Popday 70 . A progressive Extravaganza Portsmouth Greyhound Stadium . Saturday July 4th 1970 .

    A stadium show , but a greyhound palace ,not a football arena. In the early 70s , football clubs often tried holding one day festivals in a vain attempt to clear debts, often landing themselves in even more debt as a result of poor audience turnout , either due to bad weather or the lack of a big enough draw card on the bill. Unfortunately most stadiums have the acoustic qualities of a echoing gym , so this was NOT a good move for audiences.

    This looks more a show promoted by a private promoter, but if so, they still managed to lose money, as a paltry crowd estimated to be around 300 turned up . Not a good turnout even with his lineup , as Keef Hartley was quite well known at the time. Some of the other bands such as Uriah Heep, Gentle Giant and The Strawbs would develop their own followings over time, but most were in their infancy in mid 1970. The music press reported that the PA system was execrable . Since this was a stadium that could hold around 10,000, the 300 must have felt a bit lost in its confines.......

Simon Dupree and the Big Sound and Hookfoot are mentioned as playing by some sources, but do not feature on the poster, can anyone confirm if they performed or not ?

Hi there,
I was the proprietor of Cerebrum Lights, who provided the light show at the above gig.
I have been involved in entertainment lighting, continuously since 1967.
I can confirm that Simon Dupree and the Big Sound did perform.

John Lethbridge.