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The Crystal Palace Garden Parties. 1971-1980

   The Crystal Palace Garden Parties ran from 1971 to at least the end of the 1970s. Usually there were two a year and most of them seem to have been blessed with reasonable weather - with one or two exceptions.  Promoted chiefly by Harvey Goldsmith and associates, they featured somewhat  strange mixtures of artists at times , but they always seemed to make money and the Palace was a nice place to see music during what passes for the British summer.

Neil Rice , who  was involved in the early ones has these memories .
 You've done it again ! The Crystal Palace Garden Parties. I was at all the early ones, including Beck Bogart & Appice with you in spirit - again.

At that time we (Optikinetics) were the resident light show at Hemel Hempstead Pavilion where Harvey Goldsmith, and his then partner Mike Alfondary, ran a monthly gig on a Sunday night. After one they returned with us to the farm house on Barbara Cartlands estate just outside Hatfield where we started our business for coffee and ....... They told us they had just booked Crystal Palace Bowl for Britain's first one day rock festival and sought our advice as to who they should put on !

I subsequently remember standing at the back of the stage next to Robert Wyatt - Soft Machine's drummer before his accident -watching Pink Floyd through their amps.

I forget which 'Party' it was but at the beginning of one a big American car was driven around the perimeter road as a rumour went like wildfire through the crowd that Elvis Presley was arriving ! - Good 'ole Harvey - always the showman.

Harvey and Mike also organised some of The Camden Rock Festivals at the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, which I guess should also be on your site. The one I worked on with Krishna Lights circa '69 had Taj Mahal, It's A Beautiful Day and Family amongst others.

 

Hi, I would like to add I was at the 1971 Crystal Palace concert, it seems like many moons ago.
I went to see Pink Floyd, and The Faces, great concert, I remember just before P F came on stage, their music started to come out of the Quad speakers up on the hill (small) the bass intro line from "ONE OF THESE DAYS I'M GOING TO CUT YOU INTO LITTLE PIECES" the music criss crossed the open air, it kept playing with our heads, you could watch 10,000 heads turn and "watch" the music zigzag from speaker to speaker, pretty amazing stuff.
I also attended the 1972 concert, went to see Yes , ANOTHER GREAT SHOW.
Bye for now,

John.

      Why do promoters hold outdoor concerts in Britain in May ?

It nearly always sodding RAINS !.

    This particular show was no exception, although at least it held off until the end of the day.  The show ended with a torrential rainstorm which started soon after Pink Floyd began their first number . The audience , suitably prepared , took refuge under their plastic sheets whilst those in the pond in front of stage knew no difference and danced on . Atom Heart Mother was performed without orchestra and choir and thus lost something in the translation.

I have lost the name of the person who sent me this nice photo of the crowd , if you read this , please get back so I can credit you !

   The Floyd used a Quadraphonic sound system , with speakers positioned at various points in the grounds, so the audience was treated to good sound .The finale of the concert featured orange smoke bombs , fireworks and a giant rubber octopus which shared the pool with the bolder audience members.

  One sour note. All the fish in the pond snuffed it -photographer Robert Ellis explains why.......

The reason the fish died at Crystal Palace was because the floyd set off smoke flares under water while trying to inflate the octopus which would not inflate because of damage from the many people who splashed around in it earlier. Stirring up the bottom of the pond did nothing to help the health of the fish either. It also killed off the water lilies!!

Robert Ellis

Five of us went down on the milk train from Sheffield arriving in London after midnight and spending the rest of the night in Euston station with the best of London's 'Outcasts'. Being woken at 06.00 by police kicking our feet and ordering us out. Time to kill, walked down the Mall looking at all the tramps on every bench up to the Palace with last nights stomach contents beside them on the floor. Memories of the concert: The Faces insisted on using their own PA which picked up Eddie Waring's commentary from the rugby league cup final and proved more interesting than their set. Mountain were ok as were Quiver. It was at this event where someone was brought on to the stage and introduced to the crowd as Elvis. My mate was chuffed that he had seen 'The King' but of course it was a hoax and was actually an Elvis impersonator. The rain only started towards the end of Floyd's set but didn't detract from those at the front jumping in to the lake and getting really close to the front of the stage. Still have a ticket for this event, well actually as they were cut in two for security, I have 2 halves which fit together as one.

Jack Ledger

Known recordings.    

The Floyd set was recorded from the audience,whether its available from more than one original source I can't say to date.  Quality is B to B -  set list Atom Heart Mother, Careful With That Axe Eugene, Fat Old Sun, Return Of The Son Of Nothing ( prototype Echoes ), Set the Controls, Embryo, Saucerful Of Secrets.: Encore : Astromony Domine. I've yet to come across any recordings of the other performances from this concert.

The view from the stage complete with inflatable octopus ©R Ellis. Click on image to view more photos of this concert at the Repfoto site .

This concert marks the debut of "The Return of The Sun Of Nothing," which later became "Echoes," a staple performed from 1971 through the 1975 tour. Unfortunately, the party was heavily rained upon, which is abundantly clear on this tape. The taper and someone with him are having a disagreement about moving out of the rain, but thankfully this dedicated taper is willing to stand in the rain and keep the tapes rolling. The quality is pretty rough and quite muffled. The non-stop audience chatter further mars the recording.

