Bath Festival of Blues 1969
Encyclopedia
The Bath Festival of Blues was a music festival
held at the Bath Pavilion Recreational Ground
in Bath, Somerset, England
, on Saturday 28th June 1969. It featured a lineup of British
blues bands, including Fleetwood Mac
(The Headliners), John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Ten Years After
, Led Zeppelin
, The Nice
, Chicken Shack
, Jon Hiseman
's Colosseum
, Mick Abrahams
' Blodwyn Pig
among others. This is often considered the first modern 'rock' festival in Britain.
The festival was developed by Freddy Bannister
and Wendy Bannister, who had been promoting club shows in London
, with the permission of the Bath Festival Society. The festival was organised very simply with tables at the gates and screens to prevent people getting in for free, all the bands used the Pavilion as a back stage area. However, despite the very limited security the fans did not present a hazard and were generally well behaved.
The festival proved very popular, selling out all 30,000 tickets in the first week, surprising both the townsfolk and the promoters. The only major problem occurred when the Nice's use of bagpipers
caused the stage to collapse and had to be repaired.
The festival was well received and both the promoters and the Bath Chamber of Commerce were keen to put on another festival the next year, becoming the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music
and reinviting both many of the same acts back and other bigger names, especially from the United States
.
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
held at the Bath Pavilion Recreational Ground
Recreation Ground (Bath)
The Recreation Ground is a large open space in the centre of Bath, England, next to the River Avon, used for recreational purposes by Bath residents and the public generally....
in Bath, Somerset, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on Saturday 28th June 1969. It featured a lineup of British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
blues bands, including Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
(The Headliners), John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Ten Years After
Ten Years After
Ten Years After is an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, The Nice
The Nice
The Nice were an English progressive rock band from the 1960s, known for their blend of rock, jazz and classical music. Their debut album, The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack was released in 1967 to immediate acclaim. It is often considered the first progressive rock album...
, Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack
Chicken Shack are a British blues band, founded in the mid-1960s by Stan Webb , Andy Silvester , and Alan Morley , who were later joined by Christine Perfect in 1968.-Career:...
, Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman
Jon Hiseman is an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher.-Career:...
's Colosseum
Colosseum
The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
, Mick Abrahams
Mick Abrahams
Michael Timothy 'Mick' Abrahams was the original guitarist for Jethro Tull. He recorded the album This Was with the band in 1968, but conflicts between Abrahams and Ian Anderson over the musical direction of the band led Abrahams to leave once the album was finished...
' Blodwyn Pig
Blodwyn Pig
Blodwyn Pig were a British blues–rock group founded by guitarist–vocalist–songwriter Mick Abrahams, after he left Jethro Tull in 1968 due to a falling-out with Tull leader Ian Anderson.-Career:...
among others. This is often considered the first modern 'rock' festival in Britain.
The festival was developed by Freddy Bannister
Freddy Bannister
Freddy Bannister was a leading UK concert promoter during the 1960s and 1970s, and was the founder of the Bath Festival of Blues 1969, the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music 1970 and the Knebworth festivals.Bannister started promoting music acts through his father-in-law in 1959,...
and Wendy Bannister, who had been promoting club shows in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, with the permission of the Bath Festival Society. The festival was organised very simply with tables at the gates and screens to prevent people getting in for free, all the bands used the Pavilion as a back stage area. However, despite the very limited security the fans did not present a hazard and were generally well behaved.
The festival proved very popular, selling out all 30,000 tickets in the first week, surprising both the townsfolk and the promoters. The only major problem occurred when the Nice's use of bagpipers
Bagpipes
Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...
caused the stage to collapse and had to be repaired.
The festival was well received and both the promoters and the Bath Chamber of Commerce were keen to put on another festival the next year, becoming the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music
Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music 1970
The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music was a music festival held at the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England on 27–28 June 1970.-Overview:...
and reinviting both many of the same acts back and other bigger names, especially from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Sources
- Bath Festival, June 1969 & June 1970; Mike Watt; in, Classic rockClassic rockClassic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...
; Issue 109; August 2007; Future Publications; pp46–47.