The Archive
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Updated February 2012
This site is dedicated to the memory of Roger Hutchinson, who inspired me to delve deep into the magic of the free festival and who passed away Sept 3rd 2010.
R.I.P. Roger .....
R.IP. Phil Shaksby , aka Phil The Beer ,who passed away April 2010 .
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Durham Dome Festival, County
Durham.UK
( plus unknown 1973 date )
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Photos from 1975 festival © Garry Marsh
This festival was held in 1973 ,and then in 1975 through till 1980 .We know very little about the earliest festivals.The alternative magazine Mother Grumble has reports on two festivals being held in Durham in the summer of 1973, under this title .
Unfortunately their webmaster has never replied to our requests for more information, so we cannot definitely say that their Domefest is the one portrayed on this site. The stage seen in the photo at Mother Grumble looks rather different to the one in Garrys pix, but this could just mean that they made some changes for the second festival.
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I
was a 15 year old local that helped build the original geodesic dome that
was used for the 1st Domefest in 1973. I think!!! A band called Stella may
well have been part of the line up featuring Ian Martin ,guitar,now of Martian
fm fame, Steve Duffy, vocals, of web poetry fame, Colin prior,Bass, of van
crashing fame, Ian the drummer - barnfather &wilkes? And another guitarist,
maybe called Martin, of a curly haired and quiet nature!
Mick Bird
I came across these pix from the Durham Domefest 1975, which took place on the banks of the river (what?) in about June/July/August. The band on stage are/were ARBRE from Wallsend, they are still going as the Caffrey Bros (www.thecaffs.co.uk or .com).
Maybe
you can find more about the Domefests, they may have been just one day events,
can't remember, but we ONLY went to this one for one day!
All the best
Garry Marsh
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There was a festival in 77 (it's very unusual for me, but I can't remember a thing about this one) and Steve Brown Band headlined in 75 (not 76). Anyway, here goes
Sunday June 22 1975
(Got there
about 4 o'clock so I missed some bands and don't know who they were)
In order of appearance -
Arbre
Global Village Trucking Company
Hedgehog Pie
Isotope
Steve Brown Band
To be honest, this is the only one that might interest anyone outside the
North East cause the next 2 were local bands only. I don't know why they stopped
booking non local bands.
Sunday June 20 1976
(in
order of appearance).
Srewf
Dexter
Mushroom
Cancer Moon
Deja Vu
Village
Steve Brown Band
Arbre
Dave
Preacher
Guy
North Star
Raw Spirit
Srewf
featured my band mates George Maddison and Kevin Heard from the Carpettes.
During their set someone shot at George with an air rifle. He missed and the
organiser came running on stage to shout at the culprit who was up the hill!
Dexter were an ace jazz rock band a la Isotope. I'd seen them (with Dave),
six weeks earlier, do a freebie at Durham Fowler's yard. Pity they never released
any recordings. Arbre were signed to DJM at the time and had an album out
(acoustic guitar, Lindisfarne type group) Raw Spirit had been gigging for
a while. I saw them supporting Man at Newcastle city hall June 21 1973. Can't
remember anything about the other bands, sorry (Dave was a bloke with an acoutic
guitar, he was really good, did his own songs)
Sunday June 19 1977
(in order
of appearance)
Co Op Quintette
East Coast
Southbound
Sidekick
Harcourt's Heroes
Phil Townend
Steve Brown Band
Guy
Cubes
Erection
Headliners - Erection were like a Gonzalez type
funk/pop outfit. I saw them six weeks later at Houghton-le-spring Inn Cognito
club, where they played to a load of disco types, and they went down just
as well!
Anyway, as I said, the last 2 festivals might be irrelevant to you. The 75
one was by far the best one.
All the best,
Neil Thompson.
Hi
I went to the Durham Domefest I'm pretty sure in 1975 like Gary rather than
1973 so maybe it was held in later years than Mother Grumble reports.The river
was the Wear. It was June I think and was bloody cold. A typical north eastern
summer's day - maybe no longer with global warming but certainly when I was
a kid. The only band I remember was the Chris Jagger Band. They arrived in
a jag, an S type, with Chris sitting on the bonnet if I recall correctly.
I thought it was reported in the NME at the time though I could be wrong.
It was a one day event. It may have been held in earlier years but I can't
remember.
keep on keeping on
Nick
Durham
Dome Festival 20 June 1976. I actually played in the band Neil refers to with
George and Kevin (actually spelt Strewf, our first and only gig if I recall).
Highlight of the day was watching the antics of the Hell's Angels who were
present. When George was fired at with an airgun from across the river (Wear),
the announcer interrupted the set to warn the culprits that if they didn't
desist the police would be called, then paused and said 'Oh... there's the
'police' on their way now..' referring to a posse of Angels heading over a
nearby bridge to 'remonstrate'. They (the Angels) also threw our 'roadie'
(really a mate pressed into service) in the river for touching one of their
bikes with his mini van. Luckily it's only about three feet deep there. But
they had a certain style - I remember they sat in a group on the grass, shredded
leathers and other undiscernible garments covered in oil and one with a skinned
cat over his helmet, sipping sherry from immaculately cut glasses. Incidentally,
I agree Dexter were great jazz-rock players but the times being what they
were I saw the guitarist some months later in a decidely non-twiddly new-wave
band (don't remember the name).
Mike
I
was at boarding school in Durham and The Dome Fest was a highlight of the
Summer Term!
We were fairly young at the time, 13year olds that knew it all. We used to
pile down to The Race Course (that’s the stretch of the river where
the festival was held) and watch in awe has Hells Angels held their ground,
mind you the aroma from the sweaty leathers was enough to ward anyone off
;)
Can’t remember much about the bands, we were just soaking up the atmosphere…Happy
Days!
Jeff
I cant remember much about it, I believe it was 75 as Sunderland had won the cup recently, I remember a load of Bikers fastening a rope to the Toilet steps (about 6 High) and pulling them off with a bike, funny watching everyone coming out and dropping !!! cant remember much about the bands, saw a couple of them in the Old 29 In Sunderland, your right it was cold !!! and its the wear next to the Cathedral, Good Days.
Ian Jack
Domefest 1980 © |
Prefab Sprout at the Domefest 1980 © |
