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

Formatted at 1280 X 1024 res or higher -Updated March 2023

 


June 22-24th 1990

The Cure, The Pogues,Hawkwind, Fantastic All Stars, The Lost T–Shirts Of Atlantis, Ry Cooder, Sinead O'Conner, De La Soul , Adamski,Paul Oakenfold
Aswad, Happy Mondays, James, Lush, The Pale Saints, Galaxie 500, Ozric Tentacles. Ladysmith Black Mombazo, Jesus Jones, Del Amitri,Archaos, Boo Yah Tribe ,Circus Archaos, Deacon Blue, Hothouse Flowers

( This list is incomplete and may be inaccurate- we need an advert and eyewitness accounts to confirm the complete bill and any additions ,cancellations )

Any info to add ?-well don't just sit there ,Contact us

Cover of the festival program courtesy Steve


Gallery One
Gallery two
Gallery Three
Gallery Four
Gallery Five

Yeah drier , but not less muddy ! Photo© Noddy Guevara

visit his flickr site to see more photos

   The festival got a change of name in 1990 , the first year of the new decade and the last year that donations from the profits of the Festival were made to CND . The political events that led to the ending of the dear old Cold War had shifted the emphasis away from the nuclear threat . The new concern was the environment - so donations in 1992 ( no festival was held in 1991, for reasons we will go into later ) went to environmental groups like Greenpeace and Oxfam. The writing had been on the wall for CND with the changing of the festivals name .Cnd copped £100,000 , which is a tidy sum. But never mind folks , Michael wasn't to know , but the nuclear threat came back to haunt us all once more ......

   The festival continued to expand and the Green fields were increased to cover 60 acres .Attendance was limited to 70.000 but may have been more if we add the Travellers field numbers to the mix. Ticket prices had gone up another ten quid to £38. It rained on Friday which put a bit of damper on things, although Saturday was drier.

  There were hell of a lot of "last times ' in 1990 . Relations with the travellers festival deteriorated and this was the last year that they were given a field of their own to hold their alternative festival. It had been a long strange trip and Michael Eavis had been very understanding over the years, but 1990 was the last straw as far as he was concerned.

  Things got off to a bad start when some busses arrived early and found that the gates to the field next to the festival which they had been allocated were locked. Its true that these travellers arrived without tickets, and that was because they were regularly allocated a field outside the festival grounds , they weren't expected to pay as they weren't coming into the main part of the site. As a result people had to wait for hours before they were allowed entrance, so tempers were frayed to begin with and some peoples vehicles were damaged as they had to set up their camps in the sloping field in the dark.

Fucking ace T shirt company Photo© Noddy Guevara

The Battle of Yeoman's Bridge

(The events below have been pieced together from various reports printed fairly soon after these events occurred ,these contained direct quotes from Michael Eavis and from travellers who were at the face off between the security and traveller groups. Its probably as accurate a representation of the facts as we can get at this remove and we have tried to be as objective as possible in our account without taking sides. We also now have a detialed account form John who was one of the travlelers present )

More mud dudes ! Photo© Noddy Guevara

   The new security team ( some of whom had been present at Treworgey in 1989 ) apparently took a heavy handed approach to their job and the rumours that prevailed about their poor behaviour may or may not have been correct, but one way or another, the atmosphere in the camp was a bit tense and security were viewed in a dim light by most of the travellers. However, things went on more or less as usual for a while .Wango Riley’s travelling stage, an increasing number of rave tents ( featuring ever more powerful sound systems ) and the usual plethora of sideshows, bars and stalls entertained a huge number of punters from the main festival over the three days of the festival.

   It was on the Monday that the trouble started. According to some, a group of travellers were picking over the rubbish left behind after the festival , other sources say they were looting . Michael Eavis is quoted as saying that the trouble started because one guy was drunk and drove his truck through some fences. He also stole a tent belonging to the church- it wasn't abandoned, so if this is true , this was a case of theft .

   Security intervened and cracked his windscreen in the process. We don't know how heavy handed they actually were in their dealings with the drunk , but he wasn't actually injured . The police came and took him away , again apparently unscathed- and his van was towed off to a safe spot in the festival grounds, but some kids from the field who had witnessed the arrest ran off to the travellers field and reported that he had been beaten up by security.

