen. The first night I spent having my nuts frozen off in my tent. I had succumbed to advertising hype and brought along the latest great new invention, a space blanket in which I nearly died of hypothermia. In the end I joined some Hells Angels who had built a roaring fire. Being a biker myself, and freezing to death, this seemed worth the risk. They turned out to be friendly and good naturedly razzed a copper who wandered over to get warm. Not all were in a good mood. Two policemen strolled through the campsite. "Evening officer" came a cheery call: "Bollocks" was the sour response. And thinking back, they must have been bloody freezing, too.

I woke up after a fitful hour or two with a bearded face nearly touching mine. "Good morning" he grinned "You must be the cat from the Isle of Wight". In an attempt to keep warm people had bought afghan fur coats which some hippies were flogging for five quid each. By the morning they had all disintegrated, quality control not being what it is today. In the arena, a few thousand bodies were wrapped in poly sheeting against the cold and the fitful rain. I remember the geezer in Wizard, out of his head running along the roof. He was eventually persuaded down where he proceeded to beat the bassist over the head with what looked like an iron bar. It was better entertainment than their music.

Family were great - I loved Burlesque and Roger Chapman was on form taking the piss out of any unfortunate in the crowd who caught his eye. A bunch of people had occupied the slightly higher ground immediately in front of the stage. A bloke with an afro was digging the music but unwittingly blocking the view. A well aimed, if rather churlishly intended, beer bottle informed him of his error.

Ever since Easy Rider I had been besotted with Steppenwolf. I had a big Norton and the only reason I was there was to worship at the feet of these rock god biker USA heroes. They turned out to be shite. Wishbone Ash, whom I'd never heard of, came on at some ungodly hour of the morning and, fearless of death by electrocution, played their bollocks off for two hours in the pouring rain. I've been a fan ever since, saw them last two years ago at Bisley where they nearly blew my ageing eardrums out. Magic.
Phil Underwood

The poor buggers at the back have a long wait as that bus looks pretty full already © Jim Thornton

i was at buxton festival in 1972, me and my mate johnny set off from leeds on the friday, after changing buses at sheffield the nearest it went to buxton was castleton. we went straight in one of the local pubs for a few beers, but it was getting late by then so after a hour or so we set off up the road towards buxton. a mile or so later we decided to put tents up for the night and set off early saturday morning.while we put our tents up we were asked by 3 teenage girls who were also going if we,d give them a hand to put up there tent. this we did (eventually), it was pitch black. then after a joint it was time to try and sleep.

next morning we set off thumbing lifts, the girls got one almost imediately, we didnt have such luck. we walked for about 5 mile before someone gave us a lift into buxton. after a greasy spoon we found coach to site, (does anyone remember location of site ?) it seemed a few miles away from buxton. after getting off bus it was a quite long trek to the site, weather was sunny i think to start with, but chilly, we arrived at site and felt a bit dissapointed with location and facilities, after being to bardney festival earlier that year, and the facilities they had there, this was a shithole. anyway after putting tents up we sat for hours watching groups, id gone esp for steppenwolf, and uriah heap, and they werent on till the evening, (i think), then i went for a hotdog and the guy only had sausages left, no breadcakes! shit. and to cap it all i lost my mate, he told me later he had gone for a pee and couldnt remember where we were, and as he had took his tent down to use as a pancho i couldnt look there, i think the young hippy chick he,d met had something to do with his disapearence, lol.

i wasnt let down with the bands though i was at front near stage with a girl who id met and we both really enjoyed the gig, the weather by then was really cold though, and same in the morning, after thumbing a lift to manchester we said our goodbyes then i got on train for leeds, it was the first time id been warm for hours lol. looking back though these were good times and i wouldnt change anything given the choice. and apart from the odd "wanna score mate" you didnt feel theatened at these events. not like todays festivals where your tents likely to be broke into, or some hoody gang mug you, or is it just me showing my age, lol cya.

micky w

The aftermath, the usual Sea of Filth © Jim Thornton

Hi,
I was there, it was my first festival and I was 15 years old. I remember John Peel getting us all to sing Nellie the Elephant. It never rained but was really cold.
After the festival we walked down into Buxton, and spent the night in a bus shelter. It was snowing lightly and someone came round with a tea urn. I remember Steppenwolf and Wizard.... It didn't put me off festivals, but I did buy a tent for the next one :)

Amanda.

