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Created December 2007. Updated Jan 2012
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Reading Rock Festival. Richfield
Avenue. August 26-28th 1983. |
Reading rock 1983 © Phil Teague |
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The last Reading Rock held at the Richfield Avenue site. The local council decided that it would be a good idea to redevelop the site and unceremoniously kicked the rock festival bods off without providing a new venue- spoilsports !. This last festival ( for the moment) featured one of the potentially better lineups of the 80s , certainly the lineup was more varied than it had been for years, with reggae from Steel Pulse, classy Hendrix styled psych blues from Stevie Ray Vaughan and a dose of new wave rock from the Stranglers. The old school was represented by Suzi Quatro , Black Sabbath, with Reading fave Ian Gillan in place of uncle Ozzy on vocals. Reading 83 was also notable for the last ever festival performance by Reading institution Thin Lizzy. Although this was by no means the classic and highly potent Lizzy of the mid to late 70s , the crowd were kind and gave Lynott and co a highly emotional sendoff, as they knew this would be last time that the boys WOULD be back in town... The weather was warm all weekend, but the welcome wasn't warm for Steel Pulse. They were bottled by a biker element in the audience and were forced to retire early into their set ... not the first time this had happened to a reggae act at Reading , this had occurred back in the mid seventies when the Mighty Diamonds and Uroy were bottled and subject to racist taunts by a section of the audience in 1976 . Saturday night was notable for the inclusion of Black Sabbath's monolithic Stonehenge set, the band dwarfed by 45 ft high henge slabs which took up much of the stage - apparently this was the inspiration for Spinal Tap's ludicrous stage set . However, Hawkwind had done something similar ( but on a smaller scale , the Sab's set filled three semis) in the 70s with their "Atomhenge " backdrop. |
Friday 26th Aug. 2pm start |
Sat 27th Aug 12 noon start |
Sunday 28th Aug 12 noon start |
Steel Pulse were bottled off after one and a bit songs) () indicates number of encores L Is left stage , R is right |
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Thanks to Duncan Watson for this information Weekend Ticket cost £15.95 |
Look at that nice clean field .... before the show © George Soja |
Recollections
Alvin Lee of Ten Years After at Reading Rock 1983 © Richard Hay |
I
was travelling with my pal Roger, all the way from Elie (in Fife, Scotland)
to Reading and back, so it took us from the Wednesday the 24th to getting home
late on the Monday 29th. I also reckon it cost over £100 in total but
was well worth it. I remember there were train strikes around that time but
did not have any bother in getting to the venue.
One useful part of Reading Station was the toilets which had hot water so paying the 2p (yes, 2p) for a platform ticket was good value to get your hands and other parts of your body washed. Going in with dry hair and coming out with soaking wet hair must have seemed odd to the platform ticket collector!
The weather was indeed very kind. There was a very light shower early on the Sunday morning (is that why I missed The Opposition) but other than that, it was a glorious weekend.
The River and stage - Reading rock 1983 © Phil Teague |
We had a 2 man tent of which the guy ropes were detached periodically by folk who stumbled over them. However, the most annoying thing was a bloke who was obviously on commission selling the official Reading Rock newspaper and who peddled his wares at the top of his voice all day and too damn early on a Sunday morning! He got a good bawling at, but I now regret not hanging onto the paper. I have just managed to source one and will send scans, if you wish them. This is the one with Ian Gillan on the front (right ) and came with a free badge (sadly mine is long lost) The official t-shirts were really quite duff but one of the best unofficial ones was one that named all the bands on it, in their own logos in full colour. Having all that properly printed on a black t-shirt made for a really good effect. Sadly I no longer have that t-shirt but I am sure anyone at the festival will remember it as it was a superb t-shirt. |
Courtesy Duncan Watson |