   The news that one of the brethren had been badly injured enraged a section of the travellers and they raced off to seek revenge for the supposedly rough treatment that had been meted out to their fellow traveller . Things turned very nasty and what can only be described as a full on battle took place. Both sides were armed, the travellers with sticks and whatever heavy implements they could find and security with , of all things - Petrol bombs ! Its hard at this remove to work out who started the actual fight , or which side was the most violent, but the upshot was that the security forces were outnumbered and they had to retreat, so in that sense the travellers had won the day.

   They had however, won a pyrrhic victory, the consequences were as expected . The 'convoy', already demonised by parliament and press as a negative and uncontrollable force, had shot themselves in the foot , as they bore most of the blame afterwards, whether they were really to blame or not . In retrospect, it was a pretty stupid move, a no win situation for travellers , any violent reaction only contributed to their negative image and the media were waiting ready to pounce .

   However, in some ways their behaviour was understandable, if not condonable. This battle of Yeoman's Bridge was the result of years of persecution . If you demonise a group, they close ranks and become more tribal. When you threaten that group, they react more violently than they would if they had confidence in authority to protect them. Travellers had had years of negative experiences with authority, they had been shifted and shunted around, their homes had been destroyed or confiscated on several occasions in the middle 80s , their children had been removed in some instances and they also had received an influx of younger people who were probably more alienated from society than their elder compatriots.

Horse drawn rig arrives at the Travellers field Glastonbury Festival 1990 © Traveller Dave

Since from their viewpoint the rule of law could not be relied upon , some of them took things into their own hands. If you throw some speed and booze into the mix , take into account some people might have been awake for days, either through being part of raves (which went on 24/7 and were a real issue for old time travellers who liked to get "some"sleep ) or by being kept awake by blasting acid house music - then things can get very nasty, very quickly .

    It was a vicious battle and it was lucky that no was killed, some people did stupid things such as ramming wooden poles through vehicles windscreens and driving four wheel drives into other cars .The irony was that the pole that went through the windscreen nearly totaled the traveller who had commandeered the four wheel drive. Evidence that extreme violence can injure anyone, even those on your own side. Lucky that no one was killed .....

    The consequence was that there was no festival in 1991 and when things resumed in 1992, the site was surrounded by a ten foot fence, there was an exclusion zone and many travellers were told to go away, although probably not as politely as that. Eavis didn't exclude travellers entirely, he did employ people he trusted to set up the site, but the travellers field free festival, which for many had been an integral part of the festival proper , was , at least for now, a thing of the past .

Photo© Noddy Guevara

 

Paradox onstage -looks like Wango's stage - travellers field Glasto 1990 © Steve Bubble.

 

One can see the Yeomans bridge area on this 1990 site map.

An exact lookalike of my long lost old mate Big Rog Walker (bloke on left with long hair and sideburns) passes the Wangos stage at Glasto 1990 © Mandy Price

     Many would mourn its passing, but if you visit the efestivals forum , you can see that there WERE instances of violence and intimidation as well as irresponsible use of drugs of dependence during the festival itself .The free festivals of the early eighties were situations where anarchy mostly managed to work, (although there were instances of sub culture violence during those years) but by 1990 things had gone downhill to some extent , more heavy drugs were around, excessive booze had entered the mix , a younger crew with different values had infiltrated the culture. The smaller Elephant Fayre had given up trying to accommodate travellers in 1986 and had closed partly due to their poor behaviour, but Michael Eavis was made of sterner stuff, he was determined to continue his festival no matter what the pressures and if it meant ditching the travellers field, then so be it. He was on, ( as they termed it in the Blues Brothers) "a mission from god" , that mission was to raise funds for good causes and nothing would avert him from his task.

Solitary dancer blends himself perfectly into the lip of stage © Mandy Price

     

The view from onstage, Paradox performing ©Mandy Price

   The festival was never quite the same afterwards, whether this was a good or bad thing depended on your perspective , but one thing was sure, the demise of the free entertainment of the Travellers field deprived the festival of the last vestiges of its free festival past , it was still far more diverse than any other major rock orientated music festival in the UK ( even Womad did not contain its breadth of music ) but that spirit of controlled anarchy that had prevailed in the early 80s ,where the community organised , policed and promoted its own free festivals and which created a valid alternative lifestyle that was often largely self sufficient ( at least during the summer months ) - had departed and would never return to Glastonbury .

As for the travellers and ravers such as Spiral Tribe, they were still active elsewhere on the scene, but that’s another story and not within our scope at the present…….


Wet ! Sids Atkinson lurks behind other unknown vehicles.

