For
information on today's festivals see eFestivals.co.uk
The Archive.
|
|
For
information on today's festivals see eFestivals.co.uk |
Updated September 2007
 |
Reading August 11-13th 1972. |
Reading crowd Sunday 13th August 1972 © Vin Miles |
|
Photos courtesy © Steve Austin unless otherwise indicated |
The
second year at the Reading site and the 1972 festival was once again marred
by police arrests of festival goers. 130 people were arrested over the weekend,
mostly for drug offences but some for offensive behaviour , or petty vandalism
. Once again a very large sum of money was spent on policing what was a
largely inoffensive crowd. The police presence was way over what was needed
for an event of this nature, with police choppers circling the site and
special courts busy processing those rounded up by the police as they once
again continually stopped festival goers and randomly searched both them
and their baggage. For some strange reason ( pressure from the police , or politicking between relief organizations ? ) Release were not invited to attend but BIT and ADE were there ministering to those who had OD 'd , been incarcerated or simply fallen ill through eating out of date burgers. |
There is little doubt that the paranoia shown by the Thames Valley police towards festival goers during this period is almost unprecedented in the history of the British police forces. It is perhaps fortunate that the more of middle of the road crowds who attended the reading festivals were so passive. If they had shown any sort of resistance towards the oppressive tactics that were utilised by the police during this period they would no doubt have been met with considerable force . It is ironic that so much effort was put into policing the non violent hippie crowds of the day and so much tolerance was shown to the violent football crowds that regularly terrorised unfortunate British towns throughout the decade and beyond. But drug related rock festival paranoia always seems to take priority over beer fuelled sport related violence doesn't it ? |
Intrepid TV police take to the water to help stamp out the scourge of drugs ! |
| The Music |
|
Genesis were the stars of an otherwise fairly lacklustre bill on Friday . The weather was fine , but most bands failed to move the crowd to their feet. By contrast Genesis had the crowd screaming for a full five minutes after they had left the stage . Even former crowd pleasers Mungo Jerry ( a brit rock festival hit of 1970 ) could not make much of an impact , perhaps the novelty of their act had by now worn off. Nazareth did not play despite being present. Their late arrival meant they were not allowed to play and the other acts sets were extended to cover the gap. |
By 1972 the festival featured two stages enabling a quick turn around between acts. |
|
Inside the arena |
Curved
Air came on around midnight and eventually built up a good head of steam,
despite the cold conditions at that hour , but despite their headliner status
it was Genesis who made the most impact with the crowd. Saturday was mostly dull, both weather wise and in the response of the audience to the majority of the acts. The PA acted up during some sets and Solid Gold Cadillac did not play due to their transport packing in and a consequent late arrival , it appears that late arrivals were not slotted in whenever possible, they just were factored out of the lineup. |
|
The Johnny Otis R & B show , featuring the Three Tons of Joy , Mighty Flea and Big Daddy Rucker were notable for stirring up the crowd , along with the Edgar Broughton Band who actually got the crowd to their feet for the first time during the day. The Faces were often noted for their slackness in those days, but this time they delivered . They performed a fairly tight set, with a minimum of stuffing up and no overt drunkenness on their part . The weather brightened up considerably on Sunday , which helped to produce a better vibe than the day before although once again it did not make up for the lack of musical highs . Wizzard kicked off proceedings to a lacklustre reception, and it was left to Stackridge to get the first good response from the audience , although their set was spoilt to some extent by sound problems . Ten Years After put on a good show to finish off the festival to warm applause from the appreciative crowd . Overall it was a "nice " festival, nothing to really complain about apart from the police presence outside the arena and the overall lack of really talented acts who could raise the collective audience consciousness into the heights that the really top notch festival acts are capable of achieving. |
Stackridge |
1972 festival Line-up
1972 acts and fees paid to the artists.
|
|
|
|
Posters and tickets
 |
 |
 |
 |
Status Quo onstage Reading 1972 © Vin Miles |
Known recordings of the 1972 festival.
|
In 1972 I decided on the spur of the moment to go along on the Sunday (August 13th), with my girlfriend. I still hadn't been to a rock concert, and was into the Beatles, Stones, and, most recently, David Bowie. I wrote a brief account of our day in my diary that night: "Woke up with the idea of going to 3rd and last day of Rock Festival at Reading. Saw pix in paper. Weather looked good. Borrowed £5 from M. [my sister] and we got 3 o'clock train. S. [my girlfriend] wearing ochre cords, smock and white clogs. 20 mins [from Reading station] to festival site. Expecting £1.75 entrance - a bloke sold me a ticket for £1 and I found they'd reduced it to that anyway! Great! Very warm.
We tried to get a place in front of the stage but it was too packed. We walked right round the site and came back and settled down to the far right of the stage. Heard Vinegar Joe. Status Quo got the crowd on their feet clapping. Drizzle - we got a nice bit of shelter under a Daily Mirror banner. Roy Wood's new band - Wizard - self- indulgent but a good spectacle. John Peel was D.J.ing. Then as it began to get dark - Stray -fairly good - used smoke bombs, firecrackers and fireworks, rockets in act. Then Mahatma Kane Jeeves (?) - dark - lights on. Before Stray I'd had 1 hot dog, 1 hamburger, 1 can of Coke and 1 strawberry yoghurt - 2p. All S. had was a raspberry yoghurt - !! She kept askingme for my opinion - I kept hating each band!
Then it got darker and they set the coloured lights on the crowd - great sight. Long wait for Ten Years After: on just after 10, when we had to go. Just missed 10.30 train so we got a bus at 10.40. Very bumpy."
Regards
Vin Miles
1972 Festival pages
ELO page on their performance at the festival
The early festivals.
You can find out the complete
line ups of the first festivals if you follow the links below ,as well as new
information recently received in 2004 .
| |
|
|
|
Festivals 65-83
Most of these have fairly complete documentation .But new contributions of any sort are always welcome regarding any of the festivals.
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
