Stage under construction
Glastonbury 1979
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Notice
that you have recently updated your Glastonbury 79 pages. Having
flicked through I cannot see any mention of the fact that the festival
ended (or nearly, as you will see in a minute) with a "supergroup"
of Tom Robinson, Nona Hendrix and Steve Hillage for sure, and maybe Gabriel
too, playing a set together. And when I say nearly finished,
I guarantee you 100% that the whole thing finished with a lengthy
solo set by Tim Blake and his synthesisers; he was not advertised
as appearing and I remember wondering who he was at the time (not
being a Hawkwind fan).
Many
people had left by the time he appeared, but my friend (a different friend,
sadly departed now, but to be seen in one of the Stonehenge photos
I have sent ) and I were down near the front of the stage; in actual
fact we woke up in exactly the same place the following morning!!
Lol! I remember all this as it happened to be the last Glastonbury
I ever went to.........well, they actually charged us to get in, which
had never happened previously, and we didn't know at the time (in
fact I didn't know until today) that the price of admission was all
for a good cause.
Martin
Starmes
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Glastonbury 1979
I
remember going to this festival because when I was in London before the festival
a rumour was freely circulating that the Grateful Dead would make a surprise
appearance. Instead we got the super group, with Tom Robinson, Nona Hendrix,
Alex Harvey, Peter Gabriel and I am sure John Martyn came on and that Phil
Collins played drums. The weather was great as was the local scrumpy. I got
a lift from some older Glastonbury veterans and being too tired to set up
my tent I fell asleep in a marquee. I was wakened by applause which I did
find a bit strange but there was an American speaking to the audience around
my sleeping bag. I slid out my sleeping bag at the back of the tent and asked
someone who the speaker was. It was Allen Ginsberg legendary beat poet. The
whole event was pleasant and enlightening experience for me. Unfortunately
I have never been back. Highlight though for me was John Martyn.
John
Scotland
Myself and friend John
Mathias arrived at the site on my Moto-Guzzi motorcycle… not being used
to paying for festivals - heaven forbid! - I rode through the security guards
and into the site. Memories of the event... after pitching our 3 man tent.
The 24hr worshipping, then demolition of the TV set by the theatre company.
Steve Hillage playing fairly late; then still later that night after all had
closed down, he was back on stage either tidying his gear up or looking for
something. There was a bloke at the edge of the stage hassling him. "Hey
Steve…. blah blah blah"; "Steve blah blah blah"; "Hey
Steve blah blah blah"… The tea cosy'ed Hillage crossed to the edge
of the stage and enquired … "S'cuse me mate but do you know me?…
you know … personally?..." "Nah" came the glib reply.
To which Hillage bellowed with all his might "WELL... F%^K OFF THEN!!!!"
I was quite taken aback. I hope he didn't talk to his cabbages like that.
Alex
Harvey off his noodle on stage. He joined the superstar lineup with (to the
best of my recollection) Peter Gabriel, Nona Hendrix, Steve Hillage, Phil
Collins (drums), John Martyn on guitar. Alex didn't last too long he tried
rousing the crowd into football chants, without too much success and was quite
put-out.
Pop
Group and the Slits (combined) were as challenging as ever, my mate Kevin
Steptoe was playing drums in the Leighton Buzzards and good they were too.
I was err…. a little under the weather... so the accompanying photos
on your site are not at a focal best.
Nick
Turner swathed in funerary bandages for a Nick Turner's Sphinx daylight show,
mad as ever. I've seen recent photos of him unwrapped - scary.
St.
Michael's tower on the Tor was visible at the end of the valley and one night
it erupted from within in brilliant staccato light - thanks whoever arranged
that… it was great.
The
most memorable performance for me though was Tim Blake. He announced that
the gig was dedicated to his lighting technician who was nearly blind from
working on the lasers. The previous night or two we were treated to the sight
of a sole green laser reflecting off of a mirror ball suspended from a tethered
balloon way above the audience area in front of the main stage - hundreds
of green lights dancing on the valley hillsides. Anyway Tim Blake continued
with his set.. including the spacey 'Lighthouse', then launched into the apt
and wonderful 'New Jerusalem' the laser lifted a little and split into a canopy
of a thousand green fingers which reached a mile or so to the hills beyond.
It looked semi-solid miles-wide blanket over our heads; then as the song reached
it's climax it lifted still further and flipped over in space before dropping
down again. Absolutely breath taking and what a way to close the festival.
So our 3 man tent ended up sleeping 5 that night …. as you do.
Brian F.
The Atoms onstage
at Glastonbury 1979
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Hi
I was at Glasto 79, working onstage for most of the event. The opening band,
like the closers, was impromptu, a Nottingham band who travelled with the
p.a. and who helped crew the event.
This
is them, Harry (Stevenson) and The Atoms, on the opening morning, effectively
sound checking the rig.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/phantlers/2923522233/
Nice
to see so many positive comments. It was an event that effectively finished
my interest in the technical side of the business, nothing could really follow
this and I moved out of the town soon afterwards to make some significant
life changes. I was the the 'wireman' who helped build the rig at SSE in Nottingham,
technical 'stage manager' for the weekend, resident in one of the artists
caravans, though uninvited. It was our fairly anarchic 'make it happen' attitude
that gor all of the bands on and off and it was we who fixed the power out,
not the generator itself but making sure everything worked straight away when
it came back online. The power went out when the Only Ones hit an opening
power chord and the lights went up full simultaneously!
We are also probably fondly remembered for the mammoth joint rolled at the
end of the weekend in the technical base setup in aformentioned caravan. [I
supervised that too! ;)]
Some
nice photos, but typically i don't appear in any/many.
Best wishes
PW