Travellers field Glasto 1990 © Steve Bubble.

 

   Its amazing how this whole incident is still being represented online, one person who was drunk is now represented as " travellers looting the site " , its reported that 235 people were arrested , but does this mean that 235 people were arrested after the battle, or arrested over the entire weekend ? Apparently 50,000 pounds damage resulted, which we CAN believe because we know a portacabin was torched and several vehicles were damaged.

   The only people we can confirm as being prosecuted were security people , but that really doesn't mean that all the travellers were blameless because some of them admitted to causing damage to vehicles and acting in what could be termed "irresponsible" ways . Not an episode to be proud of, but, from the accounts we have below, it sounds liek the "security" were not exactly smooth operating professionals, capable of diffusing any potential incidents.

    Emily Eavis, then eleven at the time , describes it as the worst incident she has ever witnessed at the festival (she was with her dad in the field when the events took place ) and said her father was REALLY angry after the battle took place.

 Thing is, was his anger directed at the right people.....or should it have been spread around a bit more evenly.....?


John's account

Here's my story.Make of it what you will..

** That day started like many other...some people had started *packing down* their tat, getting ready to move off glastonbury site as the fezi had finished.. We knew that the *Security* had been very heavy handed with lots of people during the festival, robbing people etc... Confiscating peoples money & goods from * unlicensed* stalls..Bead sellers & such like. Selling off a blanket on the ground, for example. We also knew that eavis"s security were the same crew that we had had a previous major confrontation with at Treworgy in the previous year. Which they started & basically lost.

We were not looking for a re-match, content to be allowed to move on with no major hassles if possible..The first trouble i became aware of was when i returned from Shepton Mallett in my Van. I was *onsite* & stopped to talk to someone & was a few fields away from our site,on top of a rise so had a good view of the surrounding area..As i was talking i became aware of a young *straight* looking couple,a man & woman walking along .. perhaps 100yrds away,with the van between us & as i watched they were jumped on by 5-6 security.I had not seen their approach as it was blocked by the van!.I was horrified to see one of this mob lash out with what looked like a golf club & hit ,in the face,the young man..The security seemed oblivious to my proximity (maybe blocked by van) & went their way.

I did not know that while i had been in shepton, it had *kicked off* with the *security*. Shortly after i had witnessed the attack with the golf club,i watched as 4 L/rovers approached, side by side with about 4ft between them, a group of about 60 travellers who are on foot & coming down the rise from the *site*(opposite me).They are met by the L/rovers driving at them,fast...I can say at this stage that there were 40 so called *security*.How do i know? because they were all wearing white T-shirts & are numbered....1 to 40..They came in behind the vehicles amed with various weapons & battered who they could!. The travellers,those that can,ran off back to site.At this point i descend the hill & approach,on foot.Must say as well that i looked very *straight* at the time.I n fact later that day i was (briefly) mistaken for security! but i get ahead of myself:-)..So i mingle with the *crowd*.. eavis turns up!!. Gets out of the car.The one wearing number 40 says to eavis & i quote* Well Michael' shall we trash them or not?* unquote. Crucially he says nothing but nods & returns to the car & away!.In my opinion that was his chance to stop it. By saying nothing he allowed it to continue....I leave them, not wanting to chance it there any longer, go back to site real quick. Join others telling people back there that this is serious!!!!..About 300 come of site heading for the *security*...........................!!!...

I would remind people who read this account to bear in mind that the*New age travellers* had been getting seriously hammered from 85 onwards (beanfield) by *The Authorities* for years & as always there are those,*eavis's security* for example who love to kick people when their down..enough was already way too much, if you catch my drift. For sure you rarely beat the police, who deserve it most as THEY are by far the worst trouble makers ever!! & abdicate all personal responsibility whilst doing so (its just my job being the usual cop-out..haha) but that does not stop people trying, right? Otherwise the police would have nothing to do!!!?..back to the account of that day?

ok..300 mostly unarmed heading for security,who break & run towards eavis's farm.. I recall one of them (security) running across that metal *checker plate* bridge. He was halfway across said bridge when one of the L/rovers entered it from behind him. He turned to look, tripped & was under the wheels of it before you could blink. The driver stopped as the guy appeared from under his tailgate. Some hands reached down & grabbed the screaming man, hauling him roughly into the back of the rover & taking off again..We chased them all back to the farm house.They put a L/rover across the entrance to block us. Petrol bombs are thrown at us by securty..Our blood is UP.. We have these fuckers on the run & like i said had been pushed way to far for to long..