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I no longer have my original ticket. It was perforated into three parts, one for each day, but started to get a bit thread-borne after a while of showing it to get in & out the arena. So you could trade it in for a blue plastic wrist band and that way you could gain easy access in and out. However, folk got wise to this and cut them off wrists in the middle of the night (and day!) Therefore, the security staff tested your band to see that it was not broken. Luckily, mine was not tampered with, but it was a scary moment, After all, £15.95 was a lot to pay if it got nicked. No glass bottles or cans were allowed in the arena, so a local drinks shop did a roaring trade in 1 gallon plastic containers where the two of us got our favourite brew (mine was McEwen’s Export and Roger’s was Scrumpy Jack cider) and decanted it out of the cans into the container. As it turned out, the heat & sunlight did not make it last long (deduce from that what you will!). However, the other popular container was the 2 litre (was it litres in those days?) plastic bottles of cider & beer, and these were the main missiles of choice for the crowd to chuck at the bands ! If I remember rightly, a local band played a free gig in the Duke pub (I think) and did cover versions, most memorably of Bat Out Of Hell by Meatloaf. It whiled away the Thursday evening while we waited for Friday to come! A review in Sounds magazine later did state (very rightly) that Marillion were brilliant (playing 'Assassing' for the first time) and that Black Sabbath were rubbish. Sorry, but they were! You are right about the Friday Rock Show playing Marillion’s set too. As the pictures reveal, it was indeed a two stages arena and me & my pal spent most of our time on at the right hand stage because the better acts were there. I do not think I have any photos of the time. Even if I did, they would have been 110 film size, without a zoom lens, so not great quality. I do believe that one band did not turn up (if I had my t-shirt I would know) and there were a late substitute (not sure who) but my t-shirt did name all the bands correctly. |
Above : "In the car park of The Griffin over the river. We often used to go here in the morning to get warmed up for the day ahead. This is definately 1983. You can see how popular the pub was. Interesting that fest-goers were welcomed here, rather than being shunned like in lots of other bits of Reading. They even used to put Porta-loos in the pub garden. "
© Ferg Ranson
Couple
of things I remember. Pallas were with their original singer, who came on for the final number in some kind of HR Geiger-inspired outfit and held up a flare, wonderful ambition or pretention from this part of the prog rock revival of the time. There was a gang of Hells Angels in the crowd to see Sabbath, they got a bit fed up with the crush at the front and started wailing away with bike chains which temporarily cleared a large area in front of the stage. Magical
moment when Ten Years After declared that they were going to play a
song they’d done at Woodstock |
© David Perry |
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Outskirts of crowd at Reading rock 1983 © Phil Teague |
View of the stage from the campsite . Reading rock 1983 © Phil Teague |
Little Steven and his Disciples of Soul © Richard Hay |
The view from behind a bottle of coke - The Enid appear yet again at Reading © Phil Teague |
Confederate troops in disguise , busy lighting a fire whilst the dude in centre shot does a jig to distract the Union forces © George Soja |
Friday
- 2pm start
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Cornish Reading fans © Dave Mitchell
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Auto da fé – a good new band at the time. Nice set, to start things off. Pendragon – my memory of them is hazy but I recall them to be similar to Marillion (a favourite at the time). Therefore, I thought they were okay. Solstice
– Ah, nice hippy band. A memorable quote was 'let’s make this
the most peaceful festival ever'. I am not sure if that comment triggered
the bottling sessions! Note : first band to do an encore. |
Hanoi Rocks – One
of the best parts of watching Pallas was also watching Hanoi Rocks set up. Their
drummer (Razzle) had to sound check his own drums. He was a true star. Sadly
now deceased (no thanks to Motley Crew’s lead singer) but Razzle was a
brilliant drummer and great character. During their set, the bottles were flying
thick and fast. Mike Munroe (the lead singer) dodged them really well as did
Andy McCoy who played the cowboy, constantly spitting on stage and totally ignoring
the audience, and occasionally returning a bottle by a deftly placed kick!.
In all, a fantastic set.
Man – my memory of them is hazy too. Sorry.
Steel Pulse – infamously bottled off. I think they played one song, then stopped about half way through song two, stormed off and never returned. I think they warned the audience once, and when that was not heeded, disappeared. In my opinion, no great loss! Big Country - Now, this is more like it. No huffs here. Stuart Adamson, also stopped mid-song and warned the audience (oi, you tubes, quit flinging bottles!) as it was getting quite out of hand. They carried on to the end though, and I think actually helped calm the bottle throwing down, because it was hard to dance to the music and chuck bottles! A really good set by a great band. |
The Police were friendly © Dave Mitchell |
The Stranglers – this band was one of the main reasons why I went to Reading. Any chance to see The Stranglers is well worth grabbing. They played a great set and finished off day one really nicely.