Hi there

I was at the Buxton festival in 72 I thought Me and my Mates were going to Freeze to death the Coldest place I had ever been...as luck would have it my Dad had a few Mountain rescue blankets like the ones they give out after Marathons "silver" as I recall.
In 1971 no one had ever seen them and they folded up smaller than my mums rainmate...I was reluctant to take them at first because I didn't think they looked cool with me Kaftan ,Glad we did though...

Frank J
Manchester

1972 Remember it well, I was 17. Drove there in the night in my mates hillman Imp – I remember driving up a small track road. Outstanding highlights for me were Roy Woods Wizard and Wishbone Ash – considering Roy Wood was making his mark in the pop charts they were an outstanding rock band. I can’t remember much else – thanks for the memories

John Charnock

i recall i was just 19 and so was my m8 at the time tony boylan we had just been working at a hotel dish washing and smoking banana skins .poor we was at the time lol.and working in wales.anyway after nicking some blankets from the hotel and blagging a weeks wages in leu of notice of the crazy manager who sacked us haha,we went on our way my god september n bloody freezin to say the least ,we kipped half way in an old landrover and nearly died of frost bite ,but after what seemed days we did manage to get to buxton at night ,thing i remember is family that did it for me id heard other bands playing in the dark but couldnt distinguish what or who they where,but lead singer chapman bellowed out his vocals in the biting air of a buxton embraced in winter ,

thanks for that introduction to outdoor uk festivals it was to be the first of many such furrors in the free festival scene ,highlighting with stonehenge 1977 for me the sweat tents and the enormous amounts of knives we did played a huge part over the crap microdots we shelled out for .many memories many girls many friends thank you one and all.

dave diamond port sunlight wirral

Buxton Festival 1972 : We were there as well, four of us, me, two mates, girlfriend of one of the mates (only one of us three guys had one …..). We really went to see Wishbone Ash, they turned up around midnight, hours late. I did go to see them play in London in 2005 as well, very different. John Peel was the Buxton MC, again years later when at Glastonbury he said on television “it’s cold here, but nothing like some festival I did once way back, in Buxton ……”. And it was true, it got down to freezing around midnight. The site was an open hillside over 1,000 feet up, in the Peak District. It also was quite a hike from Buxton.
Huge amount of swearing from Peely, which of course we had never heard from him on the BBC.
Mid-September in those days was a good time for the student market, many worked in the summer but finished with a few weeks hols before going back to uni.
Bill, Nick, Tony and Amanda

Great to find this site. Someone posted a photo of the poster for Buxton 1972 on facebook and I thought I'd see if I could find some info.

1972 was my first festival. I was 17 and didn't really have far to go as I lived in Derby. I went with Rod a bloke I was going out with at the time - he drove. I seem to remember we went and bought some beer in the beer tent straight off - as you did - and then went and sat somewhere. After about half an hour he said he didn't want to stay - it wasn't what he'd been expecting. Well! I wasn't going to be whisked away from something I REALLY wanted to be at so I said I wasn't leaving. And he left (bastard!) To be fair he did give me the chance to leave but I wasn't having any of that. So I stayed on my own. I wandered among the crowd for a bit - found some people I knew from school (!) and sat with them for a while but they were a bit boring so I went to the beer tent as I knew there were bound to be people I'd know there. And there were, so I was saved! They had a tent too, which was lucky for me (I'd gone totally unprepared as I was expecting to be driven home!) as it chucked it down for what seems like the the entire day. What with the excitement of my first festival situation and being abandoned there and then meeting up with people I only half knew these are my abiding memories of the place. I can't remember anything specific about the music. The tent was way towards the back of the site so the stage looked really, really small. But the whole atmosphere of the place was fantastic. Everybody there to enjoy the music and the beer and, well, you remember what being 17 is like! Note: Didn't stay with Rod for very long after that!