I spot one of eavis's rovers coming up the hill towords us & think..That will do nicely:-). I commandeer it ( without hurting anyone) & intend to use it to ram our way into the farmyard..To do what?? Just to get this particular bunch of bullying cowards who hide behind there imposed *Authority*?''maybe...We were on a roll ok!..I ram their rover side on with the front of *mine*. This knocked a few of them to the ground as they had been standing on therirvehicle(stupid) when i hit it.Now, i had never driven a L/rover before & in my haste had neglected to find out where reverse gear was!!

Whilst i was frantically trying to find it a huge black geezer come over the top of their vehicle landed like the terminator on my bonnet & burried an Axe through the metal cab roof of my vehicle...*SHIT* i remember thinking * I am outta here,forget reverse.. FORWARD i screamed at myself, floored it, nudged them enough to unbalanced the bloke who was trying to retrieve his Axe from the roof, presumably to have another go. Whilst this is happening a rain of missiles is landing on the scene from my lot & i take this opportunity to leave the L/rover but not before i freak trying to find that silly chrome door handle..* Where the FUCK is the handle i remember thinking..There !! & then the seat belt snagged on it!!! Delaying my exit further!!.. Finally i am out & running, ducking as i go.Someone told me later that a security pickaxe handle had missed my head by inches!::I run across the 50 yrds of no mans land to regroup.

This is when some blokes dog brings me down, the owner, numbnuts thinks i am security until i & others tell him otherwise !..Very shortly we see the police in the f/yard,near their new & shiny mobile cells. Lovely...Someone shouts *the pigs are coming* & sure enough, they are..They came steaming round the wedged vehicles all tooled up with their BIG sticks,helmets,kevlar whatever & charged us. I looked around at people turning & running.. I SHOUT as loud as possible *STAND YOUR GROUND*.. A few, then all stop & do just that..There are only 20ish police who pull up short when we dont move & in fact retreat the way they came!!.

Someone shouts that the pigs have nicked someone called* Dreadlock Ian * from Norwich..We are shouting for the release of Ian..A high ranking (carefull) officer tells me they have released Ian. I tell him he is talking SHIT as Ian is my best mate & if they had released Ian he would be stood beside me..Up to that point i had not set eyes on the guy,never mind best mate!! but knowing of course never to trust the police we kept the pressure ON.. Suddenly theres a roar from our lot as the mobile cell doors are opened & there appears this bloke, with dreadlocks..YES!!!! They have released him..Bloody marvelous :-)..A RARE victory over the police..One which no doubt they would deny. Ian, he had to run the gauntlet of the 20 pigs who tried to smash his ankles as he left..Boy the pigs was PISSED OFF..Still the truth though..

Later,after meeting Ian, he recalled hearing us lot outside the cells chanting for his freedom..What happened? i asked him..The pigs opened his cell door & said *you got a lot of friends,aint ya!! go on, fuck off..So he did..The next day the police came on site looking for witnesses against the security but most people wont talk to them..Whats the point??. ( the ones that did,never got anywhere) They were the primary ones who made life a misery anyway.. police & security seen, rightly, as allies.. A lot of people left shortly after this,knowing a lot had been filmed the previous day & well ready to move on....Thats about it folks. A different perspective on that day.

From someone who was there...

This account gives a different perspective, as the participant was present at a different set of events

This is the rig that we were ambushed on , on the Monday after most of the weekend punters had gone and babylon commercial zone as well gavin decided to go for a blatt to see what could be tatted ...there were 3 folks in the cab & about 9 of us on the flatbed ?
Ist stop was the right-on rainbow brigade in the traffic free green field where the tee-pee dwellers were quick to shoo our big smelly diesel guzzler away , despite our pointing out several of their mates's VW's etc parked in the field .. so we drove twice around the tee-peeee circle to wind them up even more !

Then off to visit the brain washing christians .. luckily for them the only trace of their pestilent presence was a bloody big wooden cross , which was no match for the Albion's front bumper ...

Our tour continued through the security fencing behind the pyramid stage , where those still dismantling lighting frames etc were less than friendly in their greetings ...so detour around the stage into what had been the audience's zone and up the hill to inspect a skip & recover packs of milk for the travellers field .;

A photo of Gavin's Albion arriving at glastobollox in 1990....

