Heavy Metal Kids © Steve Austin

    As darkness started to fall Camel came on, by which time I couldn't face another 'you can't tell Stork from butter band' , so I waited impatiently for 10 cc to arrive. Camel went off, the records came on and went on. 10 cc hadn't arrived . Yes they had and they had a ticket for the wrong parking space and wouldn't walk from a parking to b parking . Yes they would, but they wouldn't go on stage until it was dark and they wanted to use their own lights. As the waiting time grew doubts flowed through me , would they happen ?

    Yes, there they were pounding out their new single 'Silly Love 'taken from the Sheet Music album. The atmosphere started cooking at last. They were good and they knew it , but come on audience , where was the appreciation ? Taken from their first album , they did a very good Ships Don't Just Disappear In The Night and the equally good Baron Samedi , taken from Sheet Music . They appeared to be enjoying themselves, but not as much as I was.

Barclay James Harvest entertain the troops © Steve Austin

The stage darkened for 'Old Wild Men' and lit up as they finished with the very lively 'Rubber Bullets ', great stuff but sadly no encore. After Fumble who were unlucky enough to follow 10 cc ( comparisons didn't favour them ) came the Sensational Alex Harvey band At last the crowd came to their feet and all eyes were on the stage as they worked through numbers like 'Hot City Symphony ', new single' Sgt Fury' ,' Schools Out' and' Anthem'. Much cheering led to 'Framed' as an encore . It was visually and musically exciting , amusing and spell blinding – in fact sensational . an impressive ending to an otherwise boring day.

Lynne Thirkettle.

Left: Chapman -Whitney © Steve Austin

    Saturday’s events opened with Jack the Lad , veterans of last years festival. Its no joke opening at any time , but despite having a less than a full audience, they did well.
    I think I could have managed well without the Heavy Metal Kids. They went down well with the audience ,but personally I think they overdid their act , to the detriment of the music – but they often do. Something they really can't afford , as the quality of their music is in some doubt anyway , as far as I'm concerned . They are loud ,tuneless and play heavily on the Punk Rock image they are trying to promote ( or if they aren't doing it intentionally , now would be a good time to take stock of what exactly they are trying to do )
    The highlight of the entire day was the set by Procul Harum, they were incredible. They opened , inappropriately , with Shine On , from the album of the same name. The songs were a mixture of old and new- a necessity for any festival. Their sound was superb , bringing a little, class to the proceedings and showing where experience counts.
    I loved Salty Dog and Grand hotel and even forget the discomfort of sitting on soggy grass and being stepped on by careless individuals . I could have listened to them for hours , but like everyone else I wanted for them to get to the encore and to play a whiter shade of pale . When they did come back on-stage they announced the encore as " a song we’d all remember from the 60s " . A cheer went up to die a little as they played the opening of the Beatles 'Eight Days A Week' , at the end of the last bar they finally relented and reverted to Whiter Shade Of Pale and on cue the sun came out !

     It was disappointing therefore that Thin Lizzy turned out to be somewhat unremarkable, after Procul's performance. John Baldry , likewise technically good , just wasn't a star, he was however wearing a fetching daffodil yellow suit .

  It was dark and cold by the time Traffic appeared . The ground was beginning to look like a rock and roll Butlins .Personally I'd rather see Traffic in the comfort of a stadium than out in the open , I enjoyed their set – much of which was material from their forthcoming album , including a fine song called Graveyard People – but the cold was beginning to get through to everyone .
    Steve Winwood brought the people to a hushed silence with his superb John Barleycorn, for which he was accompanied by Chris Wood on flute and Jim Capaldi on vocals . It was very impressive. Of the older numbers they did , they included Forty Thousand Headmen and Low Spark. It was entertaining and undoubtedly good, but looking back, I still think Procul stole the day.
Rob Russell

   They were out in force at Reading last weekend for the "14th National Jazz, Blues and Rock festival". really the name is a con. The jazz isn't there any more; blues are only present when played by rock groups, and the rock , although written in smaller letters than jazz and blues on the leaflet and, posters, is really what it's about.

        But the festival's been going for so long without serious incident that it's become something of an institution in that part of the world. If the government ever passed a law banning festivals forever, they'd probably exclude Reading. It's just too good to be true, and the organisers, with 14 years experience behind them, obviously want it to stay that way. The whole set-up was fine.
DJ John Peel said it was the best sound of any festival he had ever attended.

    The organisers said they didn't get big names so as to keep the numbers down, but they got the names that pulled in a hard core of followers — Traffic, Cockney Rebel, Alex Harvey, lO cc, Focus.
Affected by the special alchemy of good festivals which brings performers and audience( together, they all put their hearts into it and produced some really great moments. For the most part, they showed why they were big names, just as the second stringers showed why they're not.
There's a special affection for Cockney Rebel and Alex Harvey, both groups not yet, and perhaps never to be, public property but far and away in the top class.

    Saturday had a different flavour, more like nostalgia, with Georgie Fame and John Baldry who were in it virtually from the beginning. And where Long John, as he used to be called, has gone with the times with his 'hip' looking band, Georgie with his Blue Flames seems to have remained in suspended animation — looking and sounding exactly as they did 10 years ago. Even the zest that Georgie and the boys put into their set couldn't offset the staleness of their slick jazz style.

John Baldry has fared better, as it's hard to resist the gutsy pull of a really good blues singer—and he really gave his best after a long absence from the festival.