1982.
Hi
In 1982 I was working as a mechanic in Camden Mews London. There was
a yard in the mews occupied by some of the convoy , I spent many hours
there smoking and repairing trucks etc, this poster was a silk screen
print done by them which I still have.
Bill
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360º
Panoramic view of the site
Photos
© Mucky Ducky
By
1982 numbers had swollen to 35,000. It was in 82 that people began to realise
that the existence of the festival might be threatened by hard drug dealers
who had begun to use the festival as an opportunity to sell their wares in
a protected environment where a police presence was not tolerated . People
who objected to their presence were apparently intimidated , although there
were those who attempted to organise opposition to their presence throughout
1982 by circulating newsletters and by word of mouth . Others also dispute
the degree to which these dealers had a presence, as they reckoned that they
would have been sent off sharpish by the mums with kids as well as being busted
by the DS if they were too obvious -or quite likely- shopped by those on site
who had no time for their activities.
Press
article
Photo Convoy Steve
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"Stonehenge
again plays host to its midsummer free festival this month and although
the music runs for just five days , from tomorrow -( Friday 18th June
) to Next Tuesday (June 22nd) crowds have already started to assemble
last weekend. The 1981 event attracted 35.000 people and , if the weather
holds, a larger turn out is expected this year.
Three
platforms have been erected to allow continuous music and over 40 bands
are expected to lay on the mainstage alone. Hawkwind,. who were one
of the star attractions to appear last year, return to the 82 festival
- and among other confirmed bands are Inner City Unit, Here and Now,
Amazulu , Deke Leonard , Treatment , Miles Over Matter and Inner Force.
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But
a number of big name acts who'll be appearing at Stonehenge won't be
known in advance, because they'll be coming over from the near by Glastonbury
festival this weekend and for contractual reasons they can't be named.
"
Click
on the Glastonbury advert to see a large version
This
was also the year that hippie band Ozric Tentacles
were formed, the members meeting at the festival and deciding to form
a band as they sat around a campfire . The Pink
Dots also had the inspiration to form their combo whilst watching
an impromptu jam session by an unknown electronic band in the early
hours of the morning .
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Convoy
departing Stonehenge 1982 © Jambo
The most significant
occurrence in 82 was the formation of the Peace Convoy
(above) a massive conglomeration of travellers vans, buses, trucks and caravans
, which made its way toward the Women's Peace Camp
at Greenham Common and caused considerable annoyance and embarrassment to
the authorities . To read all about this adventure , visit the Greenham
Common pages
In
1982 we had The Cardiacs, Omega Tribe, Arizona Smoke Review, Big Amongst Sheep,
Karma Mechanics with Twink from the Pink Fairies, Babylon Rebels, Null and
Void, Miles over Matter, Amazulu, Deke Leonard, Treatment, Popular history
of Signs, Abacush, Poison Girls, Urban Warrior, Tony Allen, Natural Roots,
The Raincoats, Theatre of Hate, Red Ice, Flux of Pink indians, Rubella Ballet,
The Invisible band, Androids of Mu, Brigandage, Omega Tribe, Matt Vinyl and
the Emulsions, Imperial Eye, The Wystic Mankers… bands like Hawkwind,
Here & Now were regularly playing every year. I DJ´d MC´d
and roadied and stage managered the pyramid stage and kept everything afloat.
One anecdote I do remember was one of festival goers coming on stage and pleading
to use the microphone to ask one of the girls in the audience to marry him,
We let him. I think he must of been desperate or inspired!
best
big steve
Steve , a veteran
of the 70s free festivals, has these recollections of 1982 and was surprised
at the degree to which the festival had changed
| The
first time in three years that I had managed to make it to the festival,
and I noticed a difference. It was much bigger than before in terms of
the numbers of people there. I arrived as it was getting dark and there
was a band playing on stage. The music sounded familiar, and I asked someone
who was playing: the answer was Hawkwind.
They were playing material from their 1981 album, 'Sonic
Attack' and not very well, either. It was fast and ragged. There
was a short-haired bloke on stage with them, playing sax. I got a bit
of a shock when I realised it was Nik Turner,
who surely ought to be hairy and beardy when playing with Hawkwind, even
if he did have short hair with Inner City Unit. When the band came back
onstage for an encore, Nik was the first one out: his response to the
chants of 'Hawkwind, Hawkwind' was to say
' I'm nothing to do with Hawkwind, in fact, I'll
have nothing to do with Hawkwind.' (But he rejoined them right
afterwards, for a couple of years anyway.) |
Image courtesy
Convoy Steve
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Pyramid stage photo
© Jambo
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Whoever
else played that night, I don’t remember. What I do remember is
that Eat Alley had become Drugs
Alley. You could still buy Hash Cakes etc, but not at individual
tents: where there used to be a central thoroughfare selling revolting
hippie food (diarrhoeia-inducing vegetarian doner kebabs, for example),
now the food vendors were outnumbered by drug dealers. Most of the drugs
on sale were harder than in years gone by. I bought some speed and snorted
it on the back seat of an old Morris Minor, but it was no problem to
get harder powders than that. There were rumours of bad acid flying
around, that somebody had OD'd on smack earlier that day…amazing
how much changes over 3 or 4 years.
I
also dropped acid at the festival in 1982. In common with the changed
ambience from the late 70's to the early 80's, the acid was no longer
the dreamy hallucinogen of days gone by, but blotter acid: speedy stuff.
After dropping it at about 11pm in the evening, we sat around a campfire
talking non-stop (about ley lines and such) till the early hours, and
then walked home at 3am. I couldn't sleep at all and couldn't sit still
either. So in the morning I dressed and went to work, still tripping….it
wore off at about lunchtime the next day…. |
So,
to sum up, what do I remember? A few of the bands, a few of the people I met,
a few incidents. Not very much - but it was a long time ago, and I'm glad
to have been there, an uncomfortable experience though it nearly always was.
It was probably the greatest degree of freedom that anyone with a static lifestyle
could experience directly, and of course it had to come to an end one way
or another. I can't say that I miss it, but I was there and I'm glad that
I was.
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