Whilst manoeuvring around the trees Gavin hit the bottom of his truck's radiator on a low wooden post & it started leaking , so he decided to head backas quick as a 1950's ex army 6x6 could through babylon to our zone up beyond stage two / kids field ..
But as we re-passed the front of the pyramid stage two security landrovers appeared from nowhere & started to give chase , which meant that they were soon alongside us signalling gavin to stop , something he obviously didn't want to do for the sake of his engine , or to speak with a bunch of mindless gorilla's !

So they overtook and rammed us in the entrance to the lane leading to stage two : world stage zone & Gavin had no choice to stop , where upon we found ourselves surrounded by 8 or so of Eavis's hired goons who odered evryone off the back of the flatbed & dragged everyone out of the cab , not without a few punches being thrown & lots of hysterical shouting .;

More landys arrived inc.their chef who started acusing us of nicking a marquee ! (not us geezer it'd already left on someone else's rig the night before ..) but he wouldn't listen to our explanations concerning our morning drive round & the head honcho himself soon put in an appearance .. being impartial Eavis of course listened only to chef security & no one else & agreed to the 'arrest' of Gavin & impounding of the Albion ..

By this stage a woman I vaguely knew passed by & asked me what was up , after rapidly explaining I noticed the security wernt watching me that closely as they conferred with Mr.E so asked her to help me slink off as if we were a hippy couple just floating passed this uncool incident .. which meant I was able to leg it up the fields & back to the Travellers zone to find a flatbed of tooled upfolks ready to 'mix it' with the security .. so left my chillum & blim with a mate and hopped on , assuming over rigs were following behind .

So it was a bit of a shock to arrive at the ambush site to find the Albion had been driven off , Gavin as well , but still a good dozen over muscled gorilla's waiting for us waving fencing posts etc above their heads ... but only about 8 of us to take them on .. so the sensible action was to leg it (again ) but nearby traders still packing up refused to let us hide behind their stalls despite being blackmailed by the security all weekend !
Despite this we all got away , apart from Paul , who we could see getting a real pasting (resulting in hospitalisation for facial injuries , severly mashed fingers etc )

Luckily after about another 5/10 mins other tooled up rigs did appear on the scene & the gorilla's crammed themselves back into landy's and headed back to their HQ at Mr' E's farm , I didnt follow having seen enough violence & after helping get Paul sorted walked back to our zone , by which time portacabins & landrovers were to be seen blazing away !

Later that day most folks were 'summoned' to Lyn Lorian's decker to explain ourselves .. here its difficult to explain all the hidden agendas' at play , suffice to say Lyn & co had been in cahoots with eavis over letting us use two fields hidden from the rest of the festival to park in & when i led the 1st 60 rig convoy into it before the festival started we were met by Lyn laying down 'rules' and given a photocopied plan of how they wanted folks to park for the week ...needless to say anarchy ruled & well arranged plans were wisely ignored !

I was invited to her bus in the late afternoon to see if i wanted to participate in a phone / interview with a Bristol radio .. which i declined as we'd already been smeared around the local / national press as scuzzy rioting hippys hell bent on destroying eavis's peace n love festoch (shame amongst my large newspaper cutting scrapbooks I dont have copys of the screaming tabloid headlines the next morning )

so there you go , thats my 'eye witness' recollection , not to be taken as gospel after 20yrs but reckon only minor details could be added from other folks ?

The account you sent me is interesting as it gives background to why things were generally bad with this security firm , I remember the fight in the farmyard at Treworgey ... bricks , bottles , mollys being generously thrown around before they were driven off & the festival declared to be a free one !
And events at Eavis's farm between travellers / security / riot cops that I missed out on ...

D


We watched and listened in to the Battle of Yeoman's bridge without taking part in the trouble - it simply wasn't our fight and we stayed well out of it.
'We' being the editorial team from the Encyclopaedia Psychedelica including editor Fraser Clark, the Scooby Doobies, Ysanne Spevak, and some interesting technology. We had a mobile phone, which was pretty remarkable for those days, and I kept a radio scanner in my van which could listen in to police frequencies. (It had proved its worth the year before at Stonehenge when I had five minutes warning that the mounted police were about to charge, and which direction they were going to go. We got out of the way, warning everyone on the way.)

