The Archive.

Created Jan 2012

updated Novemeber 2012- new timeline

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For information on today's festivals see eFestivals.co.uk

Documents courtesy Stuart Fell. We at the Archive would like to extend our sincere thanks for all the hard work Stuart has put into researching the background of this festival, and thus we would like to dedicate these pages to him . Thanks Stuart, we could not have done this without you !

Fife Aid 2 David Bellamy's Festival For The Future 23rd-24th July 1988 Craigtoun Country park St Andrews Scotland. Marillion , Go West, Rick Wakeman, Sugarcubes , Van Morrison, Steve Hackett ,Jack Bruce, Runrig, Phil Mazanera, John Martyn, Davy Spillane , Michelle Shocked, Rose Royce, Captain Sensible, Champion Jack Dupree, Osibisa, Michael Chapman and many more .......

    Somehow the wheels got caught in the corn at this one . Following a successful festival held on the same site in 1986 , David Bellamy's organisation decided to go ahead with a more ambitious two day festival in 1988. The site was fairly close to Edinburgh , so transport should not have been a difficulty for most attendees. Although a reasonable lineup of acts was put together it could have had much greater appeal. Not all the the artists on the bill attended and others made last minute appearances , which would have really affected the turnout , eg. : Van Morrison headlined on Sunday, but his presence was not advertised , thus loosing the draw card factor of the big star . Also according to our sources, the organisers had the opportunity to present far more prestigious acts such as David Bowie and Simple Minds ( both capable of filling up a stadium sized venue in their own right in 1988 ) .

   Both these artists expressed an interest in playing , but they decided not to do so once they found out how disorganised the festival actually was- mainly in its running order, which was chaotic. Once the big guns were no longer part of the bill, media mogul Ted Turner , who had apparently intended to broadcast the event, pulled out on the Thursday before the festival was to begin . Thus the concert was deprived of one of its biggest fund raising avenues, as the TV would have featured a telethon where viewers could pledge donations to the cause. As it was , not even regional TV broadcast the proceedings.This was a double whammy , as the inclusion of one, or both of these acts, even with only one or two days notice, if accompanied by an all out publicity blitz on local radio and TV - would have brought in many more punters on the day, whatever the weather conditions.

But it was not to be .....

    Because dear reader, unfortunately the weather gods did not smile on this worthy event. In fact , no doubt annoyed by the omission of some of their favorite acts from the bill, they pissed on the heads of the long suffering crowd for large portions of both days .When they weren't busy pouring large quantities of cloud based aqua vitae onto the site , stage and attendees, they came to an arrangement whereupon no sooner did the rain disperse, than dreadful sea mists swept in silently onto the site , preventing most of the assembled festival goers from seeing the stage and artistes. The sun shone on Sunday for some of the acts, but a godawful storm hit the site after Van Morrison had finished his set and the stage was wrecked , adding to the costs incurred by the luckless organisers....

    At the end of the day,after all this ordure had been suffered by all and sundry , the Fife Aid organisation was left out of pocket to the tune of 170,000 pounds, not chicken feed in 1988.

   If you have photos, recollections, set lists, newspaper reports or tapes of this event then Contact us if you can help.