The Archive.
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For
information on today's festivals see eFestivals.co.uk |
Updated Feb 2008
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| Ozzy Osbourne Scorpions |
Castle Donington Raceway. Derbyshire
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Ozzy at Donington 1986 photo © Jim Spriggs Summer 1986 saw erstwhile bat biter Ozzy Osbourne headlining the festival ( Ozzy thought the bat he bit the head off onstage in the early 80s was rubber, once he realised it was real, he was rushed off to hospital where he received remedial anti rabies shots in his bum for a week ) with able support from festival vets the Scorpions and Motorhead. Other notable events at the 86 show was the return of Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen to live performance after the 1984 car accident that severed his left arm and the silly set by comic spoof Strip band "Bad News " who recieved a right bottling. |
Courtesy Ashley Haynes |
Courtesy Ashley Haynes |
The Bad News set was filmed for the "More Bad News" episode of The Comic Strip Presents, which means that there are a lot of stills online that we can present , both from the Bad News set, but also from backstage , as the members of most of the bands were quizzed about their reaction ot Bd nNews being part of the show. They all rated them as lower than pond scum. Lemmy of Motorhead threatened to fight the idiot who threw a lighted flare at him during the Motorhead set , he was so furious he stopped the band and had a go at the dork there and then. Apparently DJ Tommy Vance ( who had hosted the festival since its inceptrion in 1980 ) was dropped from the post after 1986 , as he wrote a critical article in Metal Hammer magazine detailing the fest that his DJ equipment was faulty. This is supposed to have pissed of the organisers, anyway for whatever the reason , he did not appear at the festival after 1986.... Rain made an unwelcome return to the festival, which had been pretty lucky the previous two years or so . |
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Recollections Hi there
Anyway once we got into the race track area at Donington I thought I'd try my luck at getting us some beers, because although I was only 15 I easily looked 18 with the long hair and the pathetic attempt at stubble etc. Got served first time so that was it, beers all round for the rest of the day! First on the bill was Warlock, obviously at that age we all loved Dorothy Pesch! Their set was good and like all early bands they did suffer a bit from crappy sound, but they tried hard. Next up was Bad News, a creation of the comedy outfit 'The comic strip'. It was pretty naff, but at one point they had the whole crowd shouting 'F*ck off Bad News' which was quite amusing. This was later featured in the TV spoof 'rockumentary' "More Bad News". Next on the bill was Motorhead. Of course we couldn't wait because Lemmy was a legend to us. Anyway the set was what you would expect with all the classics. At one point some nutter threw a lighted flare at the stage which just missed Mr Kilminster. He instantly stopped the music and went apeshit. He offered this 'f*ckin dickhead' to come up on stage and throw a punch instead! Needless to say the guy didn't take up Lemmy's offer and the band cranked it up again. |
Courtesy Ashley Haynes |
Courtesy Ashley Haynes |
Next up was Def Leppard. We were of course looking forward to this as it was Rick Allen's return gig after his car accident. By now it was raining quite hard and there was a lot of mud around. But it didn't stop the feeling of anticipation. Leps came on there was a long and emotional ovation for Rick, made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle! So the set was great and they played some new songs from the forthcoming Hysteria album. Particularly remember 'Animal' as being very special.
Once Leps had finished the rain stopped and you could see the sun heading towards the horizon behind the stage. A buzz of excitement went round the crowd (as well as millions of bottles, cartons, meat pies, lumps of mud and grass whizzing past your ears every other second), because next was Scorpions! This was just off the back of their World Tour in '85 and was definitely Scorpions at the absolute pinnacle of their career. They absolutely nailed it. All the brilliant songs, twin leads and Mathias Jabs fantastic solos. The finale of the set was of course the famous human pyramid. This was one of the best moments of my life so far -honest!
So Scorpions finished and everyone loved them, but now it was time for Ozzy. I remember the DJ Tommy Vance was playing some cracking stuff over the PA between acts and just as it was starting to really get toward late dusk he put on AC/DC/s Back in Black at what must have been virtually full concert volume. Possibly to test the PA for Ozzy coming on? We all started jumping around and headbanging like a load of idiots, class!
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Members of the Scorpions and Def Leppard confirm that Bad News are wankers
Once the AC/DC song was finished, the lights went up and Ozzy came down from above the stage on some kind of throne contraption! 'Let's go f*ckin Crazy! he shouted and the crowd responded by going bezerk. I remember just how loud the PA was for Ozzy and within a few songs my ears were shot. Didn't spoil it though in fact it added to the immense sense of the occasion. Ozzy played all the Sabbath and solo stuff and Jake E Lee was brilliant with use of effects and volume in his solos.
So when Ozzy finished it was the job of finding the coach in a sea of thousand of coaches and then the long weary road home. Couldn't really hear what was being said in the bus home but it was still special.
