The Archive: a history of over 30 years of UK festivals .


Being a social and musical history ( of sorts ) of commercial Rock festivals of the United Kingdom , from 1960 to 2000- and of the Free Festivals and related traveller scene of the United Kingdom , from 1965-2000.

Best viewed at 1920 x 1020 resolution or higher


Feb 2024.

 

 

There is an article on the Archive here at the highly esteemed Trebuchet Magazine

 

Big thanks to our sponsor Iggy !

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

 

Links to our friends.

Have a good laugh - go visit the Readers Doglist

Andy Roberts fascinating book Albion Dreaming has much information about free festivals .

Visit free festival film maker and ex journo Al Stokes site: view his ebooks and other cool stuff


Last updated Feb 2024

We had a major issue in December 2021 where the entire server crashed and the site has had to be completely restored, this has taken some time as there are over 25,000 items here. if you see any missing pages,images , please let us know . Please be patient and let us know if you find you get any 404 responses when you click on a link.

Please Contact us regarding any malfunctions such as bad links, missing images etc and we will try to fix them asap- please let us know the page you are viewing - it makes it much easier...:-)

This is a conservative free zone .........

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative."
John Stuart Mill

 

 

 

 

We couldn't do this without you

.... so thanks ..... BUT ....

We build this site through YOUR contributions and thus it is dedicated to all the lovely people who have donated their memories, documents,photos and recordings to us over the past sixteen years.

However, probably due to social media, contributions are drying up. Because of this ( and old age creeping up on me )I'm now only updating every few months instead of weekly .

If you want this site to be updated more regularly and you are sitting on photos or have memories to contribute, think, if you post them on Facebook, why not just email us a copy as well ? Then anyone can see the info at a central point, and not just those who are in the group you are contributing to.

We want to keep this site going, but it will fade away if nothing is donated by the readers .

The site is non profit making and will never accept paying adverts both as a tribute to your generosity and also because we still believe in the old hippie/digger ethos that giving something for free is a reward in itself !

There are too many of you to mention here, but we couldn't have done it without you, and for your efforts, many, many thanks .......

Please let me know of any images not displaying or broken links, etc.

 

 

Find of the month : The Nice onstage at Rugby Rag ( Rugby Blues festival )1969 ©David Goodwin


The links below are links to the major parts of the site. If you get lost anywhere just click to go back to the Return to Archive link, this link is on almost all the pages on the site. 

UK Free Festivals

1960s and 70s

1970s and 80s


UK Festivals of the 60s


UK Festivals of the 70s

Festival organisers and attendees


UK Festivals of the 80 and 90s

 

Check out the latest updates July 2023


Festival related products and projects -(community service, we don't get paid for these)

These folks are looking for info to use in films , websites or books, contact them if you can help.

Our old friend Garry Marsh is writing a book on the Hollywood festival and wants MORE info

East Anglian Fairs web site (we now have some info on these fairs on our site as well......)

Andy Roberts fascinating new book Albion Dreaming has much information about free festivals of the 70s and 80s . Essential reading for all devotees of the countercultural scene of the past 40 or so years . ! Read a review here

"Andy Roberts (author of Albion Dreaming) is now writing a book specifically about psychedelics and free festivals. He would welcome any information on this topic such as info on dealing psychedelics at festivals, prices, types available, methods of smuggling psychedelics in, photos of dealers' signs and basically anything related to psychedelics and free festivals. All contributors will be credited and no compromising information will be revealed! Please contact Andy


We all know how we suffered at festivals from that vile UK weather back in the 60s and 70s- relive it all again by viewing.....

Order copies of these comics by artist Pete Loveday

Latest works are entitled -Big Trip Travel Agency order by clicking on the link .

"I know Pete Loveday's work well, and I love it! ": Hunt Emerson- cartoonist extraordinaire...

Feature artists

information , reviews of shows and photogalleries

Wanted... everything !

We always want more information on ANY UK festivals, but we are especially seeking any information about the following festivals.

1960s

  • Uxbridge Blues Festival 65-66
  • Longleat Pop 1962-64- any other Longleat festivals
  • Camden fringe 68- 69
  • Love In Festival 1967
  • Kent Pop Festival 1967
  • Reading 1967
  • Hastings 1967
  • Midsummer Nights Dream 1968
  • Croydon Free Festival Beckenham,Bromley Aug 16th 1969
  • Midsummer Pop Festival Cambridge June 11th 1969

1970s

  • Medicine Ball Caravan Canterbury 1970
  • Meigan Faire 74-76.79
  • ANY free festivals 1967-90
  • Canterbury 1970
  • Cambridge free festivals
  • Crystal Palace 1977 and 1980
  • The Who Wembley 1979
  • Reading 1976-80
  • Inverness 1970
  • Baston Lincoln 1970
  • Anti Nazi League /RAR outdoor concerts

 

  • 1980s and 1990s

    • Monsters of Rock Donington 1980-90
    • Heavy Metal Holocaust 1981
    • Rock On The Tyne 1981
    • Reading 1980-90
    • Glastonbury Festival 1980-90
    • Treworgey Tree Fayre
    • Nostell Priory 1983- Nospop 83
    • Elephant Fayre lineups 84-85,photos of the Fall and other bands
    • Loch Lomond 1980
    • Deep Purple Knebworth 1985
    • Queen Knebworth 1986
    • Knebworth 1990
    • Gateshead Stadium 1982
    • Milton Keynes Bowl concerts 1980s
    • Womad at Reading up to 1990
    • Any free festivals of the 80s
    • Photos, info on traveller camps and vehicles

    and we welcome contributions about any benefits and one day events not currently listed apart from folk and jazz festivals, we just don't have the time to cover them .


About the Archive.
    When we started this site 20 years ago we just intended to document a few festivals we had attended in the late 60s and early 70s, but its taken over our lives and become much more than that. In the past three years the site has expanded greatly and now covers a 30 year time span - which may eventually go to 40 !

   This is NOT a nostalgia site! Yes, we celebrate the past, but this is as much a sociological project as it is a musical odyssey. The Archive aims to eventually provide as much information as possible about all aspects of the major UK festivals, Free festivals and outdoor concerts from 1960 to 1990 and scrutinise them from sociological and musical perspectives . Festivals are not divorced from society and they usually mirror changes in our general culture as well as in musical tastes. As music fans we also provide information on many of the groups who performed at the festivals, well , we do have to have some fun !

    So, that is our mission. BUT , only way that this can happen is if we get help from those of you who have memories, articles , photos and recordings of the events, so please - Contact us- before you snuff it !

    To prove that we are not completely stuck in a time warp, in addition to the older stuff, the site also features sections about more modern festivals , such as Womadelaide and has some archival information about tours of Australia by various artists, mostly in the folk, blues and  jazz arena. We also have provided many photos of featured artists and links to other sites where appropriate.

Hope you enjoyed the site and that you will visit The Archive again sometime soon!



This site is non profit making, its a site for die-hard fans- and run as a source of information for those interested in Rock music of the past.We are completely against the sale of bootlegged artefacts, especially musical ones.We attempt to obtain permission to use articles and photos wherever possible, but on occasions, due to the age and obscure origin of some items, we have not been able to ascertain the owner of the copyright .It is possible that occasionally we are sent material from sources that assert that they own the copyright of material, but their claims are spurious - If you see any material on the site that you believe you own the copyright of -please send us an e-mail with proof that you have ownership of the image and we will remove the offending item from the site immediately.
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