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| THE HOLLYWOOD FESTIVAL.
Madeley, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, May 23rd and 24th 1970. |
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Local
press accounts . DAY
2.
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Same
time same place next year ? |
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Pungent sweet smelling incense no longer perfumes the air , the pulsating stage sounds have stopped and the lights over Leycett's hippie haven were switched off early today. But this might have been the first rather than the last rave up concert held in the parish of Keele . Certainly the vibrant pop festival that concluded last night deserves to be known as the friendly festival. It is with this thought uppermost in their minds that the organizers are considering a similar musical event might be held in the same place next year.
As far as farmer Ted Askey
is concerned - he is the farmer who rented off his land for the weekend, - the
beflowered people in beards beads and bangles can return tomorrow. He experienced
his finest hour yesterday when he was given the greatest ovation of his life.
Ted , aged 53, was taken on stage and thanked for letting his fields being
used .
Over the microphone he commented. " You have been wonderful, .. I've enjoyed seeing you all, but I'm wondering what the cows would think if they came home now."
Keeping quiet.
But
Mr Askey is determined to
keep one secret- the amount hew has received from the week end rental of his
land. " Let the public be satisfied with the knowledge
that that in two days I have picked up approximately 18 months wages"
he declared . Mr Askey hinted that he and his 50 year old wife Margaret might
spend some of the cash on a cruise. But he revealed that he has been asked
about the possibility of his property being available next year.
"I have said the land would definitely be available
if needed ", he said.
As well as being available to minister to the spiritual needs of the fans the three Methodist Chaplains to the festival also acted as lost property officers and arranged lifts home for several grateful hippies as the conspicuous lack of bovver has shown . the Hollywood Music festival was just what the name implies -a festival of music - and as such it can only be described as one of the best events of all time.
All
the big names were given ample time to show their worth and without an
exception they lived up to their reputation. Feliciano,
Family, Traffic, Free, Colosseum, Airforce, Grateful Dead , they all
played superbly. But none of them could match the applause and hysterical crowd
reaction of one of the comparatively new groups on show. Mungo
Jerry - a name to remember . They may never achieve the exalted heights
of being termed a super group, but that is just what they are. They make no
pretensions, they just go out to have a good time and entertain . Their joy
of playing is infectious .
| Police tribute to Pop Festival Hippies. |  |
Although ambulance men had to deal with 20 cases of drug overdoses, the general verdict on the Hollywood Music Festival at Leycett was that it has been a trouble free week end of peaceful music making. and as operation clean up was proceeding smoothly toady and the last of the hippies were making there was to the M6 to thumb a lift home. This tribute was paid by a police spokesman at Stafford.
The young people seem to have enjoyed themselves and they were very good indeed they caused no trouble and were most helpful. Police arrangement ss seemed to go down quite well.But departing hippies did cause a problem while attempting to get hitch hike lifts. They have been congregating at the end of the M6 link road and encroaching on the hard core. At one period today the police had to move about a dozen into the service area for safety. The fear that the festival would turn into a drug orgy did not materialize although no one closed their eyes to the fact that there were instances of drug taking. The combined St John Ambulance and Red Cross headquarters dealt with ten cases of overdose.
Insignificant.
A spokes person for the headquarters told the Sentinel;
"The festival was singularly free from serious incidents. The main incidences were seven cases of LSD and one each of amphetamine, barbiturates and marijuana. There was a total of 464 minor incidents including one case of sheer exhaustion and several other less serious exhaustion cases.The Rev David Bridge, a chaplain to the festival, said the saddest part of the weekend was late last night when a number of people went to his tent obviously high on drugs. With Mr Bridges was the Rev David Copestake. who recently caused a storm when he displayed cannabis during one of his sermons. He was attired in a full length maxi sacking outfit because he said that he thought he would be too conspicuous in a dog collar .
The main cause of these seemed to be the lack of food . Although there were many food sources on the site many people were complaining of the high prices ," the St Johns spokesman said.
If an application is made to stage another pop festival next year , Newcastle Rural Council is not likely to oppose it too strenuously. This was the opinion of the council chairman , the Rev Eric Stopford, who said today apart from one or two minor points concerning sanitary arrangements
" I see no reason why a similar show cannot be held again I'm sure the other councillors will be of the same opinion."
Police Search Hippies
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Hollywood festival menu
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Many thanks go to Garry Marsh for his fantastic archival material which has enabled us to construct most of the site. Also to Martin Williams for his oral history and colour photo of the stage and site ,Simon Phillips for all the Grateful Dead archival material and Bob Colover for the film footage .
We have been endeavoring to collect audience or sbd tapes of the performances at this festival , so we can effectively review the performances, provide set lists and band line-ups. The intention is to also display as many personal histories of the festival as possible.
If you can contribute in any way, with tapes, reviews from the music press, photos or personal histories, please Contact us.