Cover of the 83 program. |
Mamas Boys and Hanoi Rocks Pix © John Spence
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Saturday
- 12 noon start
Crazy
Angel – my memory of them is hazy too. Sorry. Lee
Aaron – Now Lee Aaron always puts on a good show and was a good
looker so was always nice to watch. Mama’s
Boys – These guys were great. There are three brothers and really
rock. Not only that, they were one of the few acts that supplemented their
guitar playing with violin. Class stuff and justifiably got 10 out of
10 from me! |
A fire built from the remains of the bar © Dave Mitchell |
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Suzi
Quatro – it was only when I revisited my memories of this, that
I remember she was on. Okay, not that memorable then! Marillion – While not yet at their peak, they had just recorded the Fugazi album, and so let rip with 'Assassing' for the first time. A truly magnificent set, not least because they started off with the full 15 minutes of Grendal. My pal was in raptures about this - justifiably so. Sadly, only one encore but more later … |
Black Sabbath – yeah, well. Let’s face it, Ian Gillan on vocals – it is not right. What capped it all was 'Smoke On the Water'. Sorry, but if you are trying to create another Deep Purple then you have the wrong backing band. The funny part is, the crowd shouted for more Marillion after Black Sabbath went off!
Sunday - 12 noon start Opposition
– The only band I missed. One
The Juggler – interesting choice for a Rock festival. Enough said. |
Fans at Reading 1983 © Dave Mitchell |
Good relations wid de fuzz !© Dave Mitchell |
The
Enid – Old favourites and did not disappoint. Steve
Harley & Cockney Rebel – Another act that I did not remember
playing. But they must have! Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul – bit dull, sorry - not really my scene. Never mind. Thin Lizzy – The pyrotechnics let them down, all going off in one go and that was that. Still a good set and I am happy to say that I have seen them live. Duncan Watson |
I
was there with my brother Paul and his then girlfriend, Diane. We travelled
down in her white M.G.B with me crouched in the back. Yeah!!
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| Sunday,
vaguely remember that day. Ten Years After, not bad, Cockney Rebel I don’t
remember at all. Little Steven is a blur, fragmented. But, THIN LIZZY. WOW!!
By then the Acid had cut in, the sound improved and I watched the show with
incredible clarity, from about 40 feet up!!(It seemed like it) Somebody
had sold us acid earlier, first time, paid 2quid too! Would love to get
a recording of that Lizzy show and compare it to my memory. Remember struggling to find the tent that night, millions of flashing lights, eventually got back to base, walked right through the fire I’m told. Wonderful weekend, remember the Coke lorry that got stuck under the bridge? All the best to all those that were there……. Of course since I’ve been in Africa, things have quietened down a lot, Oppikoppie festival is nothing like Reading or Donington. Of course if any of those bands want to come over and play here, they’ll be welcome, Quo were excellent last time they played here, Hawkwind should give it a go. (please!!!) Regards, Dave |
Little Steven hits his stride at Reading 83 © Richard Hay |
Little Steven © Richard Hay
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I
was at Reading on the Sunday, mainly to see Thin Lizzy off. The BBC In Concert CD does not include the full show, which also included Sha La La, Black Rose & Baby Drives me crazy between Suicide and Rosalie. I have a cassette somewhere with it all on. I will have to dig it out and see if there is anything else. I enjoyed Little Steven, Sad Cafe, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Ten Years After. All were good. Can`t remember Climax Blues Band, although I had seen them before supporting Jeff Beck, or the Enid, who I don`t think were my cup of tea. If I remember right Cockney Rebel had people sitting at tables with parasols on or to the side of the stage, not sure if they were in the band. Sorry, very foggy memory here but really felt that there was something very special as Lizzy ended their set. Pat Barry |
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Well
that was a what I called a good festival.... dont know why it was banned
exactly but im sure the fact we used neighbours wooden front gates for
firewood didn't help. What a great weekend. Best time I ever had. I took Margret Thatcher (my pet boa constrictor, 4 metres long) with me, I'm sure she too had a good time. The only thing that spoiled it was finding my bird humping away with my mate. Now I've found your page, it's gone straight to the top of my favs!!!! Chris Russell
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Man,
that brought a few memories back! I
forgot Anvil, Ten Years After and Pallas played, though it's stirring
hazy memories looking at the photos. I remember that after the long wait
for Stone Henge to be erected and Electric-Deep-Sabath to play I gave
