Weeley Pop Festival (1971)

I Was There August Bank Holiday 1971 (showing my age). &nbsp I was 15 and went with my best mate (who was 18). My dad drove us there and collected us afterwards. Weirdest running order ever, it started at midnight on the Thursday/Friday and the show never stopped for a break - everyone was utterly wasted by the time Sunday came around.
Running Order (with my ratings)

FRIDAY:

Midnight , Hackensack (4/5)
01.30, The Edgar Broughton Band (5/5)
03.00, Juicy Lucy (3/5)
04.30, Principal Edwards (3/5)
06.00, Status Quo (5/5)
07.30, Vechio (**)
09.00, Gnidrolog (**)
10.00, Ricotti Albequerque (**)
11.30, Tir Na Nog (3/5)
Noon, Mungo Jerry (2/5)
13.00, Gringo (**)
14.00, Fairfield Parlour (2/5)
15.00, Stone The Crows (including Maggie Bell and Les Harvey) (3/5)
16.30, Natural Acoustic Band (2/5)
17.00, Barclay James Harvest (5/5)
18.30, Al Stewart (2/5)
19.00, Colosseum (3/5)
20.30, Comus (**)
21.00, King Crimson (**)
22.30, Mike Maran (**)

SATURDAY

midnight, Mott The Hoople (**)
00.30, Belrig (**)
01.00, Curved Air (3/5)
02.30, Tudor Lodge (2/5)
03.00, Groundhogs (2/5)
04.30, Mick Saunders (2/5)
05.00, Rory Gallagher (3/5)
07.00, On (**)
08.00, Bell & Arc (**)
09.30, Caravan (2/5)
11.00, Lindisfarne (4/5)
Noon, Heads, Hands and Feet (2/5)
14.00, Julie Felix (2/5)
14.30, Quintessence (4/5)
16.00, Paul Bretts Sage (**)
16.30, Gerry Laughran (**)
17.30, Grease Band (**)
19.00, Faces/Rod Stewart (4/5)
20.30, Steve Tilston (**) (DJ?)
21.00, T Rex (5/5)
23.00, Country Jug (**)
23.30, Van Der Graaf Generator (**)

SUNDAY

01.00, Stray (3/5)
02.30, Arthur Brown (5/5)
04.00, Louise (**)
05.00, Fusion Orchestra (**)
06.00, Assegai (**)
07.00, Horne (**)
08.00, Crow (**)
09.00, Castle (**)

(**) = I don't remember them, possibly asleep.

The above was the scheduled running order, but it mostly ran quite late.

Like most people there I slept through some of the performances, and don't remember some of the so-called highlights. Status Quo and the Edgar Broughton Band were the highlights for me. For two or three years Edgar Broughton were my favourite band, and I saw them a few times and bought most of their albums. It was early days for Quo and almost none of their most popular songs were yet written, but they were tremendous and fabulously raw live (compared to later years), and again I later saw them four or five times and bought a few of their albums.

I also enjoyed an electronic Arthur Brown (did he invent electronica - was he was the very first that ever used an electronic drum machine?), and I bought his album &nbsp 'Journey' &nbsp which is even now an all-time favourite of mine (think Pink Floyd with great vocals). He had a great stage presence, an amazingly powerful voice, and a great stage show which included him coming on stage with his head on fire (not allowed nowadays).
I saw him live again a couple of times after that.

My greatest regret was that I don't remember anything from Van Der Graaf Generator (asleep possibly), because they later became my all-time favourite artist (Peter Hammill in particular).