A couple of dozen of us had a perfect pitch in the orchard at the bottom of the valley and as far east as you can get. We had originally planned to put on a multimedia event in the orchard - the ideas we were rehearsing for what eventually became the club Megatripolis in 1993. But it was going to be loud and when Eavis found out at the last moment that we planned to have techno playing he pulled the plug on the deal. (Fraser Clark subsequently sued him for breach of contract and won a small settlement, I think it was £2,000.)

But we were left with the otherwise empty orchard and parked up under the trees with the van doors opening out onto the stream just where it came out of the hills and into the site. It was clean enough to bathe in. It was all a bit idyllic. I'm still amazed that nobody thought to look through the gap in the hedge and realise there was a whole empty flat shady camping field next to the river.

When it all kicked off we watched the traveller flatbeds heading into battle and the security Landys darting about. It looked a bit like the old Wild West meets Mad Max.

I tuned in the scanner and heard the police being told to retreat to the farmhouse and not to get involved in the ruck. It wasn't their fight either.
But they formed a line underneath the farmhouse and gave refuge to any security guards who made it that far. The rest were left to the wolves.
Security had been arrogant thugs all week. The organisers knew about it but weren't going to deal with it. Neil Oram had been coordinating the Green Field and I was going to be his gofer, but he watched too many kids getting beaten up and robbed as they came in over the fence on Tuesday. Neil told a key organiser about it and was told it was none of Neil's business. He promptly resigned.

All in all, the '90 festival was not a highpoint in my life, although I did get to première my first video creation Simple Harmonic Chaos with the enchanting Lights In A Fat City there, in the Green Field with dozens of tripped out hippies watching our two screens all night. The last time I went was in 2000 and I doubt if I'll go again.
Marcus Pennell


We can contrast these events by concluding with this post from Martin Ashford, who was a long time Glasto veteran

The 80's were really, really good overall and things actually got better and worse at the same time! It got bigger with every successive year and became very commercial on a micro level (Thatcherism on acid was one apt description). Glastonbury was a hotbed of laissez faire capitalism with half of the people attending appearing to be selling something to the other half - on the other hand the dawn of the Green fields acted as a focal point for all the alternative stuff out there not to mention new technologies - my first ever view of a mobile phone was in the Green Fields - it was about a foot long! Some great music and some real cobblers as well - Simply Red anyone? The weird thing is, the music programme has actually changed very little. The 90's were dominated by reggae, alt/pop and legends from the late 60's like Roy Harper. Glastonbury completely ignored certain hugely popular genres like the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) - a trend which continues to this day - probably my only real criticism of the festival. it seems to have become very selective as it has gained in kudos and popularity.

Gotta mention one thing - there was absolutely NO trouble to speak of in those years - I remember being really shocked in '87 when two blokes started fighting - this just didn't happen, ever!!


Recordings.

    After all this talk of rumbles and violence its easy to forget that for three days before 70,000 people had listened to music and mostly had a damn good time. There don't seem to be as quite as many recordings around as there were in the late 80s, possibly the BBC were there in less force than in previous years. But anyway here's what we have found so far by diligent scouring of all sources we can find.

Lipsticked to the max - Headliners for Saturday night - The Cure......

The Cure stops playing during "Fascination Street" and then replays the entire song. This because the set is interrupted by a helicopter that lands in the crowd to pick up a girl who was hurt in the body crush in front of stage.

The Cure

Glastonbury Festival 1990 6-23-90 SBD A+

  1. Shake Dog Shake
  2. A Strange Day
  3. A Night Like This
  4. Catch
  5. Fascination Street
  6. Lullaby
  7. Dressing Up
  8. The Same Deep Water As You
  9. Lament
  10. Just Like Heaven
  11. The Walk
  12. Primary
  13. Inbetween Days
  14. A Forest
  15. Disintegration
  16. Close To Me
  17. Let's Go To Bed
  18. Why Can't I Be You?
  19. 10:15 Saturday Night
  20. Killing An Arab
  21. Never Enough

 

Glastonbury 1990
BBC Documentary

Bill Oddie goes to the Glastonbury festival looking at the lifestyles, music and people there, including those for whom the area has a particular spiritual significance, especially at the time of the summer solstice. Can anyone elaborate ?