An average version of "Atom Heart Mother" opens this show. It is performed without the orchestra, which means Rich Wright's keyboard playing is more prominent in the arrangement. After "Fat Old Sun," Roger introduces the premiere of Floyd's latest extended song "The Return of The Sun Of Nothing" which was subsequently re titled"Looking Through the Knotholes In Granny's Wooden Leg" before they settled on "Echoes." Since this song has not been heard before, at least some members of the audience shut up to listen (and allow us who weren't there) to hear the song. Dave Gilmour sings higher on here than on later versions of the song and it is interesting (albeit sometimes difficult) to hear the different lyrics. The guitar playing is also noticeably different from later versions of the song when Gilmour adopted a more subdued style.

©R Ellis. Click on image to view more photos of this concert at Repfoto

Pink Floyd's live performances were generally refined by this time, so the return to the raw sounding jams on this show is a neat change. This is the high point of the show as the rest of the set is only an ordinary performance which I don't think makes particularly good listening given the compressed recording. Since good quality Floyd tapes are pretty common, low fidelity tapes such as this one are only really worthwhile for whatever historical value you'd place on a tape. Erik Twight Left and above: Messr's Gilmour and Waters at Crystal Place 1971 , Gilmour adopts the playing stance that he was using when I saw him at Parliament Hill Fields in 1969, which indicates that he was jamming out more then normal for 1971 . Thanks to Repfoto for the use of the photos , there are many more great images of this show at the site which you can visit by clicking on the pix . Images are copyright © R Ellis 1971 and can be purchased via the site.

Choice Pink Floyd sites to visit
Once you have checked out my links go see Col Turners excellent Pink Floyd web site .You can also visit  more Floyd pages on my site by going Back to the main Archive.

CRYSTAL PALACE GARDEN PARTY-2.

July 31st  1971

The big E onstage Crystal Palace 1972 © Phil Moody

 

Elton John Yes Fairport Convention Rory Gallagher Tir Na Nog Hookfoot

    The second Garden Party of 1971 , better weather and a strong lineup ensured a good turnout for this show and a continuation of the Garden Parties into 1972 and beyond

Elton John's set list Skyline Pigeon Rock Me When He's Gone I Need You To Turn To Tiny Dancer Love Song Razor Face Indian Sunset Whole Lotta Shakin' Madman Across The Water Rory Gallagher Laundromat I Could've Had Religion Hands Up Goin' To My Hometown Sinner Boy What In The World Bullfrog Blues You Know What It Means To Be Alone Somebody's Got To Help Me

Jeremy Browning writes

There was definitely a Crystal Palace Garden Party on 31st July 1971 where Yes headlined (I think - they certainly played there 'cos I took photos & it was Peter Banks' last gig - they sacked him after it for mucking about ISTR but maybe that's rubbish) supported by Fairport Convention and some others.

Bryan Ford adds
    I was at the Yes/Rory Gallagher/Fairport Convention etc Garden Party, I'm pretty sure I have my ticket somewhere, although it may take a while to find. Obviously anyone sad enough to keep a 30 year old ticket will have managed to accumulate quite a lot of other junk over the subsequent years!

To be honest I don't recall that much about it, and I certainly can't claim that what I do 'remember' hasn't been embellished somewhat over the years. What I can say (pretty much) for certain is: Yes performed most if not all of the Yes album, and were stunning. All the boring over-the-top stuff they did later often obscures just how good they were in their earlier days. Elton John was unbelievably boring and there was pretty much a mass exodus. I certainly left after the first couple of numbers. He performed tracks from his latest album "Madman across the water", and I particularly recall a spectacularly awful dirge called "Rotten Peaches". He came on last and I couldn't get out of there quick enough.      Fairport Convention were wonderful, playing lots of stuff from their latest album, 'Angel Delight'. I subsequently bought it and I think I still have it somewhere. Dave Swarbrick was superb on fiddle. Rory Gallagher was terrific, as he always was. Not the best music in the world, but a great guitar player and he certainly knew how to work hard and put on a performance. I don't remember what he played - I saw him quite a lot round about that time and it's difficult to remember what he played at any particular gig. If I remember correctly he was playing quite a bit of mandolin in that period. The main thing I remember about his Crystal Palace gig was that when he bounded on stage and plugged in his guitar he managed to pick up a radio broadcast which we heard at high volume over the PA. It may be that I'm misremembering, but I have a feeling it was the football results. There's a large radio transmitter at Crystal Palace just a short distance away.

     I enjoyed Tir na Nog but don't remember much about them except that they performed a number called 'Aberdeen Angus'. I hadn't heard any of their material before that day.
Hookfoot also performed, they were Elton John's backing band at the time.
I don't remember anything about them except that they I found them dull. Just about what you'd have expected from the backing band of someone as dull as Elton John. Their guitarist Caleb Quaye is brother of Finley Quaye who had some success a few years ago. He may still be around.
Ah the memories!
Best wishes,
Bryan Ford

• Garden party 71.
• Garden party 72.
• Garden party 73.
• Garden party 74.
• Garden party 75.
• Garden party 76.
• Garden party 77.
  

   We have been endeavouring 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.

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