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information on today's festivals see eFestivals.co.uk
The Archive.
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Updated Feb 2008
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Greater London Council Festivals
1984.
"NEW DEAL NOW !" N.U.S Demo and Festival, Battersea Park. London March 10th 1984.
Dancing With The Dog Billy Bragg , Benjamin Zepheniah. Ken Livingstone
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"Jobs For A Change", GLC Festival, Jubilee Gardens. London,
June 10th 1984.
Billy Bragg, The Smiths, Hank Wangford, Misty In Roots, Mari Wilson, Aswad, The Redskins.
Not sure if this was the first of the " Jobs For A Change " concerts hosted by The Greater London Council
Not sure if this was the first of the " Jobs For A Change " concerts hosted by the Labour led Greater London Council , but this was the event where the Redskins set was disrupted by 80 or so skinhead fascists who objected to the Redskins homosexuality and leftist polictics. It must have rankled to see fellow skins supporting " Red" Ken . There is a right wing blog we are not going to quote here that discusses this incident , its pretty hate filled stuff, so avoid unless you want to experience a prime example of mindless racism and see what we were up against in the 80s. After the fight was over the rest of the day went ahead, there is even an audience recording of the Redskins set - which presumably archives the fighting that went on in front of and on the stage. |
Morrisey, Ken Livingstone and Mari WIlson |
Recordings and setlists
| Billy Bragg 6-10-84
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The Redskins 6-10-84 Looking for setlist and cover or photos from this gig
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The Smiths 6-10-84
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Comments relating to the End of the GLC
GLC Free Festival Brockwell Park . London, August 4th 1984. The Damned. Spear Of Destiny The Fall. Benjamin Zephaniah New Model Army Jools Brilliant Strawberry Switchblade Pleasure and the Beast HI Jinx. The Opposition
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The Damned onstage at Brockwell park .View more Damned pix here . |
An atypical British summers day, rain in the morrning , but by gum, it cleared for the afternoon's festivities, the sun shone . A good size crowd watched the opening acts and they were content NOT to throw cans at the support bands . Firstly : The Opposition, Pleasure and the Beast , Hi Jinx and then Brilliant. A few jeers at Youth , Brilliant's bass player, but no real trouble.
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The Damned in their dressing room backstage |
The crowd were reasonably well behaved until Joolz took to the stage . Considering this show was free , one would have thought that the audience would have been content to just talk loudly when bands were not to their liking , but we have to remember this was the middle 80s, the moron element in crowds had developed nicely during the late 70s and they were used to lobbing cans , empty or full or urine , at objects onstage they did not like and some of the crowd did NOT like Joolz . Howver she was up to dealing with their capers. When cans were thown she responded with a clever verbal putdown that slowed the barrage of cans down considerably . |
New Model Army had many dedicated fans and they welcomed their heroes with gusto, they were well received but when they departed, their replacements, The Fall , were continuously bottled throughout their set by a contingent who were just not prepared to let anything they did not approve of occupy the stage. The Fall soldiered on manfully, as their solid Northern hides had by now developed a thick skin after years of gigging . Most of the crowd appreciated their music, it was only a small minority who were causing trouble, ain't it always the same, a few morons fuck things up for the rest of us ? |
mosh pit at Brockwell park 1984 |
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Kirk Brandon |
The two lasses who made up Strawberry Switchblade,fared even less well than the Fall ,since their inspiration was the blonde chantuese Nico ,hardly a household hero .Their music and unusual costume choices did not go down well with the intolerant elements in the crowd. They had a tough time of it , but managed to survive the jeering somehow. Spear of Destiny seemed to REALLY get under the skin of the mob, they were continuously canned. Their music wasn't hard core and contained elements of soul , their name was somewhat controversial ( the phrase had Nazi connections, although Brandon denied that this was so ) . Whatever the cause, their somewhat androgenous leader Kirk Brandon was hit on the face and sustained a cut and the front of stage became a nasty mosh pit , with violence flaring . Initial sound problems could not have helped their cause either. |
Poet Benjamin Zephania managed to calm the crowd during his recitation of anti establishment poems ,but, as roadies set up the Damned's equipment, the appearance onstage of Cap'n Sensible whilst he was performing did distract from his performance. This was also the last time Sensible was to play with the band , he had not performed at the Nostell Priory show the weekend before. When the Damned came on so did the rain , this was the band that many of the can throwers had come to see . There was still a lot of rowdy behaviour , but generally in approval of the band onstage . |
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In retrospect, it would have been better to have a different set of artists on the bill. By this time , people's tastes had seemed to polarise and crowd behaviour- fuelled by booze- had deteriorated to such an extent that even at a free show a significant element of the audience were just not prepared to tolerate music they did not like . A mixed bill such as this did not work if one had a certain type of band -such as The Damned headlining . The Damned themselves definitely seemed to be playing this gig because they believed in the causes the GLC expounded . Their backstage interview comments confirmed this .Very Anti Nuke and pro peace.
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Recordings and setlists
Spear of Destiny were recorded from the audience
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New Model Army 8-04-84
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Looking for cover or photos from this gig |
| The Fall 8-04-84
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Looking for cover or photos from this gig |
| The Damned 8-04-84
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Looking for cover or photos from this gig |
Strawberry Switchblade Pix and Sounds Review
GLC Free Festival
Victoria Park . London,
August 19th 1984.
Mighty Wah / Spear Of Destiny.
A much more sedate affair than the Brockwell Park do, no bottle throwing we understand, but thats all the info we have at the moment- can anyone help ?
GLC Festivals
If you have photos, recollections, set lists, newspaper reports or tapes of this event then email us at Contact email if you can help.