James

Glastonbury festival 6-22-90

  1. Hung (hang on)
  2. Hymn from a village
  3. Scarecrow govt walls
  4. Sit down
  5. Lets have a party (bring a gun)
  6. Fire away
  7. Promised land
  8. Walking the ghost
  9. Dont touch that wire
  10. Come home

 

 

Del Amitri

Glastonbury Festival - 6-23-90

  1. Opposite View
  2. Hatful Of Rain
  3. When I Want You
  4. As Soon As The Tide Comes In
  5. Don't Cry No Tears (cover of the Neil Young song)
  6. Nothing Ever Happens
  7. You're Gone
  8. Stone Cold Sober
  9. Spit In The Rain
  10. The Ones That You Love Lead You Nowhere
  11. The Return Of Maggie Brown
  12. Kiss This Thing Goodbye

FM Part show, 60 mins, Quality A


Recordings reputed to exist but we still need confirmation or setlists .

Jesus Jones :BBC transcription disc

Move Mountains, What's Going On, Never Enough, Right Here Right Now, Barry D, Broken Bones, Welcome Back Victoria, Song 13, Nothing To Hold Me, Bring It On Down, Real Real Real, What Would You Know, Info Freako

The Happy Mondays clear the area by means of their abysmal set , apparently streams of punters flood out to find their entertainment elsewhere in the arena after two sloppy and drunken numbers convince a large portion of the crowd that there is little to be gained by remaining . A SBD recording is supposed to exist of this non event of a set but no one will admit to having a copy in their collection :-). Earlier, the Mondays are reputed to have forged a large number of backstage passes for the use of their " friends" ,causing some chaos at the rear of the stage .


Travellers Field Recordings and performances

Ozric Tentacles 6-90 Travellers field

Tonka Travellers field

Hawkwind

Travellers field Glastonbury Festival. Execrable audience tape.

Track listing
1. Magic Of The Earth
2. Angels Of Death
3. Golden Void
4. Brainstorm
5. Door
6. Ejection
7. Sword Of Dawn
8. Assassins Of Allah
9. Blue Dreamer
10. Shouldn't Do That
11. Images

Personnel: Dave Brock (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Harvey Bainbridge (vocals, keyboards); Alan Davey (vocals, bass); Bridget Wishart (vocals); Richard Chadwick (drums)


Photogallery

Gallery One
Gallery two
Gallery Three
Gallery Four
Gallery Five

The Skool Bus
Lets look at a more positive happening to cheer us up after all this negativity.

     The Skool bus was present at the festival in 1990. This was a converted truck which had been cleaned up and funded by a group called the Traveller School Charity which had been formed in the late 80s with the objective to provide schooling for the children of travellers . It had also been around at the 89 show, but by 1990 it was staffed by a new crew. Fiona was the teacher and she was helped by many others, Liz, Jeff, Graham, Zoe, Tom, Emily, Lavina , Spread and Jenny .

    The Skool bus was situated between the traveller field and the main festival. They had a bender dome which was a storage or play area and they scrounged an inflatable bouncy castle to keep the kids entertained. There were so many kids it was hard to supervise the activities but the crew used the opportunity to raise funds from both fields to keep the school going for a few more months. Donations from other children’s areas which had been present at the festival also helped to provide much needed resources. It was a hand to mouth existence, but it proved that it was possible for a community that were very widely dispersed for most of the year could combine and create their alternative resources if given the chance.

Skool bus in 1988 at Bilbo Baggins birthday bash © Traveller Dave

Visit his Traveller Homes site for dozens more cool pix from festivals of the late 80s and early nineties.

To read more about the Skool Bus visit Tash's great site

More pix of the Skool Bus on Traveller Daves excellent bus site


Commercial Food stalls present at Glastonbury . El Fred’s Fat Vegan Heaven, Gremlin Diner, 24 hour munchies, Pennine Pizza, The Real Sausage Company , anyone able to add any more?


Aftermath.

SHOW DOWN AT GLASTONBURY: OUTSIDERS
(1992)
Documentary series on the 1992 Glastonbury Festival. After the fighting in 1990, festival organiser Michael Eavis was determined to keep New Age travellers away. Villagers in Pilton, including Jim and Anne Dowling, speak of nightmarish past experiences and the programme covers police plans for this year's festival.


External Links.

Charlotte Cooper describes her truly naff time at Glastonbury 1990


The Archive is as usual interested in this topic as regards to it being an aspect of social history of the counterculture , traveller and rock festival scene of the 60s to the late 80s and does not condone or encourage the consumption of any substances ,illegal or legal which may lead to mental or physical incapacitation by those who consume them .

Glastonbury Festival pages .



Glastonbury Fayre pages 1970-79

Any info to add ?-well don't just sit there , Contact us

Free rock festivals of the 70s and 80s

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