Janet

Hello everybody,
I too was at this festival. Can't remember how I got there as I was living in North Wales at the time, but I do remember meeting up with a number of friends (Charlie Waite, Charles Bowker, Mark Knowell and several others). I can remember that the site was quite a way out of town on the moors and that it was bloody cold. Fortunately, I was wearing my father's Merchant Navy bridge coat so did not feel the cold as much as some.

I had gone as I was a big fan of Wishbone Ash and they didn't disappoint. Other highlights included Steppenwolf (I really enjoyed their version of Sookie Sookie), Family (Chappo was on great form and must have smashed at least half a dozen tambourines on the mikestand), and Uriah Heap, who up to that point I had not been a great fan but they won me over that night. John Peel freaked us all out in the early hours of the morning as the mists swirled over the moors by playing the theme tune to Dr Who (then not available on record).

Neither do I remember how I got back to the town but do remember being woken up by a siren or foghorn early the following morning in the main square of the town. I had spent what was left of the night sleeping on a bench.

Having been a veteran of the big outdoor festivals (I was at the Isle of Wight in 1970 to see Jimi Hendrix and got well and truly soaked at Bickershaw though I was rewarded by an outstanding performance by the Grateful Dead), this was one of the last ones I went to. I moved to London in October 1972 to study my degree and was able to watch my heroes (Wishbone Ash, Pink Floyd, Santana, Rory Gallagher etc) in the comfort of an indoor venue (The Finsbury Park Rainbow, The Hammersmith Odeon or the Earl's Court Arena). I managed to get a backstage pass for Reading festival in the summer of 1989, but that was my last experience of the great British outdoor festivals as I moved out to Spain in November 1989 and never felt the urge to go back.
All the best,
Joe Cooper

Came across this site while I was looking to find an original poster/flyer as something jogged my memory of this festival.

4 of us decided to go .. I had just turned 16 and had been taken on as an apprentice at Brush in Loughborough the month before. Me, Steve C, Andy G and Paul S (everyone called him snap) decided to go.. we were all very “wet behind the ears”… having no idea even where the location was or how cold it would be 1000 ft up in the moors.

My Dad drove us to it on the Friday evening and we finally pitched our tent which was a bit cosy for the 4 of us. OMG it was a cold night.. I was only wearing a Levi jacket T shirt and Levi jeans and slip on shoes. Saturday morning we were starving so decided to walk it to Buxton .. we ended up buying some grub and decided on a large family sized apple pie as we thought the foil tray would be good to use to put twigs etc in later that night to light a fire.. we also got a small tin of lighter fluid (petrol) just in case the wood was wet. Anyway to the festival we headed .. it was a cloudy day and cold .. I remember it was announced by JP that Slade would not be coming which really pissed me off as they were the main reason for me going.

Enjoyed wishbone and family but was blown away by Uriah Heep.. never heard them till that day… I remember everyone shouting “Gypsy”.. to which they responded and they did it .. it was great.

We decided to head back to the tent around 2am I guess.. I had one of my shoes sucked off by the mud or cow pat.. it was pitch black and freezing .. finally I found it and it was a cow pat judging by the stink. Finally back in the tent and near freezing to death we decided to find what we could to put in the apple pie tray and light that much needed fire.. adding some of the contents of the lighter fluid to keep it a light .. omg.. the flames nearly reached the top of the tent (yes.. we were inside it).. and the whole tent instantly filled with smoke.. frantically we tried to find the zip to open it .. I swear it was just a matter of seconds before we either were incinerated or facing certain death from lack of air.
So finally we all got out .. tent ruined and dad not coming to pick us up till about 10 on the Sunday morning!! .. it was the coldest I have ever been in my life.

My mum turned up with him and commented about the smell of us .. “Have you been near a fire?”…. “”No mum .. we’ve been in one” .. the 4 of us fell asleep on the way back .. just thank full we managed to stay alive over the weekend.

