22 Headliners ... and they still had Support Bands too

[Happy Jack]

[lowregisterhead]

All for £1.50! 😄

[Dad3353]

3 minutes ago, lowregisterhead said:

All for £1.50! 😄

 

And still some folk would try to crash the fences to get in for free..! 

[Guest]

56 minutes ago, lowregisterhead said:

All for £1.50! 😄

= 10 pints of 1971 beer

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

That's a Weeley good deal

[Chezz55]

I was there !!!

[bass_dinger]

3 hours ago, Chezz55 said:

I was there !!!

Did it sound as good as the lineup suggests!?

 

 

[steantval]

5 hours ago, lowregisterhead said:

All for £1.50! 😄

It’s all relative, started my first job in 1972, my weekly wage was just over £9.

 

Went to the first Knebworth Festival in 1974 and that was £2.75p.

 

I noticed Stray were on the bill at Weeley, one of our fellow bass players on here currently plays with the band.

Edited August 31, 2024 by steantval

[MacDaddy]

33 minutes ago, steantval said:

It’s all relative, started my first job in 1972, my weekly wage was just over £9.

 

I'm not sure it is. According to the Bank of England inflation calculator £1.50 in 1971 is only £18.37 today.

[madshadows]

My favourite band ever Mott The Hoople on the bill, what a lineup !!  

 

John 😎 

[Geek99]

I lived about two villages away. Mind you I was still wearing nappies and thus unlikely to trouble the mosh pit 

[ahpook]

I wouldn't have bothered. Paying £1.50 just to see King Crimson ? Rip off !

 

Edited September 1, 2024 by ahpook

[Dad3353]

I'd have paid double that, back then, to NOT see The Edgar Broughton Band again (again..!)..! 

[BillyBass]

I saw a T-shirt once, it said: 'The good thing about being old is that I got to see all the good bands play'. Or words to that effect!  

 

I started going to gigs in 1979, I went to some corkers.

[Chezz55]

On 31/08/2024 at 16:04, Chezz55 said:

23 hours ago, bass_dinger said:

Did it sound as good as the lineup suggests!?

 

 

I was there !!!

 

 

Did it sound as good as the lineup suggests!?

 

 

That's not an easy question to answer.

 

The 'Weeley Festival Of Progressive Music' took place over the 1971 August Bank Holiday weekend – 53 years ago so my memories are probably fogged and faded due to the passage of time.

 

Anyway … I think the overall sound was pretty good for 1971 technology. I think the PA was predominantly Marshall with a bit of WEM, and probably quite basic compared to the facilities available today. I know that the sound carried in excess of 5 miles from the festival site.

 

The music was non-stop 24/7 for the duration of the festival – either live acts on stage or recorded music played over the PA. One particular 7” single called 'Burundi Black' by Burundi Stephensen Black was played to death over the weekend – and I've still got my copy released by Barclay Records on 7” vinyl.

 

The 24/7 structure meant that sleep happened when your body had had enough – as a result I missed quite a few acts but there are three performances that have lived with me through the years. King Crimson ; Stone The Crows (with Maggie Bell and Leslie Harvey) ; and Colosseum.

 

There is a very good book called 'The Great British Woodstock - The Incredible Story Of The eeley Festival' which gives a lot of information and insight into the background and evolution of the festival. The book (ISBN 978 0 7509 6989 5 Published in 1917 by The History Press) was written by Ray Clark who has worked for BBC Radion and Radion Caroline amongst others). NB – I have no connection with the book, the author or the publisher.

 

Check out https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/weeley-festival-prog.html for more information