Anyway
I went back to Donington in 1987, 1988, and 1991. And although I loved each
one of them, the first was the best experience and was a great moment in my
life. Of course the hair is gone now and although many of the bands of today
are good, I certainly think that the Monsters of Rock festivals of the 80s had
an uncanny knack of catching bands at their peak and giving them a fantastic
arena to play in. Ahh happy memories....
cheers
Paul Stubbs
Newcastle
England.
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Members of Motorhead confirm that Bad News are total shit !
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Rik Mayall acts the pratt as the Bad News bassist Colin
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Various well known entities confirm that Bad News cannot play to save their own or their mothers lives ! |
Having considered myself a festival veteran (Quo '84 and Knebworth's recreation of the Somme) Igot a couplE of my schoolmates to make the trip to the sacred land of the metal head, Donington! We weren't quite ready for vans etc so we went on an organised coach instead, only on arrival at the departure point I had forgotten my ticket! The driver wouldn't wait half an hour so I legged it home and caught the train instead, I had £40 for the day plus my Tesco bag full of sarnies, the train copped my £20 of it. Being young and foolish I got a single assuming i'd find the coach in the car park!
A
train to Derby and a shuttle coach over was easy. The weather wasn't amazing,
it was dry so small mercies. I left my sarnies on the train (didn't want to
appear to be un-rock and roll) so starved until I got home the day after.
Anyway, the bands!
Warlock-A German band with a tasty female singer, musically they were pretty much what you'd expect from a German metal band, basically no frills metal and well delivered. They went down well and were a good opening act.
Bad News!-A spoof band who'd been in two spoof documentaries by the Comic Strip, featuring Ade Edmonson/Rik Mayall/Nigel Planer of Young Ones fame, and Peter Richardson also of the Comic Strip. Metal fans in my opinion have always been able to laugh at themselves, and The Bad News Tour/More Bad News are right up there with Spinal Tap to many rock fans. The addition to them on the bill caused some controversy, notably from the rock/metal "snobs" who'd had a sense of humour by-pass. Frankly they were a hoot and they were enjoyed by a large portion of the crowd. They were on a winner when they came on and wouldn't play until the crowd chanted "F##k off Bad News!". Musically they were terrible (which was the point), but I enjoyed them all the same. However the joke wore thin by next year's Reading Festival.
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The announcer and members of Bad news confirm that Bad News are the worst band in the entire universe !
Motorhead-Called a comeback by many, but Motorhead never actually go away! Featuring a new (ish) four piece line up they did what they did best, and were the hit of the day for many fans. Opening with "Iron Fist" they laid their stall out and didn't let up until "Overkill" had drained many a mosher!
Def Leppard-The emotional and much vaunted return of Leppard after Rick Allen's car crash, they'd done a couple of warm up gigs but this was a huge return, the world's media on hand to witness the comeback of a band that had sold millions in the States and were already 3 years behind with their follow up to "Pyromania". Were they any good? I thought they were boring, but the occasion carried them and moment of the day was when the entire crowd gave Rick Allen a huge cheer and reduced the band to tears. I suppose they were extremely ring rusty so i'll leave them off without a slagging.
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A large portion of the audience confirm that Bad News are the pits !
Scorpions-A second appearance at Donington, and a year after blowing Deep Purple into the mud at Knebworth. Did they do the business again? Absolutely! They had a reputation for being a formidable live band, and they were/are ideal for festivals like this. Loads of hook filled melodic metal and even a couple of minor hits, a very professional band who know what an audience wants, supern stuff and yet again a festival stealing performance.
Ozzy-Headlining and bloody awful. Well out of shape and frankly off his face. Promoting the missable "Ultimate Sin" lp he did a little over and hour with a single encore of Paranoid and that was it, his minions lapped it up.
I
wandered into the darkness and looked with no hope for my missed coach, it took
only half an hour! Trust me it wasn't that quick in ensuing years, even when
I knew where we're parked.....
Jase
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Nigel Planer tries out the bogs cos Bad News gives him the shits ! |
The bad news drummer - pre gig- says hi to his mum.... |
Recordings and setlists.
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Bad News
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Ouch ! Vim gets hit by a container hurled from the crowd . Donington 1986 |
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| Def Leppard
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| Motorhead
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| Scorpions
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| Ozzy Osbourne
83
minute hand held video also exists
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Can we get a witness ?
We need more info on this and the other Donington festivals, most especially a site map, more photos and personal recollections so c'mon head bangers, get yer photos out and fire up what's left of the aging brain cells .Send your recollections and scans to us NOW ! !! Contact us
1990 under construction
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Watch this space for more Monsters of Rock pages to be added in the next month or two - we will eventually go up till 1990, meanwhile if you have material from any years up to 1990 , send it along and we will add it as we build the pages.