up and listened from the campsite. Marillion I absolutely loved (just
saw Fish again recently.) But the unexpected pleasure of the show was
Big Country, who braved the hail of bottles and played a killer set. My
recollection has the bottles stopping after two songs, then a song where
the audience stood quietly, unsure how to respond, then for the rest of
the set they went wild. As I recall Kerrang dubbed them 'a heavy metal
band dressed as trendy new-wavers...' |
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On Friday
night my mate Steve and I were sat in our local pub in Hythe Hampshire when
one of us said "hey lets go to Reading". Being young and impractical
we decided this was a brilliant idea and rushed back to our mutual parents houses
to quickly pack. So it came to pass shortly afterwards I was perched on the
back of Steve's Yamaha RD250 with a rucksack and tent on my back. As Steve's
bike had been "tuned" it was an eventful trip with me clinging on
as if my life depended on it which it did.
However on arriving at the festival, which in itself was an event as we hadn't
taken a map and had just headed up the M3, we were refused entry and so missed
Steel Pulse being bottled off. The night was spent in a ditch in a Farmer's
field with the tent pulled over us and not erected.
One of my biggest regrets is that I never noted down which bands I had seen
and where I had seen them. as a consequence in my increasing old age all these
events turn into a blur and it's only after looking at the lists on this site
I realize I've been getting 1982 and 1983 mixed up for the last decade plus.
It's only now I again I know I saw the truly bizzare Gillan Sabbath at Reading
this year as I still laugh about "disturbing the priest". Magnum were
awesome and I've followed them to this day as were Marillion who at the time
were being touted as Genesis cloned. The Enid sent me to sleep, well that and
a large amount of alcohol at which point I was dragged through a fire by my
mates, whom we had met up with on Saturday morning.
Carl Jackson
Setlists and recordings
The BBC recorded a LOT of sets from 1983. Audience recordings seem rare for this year ,almost all the sets out here seem to be sourced from fm. If you know of any sets that exist we have missed please send us details.
Friday
| Pendragon 8-26-83
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Solstice 8-26-83
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| Pallas 8-26-83
Alexander Crum Ewing
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| Man 8-26-83
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Big Country 8-26-83
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The Stranglers 8-26-83
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Saturday
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Heavy Pettin' 8-27-83
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| Lee Aaron 8-27-83
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Anvil 8-27-83
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Suzi Quatro 8-27-83
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| Stevie Ray Vaughan 8-27-83
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Marillion 8-27-83
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Black Sabbath 8-27-83
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Twelfth Night 8-28-83
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we are looking for cover art for this set , can you help? |
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Ten Years After 8-28-83
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Thin Lizzy 8-28-83
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Just an addendum to Reading '83. I wasn't there but two months later I ran into Phil Lynott on London's King's Road. He was out for the day with his daughter. I asked him how Reading had gone and he said the saddest thing I've ever heard "Ahh y'know - we got through it." He should have been on top of the world and instead the will to live was draining from him, one day at a time. We had a quick drink in the nearest pub (Cadogan Arms, I think) and he gave me directions to a shop I was looking for and that was the last time I saw him. Paul Flynn |
Recordings also exist of the Mamas Boys at Reading 1983, we are looking for setlists and cover art , can you help?
Can we get a witness ?
We need more info on this and the other Reading festivals, we are now in the curious situation of having better documentation on some of the earlier festivals, so c'mon headbangers, get yer photos out and fire up whats left of the aging braincells .Send your recollections and scans to us NOW ! !! Contact us
Reading in the 80s to date- Fat Regs excellent site covers Reading from 1982 onwards
The early festivals.
You can find out the complete line ups of the first festivals if you follow the links below .
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Festivals 1965-1990
Most of these have fairly complete documentation .But new contributions of any sort are always welcome regarding any of the festivals.
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