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The Grangemouth Festival.

Grangemouth Stadium

Grangemouth .Scotland. 9-23-72 .

A one day festival, apparently it rained (so whats new) Lindesfarne went down particularly well and I am sure that Mr Beck and co also entertained the damp crowd of 12.000 nicely ......

Mc- John Peel

PA by WEM , 5000 Watts . Apparently Mr Watkins (founder of WEM ) was asked by a crowd member if he could do something about a bloke in the audience who had a knife ! I would love to have heard his reply .....


Hello gwshark,
I enjoyed my first browse at your festivals site. I was at the Grangemouth Festival in 1972, which no-one else seems to remember. It was a one-day event in late September or early October.
The few things I recall were:
- it was the first open-air rock festival in Scotland
- it was held in a football stadium in Grangemouth, between Edinburgh and Stirling, next to an oil refinery with a constant burning flame
- the headliners were (Jeff) Beck, Bogart and Appice and Steeleye Span
- comedian Billy Connolly did a spot
- John Peel was the compere
No more than that in my brain cells now, I'm afraid.
--
Best regards,
Norman Lamont

Hello there
I remember it reasonably well. It was the second live music event I'd ever been to (the first was Yes at the Kelvin Hall about three weeks beforehand). I've still got the ticket for it. It was billed as The Great Western
Express and was part of Grangemouth's centenary celebrations. Went on a coach from The Key Youth Club in East Kilbride, which for some reason had to leave early so we had to bale out during Jeff Beck. I'm sure he was wearing a white jacket and I was amazed when he took it off mid-number (Black Cat Moan) whilst continuing to play his guitar. I stand corrected on this, but I don't believe Slade were there. I think it was Status Quo who were second top billing. I also remember going round the running track which surrounded
the pitch and seeing some guy in a really bad state in the First Aid tent with what looked suspiciously like an empty bottle of Eldorado close by.
There was loads of drink there and I thought there was quite a heavy vibe about it all (mind you, I was only 15!!)
Thanks for stirring so many half-forgotten memories about that day.
Simon Godley .

Hi - I was there too .. I don't think it was as late as September, more like August.
BB & A headlined. I think the Average White Band were there too.
Don't remember Slade or much of the others. John Peel was indeed the MC, and he got increasingly irritated by the requests for "Public Service Announcements", which started as people whod' mislaid their mates but endedup as folk just wanting to get their names read out.
Yup, not the most attractive of venues.

Richard

A mate and I managed to sneak in that day, we were 14 at the time (September 72) so the whole event was pretty sensational to us. There might be a couple of gaps here but the order of things was roughly. The Everley Brothers, Billy Connolly, Sleaze Band, Average White Band, Lindisfarne, Steeleye Span, Status Quo and the Jeff Beck Group.
The sad fact is that no matter how good or bad any of these acts were on the day (Melody Maker ripped a few to bits at the time) these days will never be repeated. No miming, no overdubs, no lasers, just pure talent. (Quo were unbeleivable that night).
Cheers,
Sid.


I was there! Beck Bogart and Appice headlined but the biggest disappointment was that the second on the bill was meant to be the legendary URIAH HEEP who didnt turn up. The excuse was transport problems. Also appearing was a scottish prog rock proup called beggars opera who played classical music (such as william tell overture) in the style of ELP and Yes. They were really good and pioneered the moog synthesiser.
I remember billy connolly and the everly bros but dont remember steeleye span but thats not surprising since i only liked heavy rock and prog!
We managed to get really near the stage and I saw in the wings Sir Stanley Baker the actor who organised the Great western events
HAPPY DAYSStill upset at the HE

chris connor

I can add some memoirs to this event. We were all 18-year olds living in Grangemouth but for us at that age, ALL of these acts were regarded as deeply unfashionable. Most of us listened to Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Can etc so the very thought of the Everley Brothers- (or even more embarrassing, Status Quo)- was deeply uncool. It wasn't cheap to get in either, as I recall.
I don't think it can have been raining much on that afternoon because I can remember some of us lying on the grass having a smoke in "The Rose Garden"- about 1 and a half miles away- and something magical happened. Being carried on the wind, the sound of the Everleys singing "dream", you could hardly take it in, suddenly the fact that you were in Grangemouth Public Park listening to the Everleys Live.
That evening, it became common knowledge that people were jumping the fence-or rather , the gate to the stadium- and getting in for nothing. So a few of us went in. The atmosphere inside was beery and horrible. The crowd were quite "aggro", more like a football crowd than music fans. There were also quite a few plasticy "hippy" types, obviously just dressed up for the afternoon. The band on the stage were Status Quo. Having lost touch with them for a while, I was bemused to see the long hair shaking about down into their telecasters, all standing in a line. The music seemed repetitive, almost a "Ramones" type thing. Then Jeff Beck came on, by which time most people ( me included) were leaving. There was nothing to stay for, you couldn't have a smoke because the place was - allegedly- crawling with plain clothes. Beck wasn't revered then, but even so you still couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy because the sound quality was quite appalling.
Thanks for helping me remember all this!

Pierre

 

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