The Archive

Last updated Jan 2007.

     The 14 Hour Technicolour Dream, held 29th April 1967 was probably the closest London ever got to duplicating the infamous Acid tests that Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters held in California in the mid 60s . Not that there were no gatherings in the Uk capital where people were turned on to hallucinogens , or where a combination of music , lights and mixed media attempted to create an atmosphere conducive to the psychedelic traveller . Middle Earth and other hippie hangouts were doing this for most of the late 60s . But this was the BIGGEST event to contain all of the above - and more . Additionally , whether you call the 14 hour Dream a happening, be in , gathering or freak out (and from what I hear, a good portion of the audience did have the opportunity to imbibe of the psychedelic sacraments if they knew where to go ) the opportunity for the group mind meld , the all out weird craziness that took place in the acid tests WAS there, even if it may not have happened in quite the same way that the best of the Prankster freak outs did .

     For a start , the choice of venue did leave something to be desired . The Alexandra Palace has all the ambience of a very tall aircraft hanger-with acoustics to match. The roof goes up forever and traps most of the sound , its cold , grey and its horribly empty. Even with many thousands of people in the venue the palace feels like its half full . However, perhaps with all the stangeness that went on during the Technicolour Dream, the organisers and the attendees managed to banish the Alley Pally demons and to create a truly special event and to know whether or not they truly did this , one had to be THERE.

So just what was on offer to those who attended and who were the organisers of the event ? The flyer on the right tells part of the tale. International Times , at the time THE standard bearer of the underground , were funding the show and , many of the top bands of the underground were slated to appear. In addition , there were a multitude of mixed media activites that were also supposed to happen . These artists were amongst those advertised to appear ..... Velvet Underground, Allan Ginsberg, Andy Warhol,The Mothers of Invention-but none of them did attend, the Mothers were booked , but cancelled. ) Those that most likely did show up on the night were Pink Floyd, Alexis Korner, The Pretty Things, The Purple Gang, Champion Jack Dupree, Graham Bond, Savoy Brown, The Flies, Ginger Johnson’s Drummers, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Soft Machine, The Creation, Denny Laine, The Block, The Cat, Charlie Browns Clowns, , Derek Brimstone,Yoko Ono, Dave Russell, Glo Macari and the Big Three, Gary Farr, The Interference, Jacobs Ladder Construction Company, Ron Geesin, Lincoln Folk Group, The Move, Mike Horovitz, 117, Poison Bellows, Pete Townsend,Christopher Logue , Robert Randall, Suzy Creamcheese, Sam Gopal Dream , Mick and Pete, Giant Sun Trolley, Social Deviants, Simon Vickenoog, Jean Jaques Lavel, The Stalkers, Utterly Incredible Too Long Ago To Remember, Sometimes Shouting At People, Barry Fantoni and Noel Murphy.

How many of these actually DID perform is now probably impossible to ascertain for certain , but the Flies, Floyd, Arthur Brown , the Move and Susie Creamcheese were all there. The Floyd arrived back from another gig in the wee small hours and played the dawn in for those who had lasted the whole night .......

Carl Stickley writes :

    I was Events Manager for the Recurring Technicolor Dream at the ICA. This was put together by my friend Malcolm Boyle and ran from Noon til 11PM (yes, I know, that's only 13 hours...). Anyhooo, we managed to blag the whole of the ICA for the day. Various sikeadelick delites were on offer inc. Screens showing pop nuggets from the time Poems Chill out room Dance Bruce Gilbert of Wire "Madcap", Malcolm's 1 man play about Syd Barrett. Hoppy, IT founder and originator of the 14 Hour Dream. Jennny " Groupie" fabian Charles Shaar Murray Michael Horovitz who read poems at the original (and who was awarded the OBE last week). Arthur Brown (his first London gig in about 20 years and who played the original event) John's Children (Bolan's 1st band who also played the 14 Hour) and a superb oil light show by Optikinetics who started off doing shows for the Floyd in the 60s.

    The girl having her clothes snipped in the original was part of a Yoko Ono art piece. She was there as was Lennon. You've probably seen the "What's a Happening?" programme from the time and Peter Whitehead's footage which crops up on the "Pink Floyd, London, 1966-67" video. (Pete's selling his mint, framed copy of the poster BTW). We also screened his "Tonite, Let's all Make Love in London" film. Legend has it that John Esam ran off with the proceeds from the original show(he was the Acid King of London, allegedly). And there was a helter-skelter and a tent for smoking banana skins in. Mick Farren describes the evening in his recent biography. good site

Best Carl

CONTENT

There are links to accounts of this show as well as photographs of many aspects of the event.

you have any info regarding the festival please get in touch Contact email

Back to The Archive.