The Archive.

 

INFORMATION.
General information from the programme and other festival memorabilia.
 

Site Map
Film/General info
Handout 
Passout
Ticket
 Drug bust /transport
Time line
Programme cover

   There is no doubt that if one goes by what was outlined in the official programme, then the intention by the promoters was to try to provide better facilities for the fans then had ever provided before at any UK festival. However, not all of the intentions actually managed to translate themselves into reality and possibly the main reason for this could be the fact that the festival became far larger than anyone had ever intended.

   The 1969 festival had drawn 12, 000 and there were few problems with logistics. The Bath Chronicle states that the St John's ambulance were initially given warning of 20,000 expected. A week before the festival they were told to revise the estimates to 70,000. The actual attendance was something between 150,000 to 200,000 and it is clear that whatever resources the promoters originally planned for were overwhelmed by the huge crowds. The unexpected crowds also blocked the roads feeding the resources into the festival, so it was virtually impossible to provide extra toilets and other facilities because they just could not be got through to the site itself. It is also likely that the main priority of the organizers was to get bands on and off stage as the festival teetered into lasting three days instead of the planned two. That in itself was a full time job.

   Bath organization was still much better than most other rain affected festivals of this era. For a start, it was held at a permanent campsite, so there were roads , water and other permanent fixtures that did not fail because of rain. The grounds did not instantly turn into a quagmire as soon as rain raised its ugly head - as happened when festivals were held in farmers fields. There were adequate tents for the audience to shelter from the worst of the elements and there were films in these tents as well . Food was not too much of a rip-off and there was a fair variety- although queues were so bad that I existed mostly on food I brought with me .

   Overall, although medical facilities were apparently fairly dire and the plans to show films on the screens on the side of the stage after the bands had finished never happened, the intentions of the organizers were good and facilities were far better than those of the Isle Of Wight festival - god knows what would have happened if we'd have had the same weather at the IOW as we had at Bath, it would probably have been declared a disaster area.

Contact email

Bath Menu

Return to Archive