Then around a month later a gorgeous girl (Elaine) I met was so impressed that I seen two of her fav bands … wishbone and Uriah hero.. i’m sure she only went with me cos of that. .. we were together (on and off) for almost 5 years.. and I still think oh her today. Happy happy days.

Rob C

Peace, love, hell’s angels and hypothermia!

First and foremost. Thanks for the site, the photos and hazy memories, many of which have morphed into my even hazier recollections of my loon pant youth. I wish I could commend the festival organisers for their choice of site. Such remoteness at that time of year at least precluded sheep who clearly had more sense than to graze at those altitudes. I recall that I had planned to go to the ‘festival’ with a group of mates but after my real friends failed to get parental permission, I found myself in the company of two semi acquaintances, the names of which I have managed to forget after all these years?

I can’t recall how we got from Worcester to Buxton but do remember that we we were picked up by some kindly souls towards our journey’s end. As we clambered into the back of a tarpaulin covered old van, we were greeted by a number of fellow travellers who proceeded to pass around a communal joint. We were dropped off in failing light that quickly turned to pitch darkness somewhere in the vicinity of the festival site. It very soon became apparent that we were far from well prepared for the experience(s) that lay in wait for us adolescent inexperienced wannabe hippies. We could just about make out that we were atop a tundra like landscape where the only shelter was the odd boulder and evidence of human habitation was at a premium. It appeared that little in the way of vegetation was able to survive at those lofty heights and being slightly stoned was no help whatsoever.

It soon became very cold, very dark and the odd but regular drops of rain began to smart as they hit our faces and attempted to form icicles on our breath. It is a minor miracle how we survived the night. We huddled together as relative strangers strictly out of necessity and ate whatever food we had brought with us for the duration. I do remember that I very soon dropped the idea of using my red vinyl Adidas bag as a pillow and proceeded to put my head inside it to prevent an untimely early death. If only I knew how barren and unforgiving the place was I wouldn’t have worn my favourite secondhand, threadbare, embroidered, lightweight and far from functional, cream silk jacket which provided my only protection against the elements apart from my cheesecloth shirt. I was fourteen, out of my depth and seriously asking myself whether Curved Air were worth dying for?

Ironically as it turned out the following evening, they didn’t fancy dying from hypothermia either. After a sleepless night and a shivering shuffle to the fenced off compound purporting to be the ‘festival site’ itself, we were offered tickets by a friendly ‘hell’s angel’ entrepreneur who happily took our money and supplied us with counterfeit tickets. We were denied entry but managed eventually to somehow pay our way in, probably lining the ‘greatcoat’ pocket of someone else on the take, and spending most of our meagre pooled resources in the process. The excitement of ‘being there’ with kindred spirits managed to induce a second wind and kept me awake until the bands came on. I remember very little after that sadly.

My musical memories are limited to Family, Vinegar Joe (unless I was hallucinating which sadly I was not), Steppenwolf (at which point the hell’s angels/security became more animated I seem to recall), and little else? Like other contributors, I looked with envy at those wearing afghan coats, the few that had the sense to bring blankets or had the money to buy some plastic sheeting, and the chosen few adorning ‘space blankets.’ Food was at a premium and was limited to the odd portion of lukewarm chips and whilst I do remember the ‘party sevens’ I’m unsure whether we bought one or even wanted to drink Brew X1 or Banks’s Mild as the day wore on and we wore out. The gaps between the groups seemed interminable when trying to stay awake but the dulcet tones of John Peel at least provided some surreal levity to the overall experience and introduced me to Focus when he played the yodelling disc ‘Hocus Pocus.’

The rest is all a bit of a blur really and much of the blur has become blurrier over the last half century. All character building stuff which no doubt gave us all a bit of kudos when back at school with our peers even if we probably spared them the realities of what was a fairly miserable near death experience if the truth be told. Yes, we too pinched milk off doorsteps to survive the journey home. Hitch hiking was no easy feat when hundreds of others were attempting to get back home for a hot meal and a comfy bed. I still possess the life saving red Adidas bag somewhere in my cellar. The silk jacket fell apart the following year.

To put the festival into some context it was my third experience of live music having sat crossed legged at Malvern Winter Gardens to listen to Van der Graaf Generator and Soft Machine in the months leading up to my first festival. Ironically both bands were too complex and sophisticated for my juvenile musical ear at the time but eventually became not only favourites but the cornerstones of a musical education, opening a myriad of doors for my future musical explorations into the worlds of prog rock, fusion, jazz and all points between and beyond. Can anyone else confirm that Vinegar Joe were on the bill or was I really dreaming? The reality is that I dozed through most of my Buxton festival adventure when the rain relented for brief periods. Happy daze mind? From a now 63 year old ex juvenile hippie and sometime musician (The Cream People).

Lawrie X

I was there! With my mates Dennis, he drove us there in a Hillman imp with a Pluto decal, on the bonnet, his wife Miriam (I was in love with her), Arthur, & a young lady linked to my arm, never met her before that event & me, dam tight in the back of that imp I remember feeling wet, cold, I was under the influence of some err cough smarties smarties that’s right ha ha, when Uriah Heep, were throwing buckets of glitter into the air & thought we were flying in a rocket ship, (shaking my head into a facepalm) .

We all huddled together under a plastic sheet, I rolled out a sleeping bag but it was soaked, no idea what I did with it, I remember the loos, ha ha a big tank full of must have been several hundred gallons of smelly urine, the glamour of it all.

Festivals these day phfft, softies, in their tents, and camper vans, I remember getting fish & chips, I think that’s when I found out I was allergic to fish, or Botulism! The burger van wasn’t much better, but it was warm. Err ish…. I remember it all with fondness I must have been just about 17, oh the excess of youth, fantastic set by Glencoe earlier on, then Heep, family & wishbone ash.

We ended up sleeping as much as we could in the faithful imp, what I always remember with a laugh, is that Dennis had forged a tax disc, the old style had a coloured section with white letters like DEC 72, so Dennis armed with a felt pen of the colour he had seen in car of tac discs in other car, proceeded to make a piece of paper with a blue pen, with white letters and put it over an old tax disc, well we were leaving the site in the morning the pouch it was in was full of blue water!!!! With all the condensation in the car, so we are “oh god we’re going to get done” the poor policeman he was as cold wet & tired as we were he just waved us through.

Wow stumbling across this site has brought some memories I though had gone, thank you for kicking my mind into recalling this event, best regards to everyone that went & those that have since passed such as my mate Dennis.

Best Regards Brian J Wilkinson (Capt)

BUXTON 72

It was cold. Steppenwolf did a good set. It was cold. Wizzard were entertaining. It was very cold. Roger Chapman from Family said he hoped we’d all get our money back. (we didn’t). It was chuffin freezin. Family did a good set. It was so cold my mate had a near death experience. Humble Pie got us all to bang empty beer cans together and that was the first time my body temperature rose above minus twelve. It was so very very cold. There was a bloke selling fruit from a van and selling at normal street prices – he was very popular and he quickly sold out. Did I mention how cold it was? Another bloke had a hamburger van and he was selling stuff at rip-off prices. He ran out of bread-buns and was selling just a skinny slice of reconstituted meat at a ridiculous price. We all queued to be ripped off because there was no other food available. It was ever so cold. Some people had tents and sleeping bags and plastic sheets – nancys! We turned up in jeans and parkas – we didn’t mine the weather ! but it was so cold co cold so desperately desperately cold.

The mate who’s car we’d come in was the first to crack. “We’re thinking of going.” he said. No discussion necessary. We missed Wishbone Ash - but at least the car heater was working.

AP – Sheffield

I travelled down from York,changing at Sheffield on the train. It was freezing cold, Slade were not on the Bill and I remember through a haze it finished about 3am and we were all glad so we could huddle under some
blankets.

The pictures make me realise I must have been crazy to go. Wished my parents stopped me!
Peter Herrick.

Known Recordings of Buxton 1972.