Bickershaw Festival

Coordinates: 53°30′38″N 2°34′16″W / 53.51067°N 2.571042°W

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bickershaw Festival
Genre	Rock music
Dates	5-7 May 1972
Location(s)	Bickershaw, Lancashire, England

The Bickershaw Festival was a rock festival held in Bickershaw, Lancashire, England, between 5 and 7 May 1972.^[1] Except for the 1976–79 Deeply Vale Festivals, Bickershaw was the only major north-west multi-day festival with camping. The organisers of the Deeply Vale Festivals say the Bickershaw Festival inspired them to put on a north-west music festival with camping.

History

The Bickershaw Festival was assembled under the auspices of a Manchester businessmen, a Wigan market trader and Jeremy Beadle, before he achieved fame as a television presenter. Beadle booked the West Coast bands and was artistic policy maker. Chris Hewitt of Ozic Morpheus Records and manager of English rock band Tractor worked with Beadle and was involved in distribution of publicity and tickets.

Although the organisers put together a line-up of United Kingdom and American acts, the festival suffered from several major deficiencies. The festival line-up featured acts such as Hawkwind, Captain Beefheart, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Dr. John, Grateful Dead, Flamin' Groovies, The Kinks, Country Joe McDonald, Linda Lewis, The Incredible String Band, Donovan, Wishbone Ash, Maynard Ferguson, and a host of non-musical acts such as Cheech & Chong, high divers and clowns.

The artist line-up was inspirational to many of the audience, including a teenage Joe Strummer who said it was his favourite concert, especially the late-night set from Captain Beefheart. Elvis Costello stood in the mud amazed by the five-hour set from the Grateful Dead, the performance which convinced him he should start a band. Future rock journalist and rock biographer Mick Middles, then 16, travelled there on a moped just to watch the Grateful Dead on the Sunday.

There were problems. The site was prone to flooding and there were fat rats. The weather was wet; it rained before the festival opened and then showered for most of the three days of the festival. A tank used by a high-dive act was emptied directly onto the area in front of the stage, resulting in a sea of mud.

Security on the gates was inefficient. Tickets were taken and resold to those who were entering the site or were not checked. Festival goers simply got passouts and sold their ticket at half price to people arriving. As a consequence the organisers lost money. By Sunday, all semblance of organisation had disappeared and locals wandered freely onto the site to watch the Grateful Dead. By this time much of the site was awash with mud.

References

^ Extensive Bickershaw festival history, ukrockfestivals.com, retrieved 18 April 2012

External links

1972: Surviving BICKERSHAW POP FESTIVAL, BBC Archive
Personal account of Bickershaw Archived 2009-02-24 at the Wayback Machine

Historic rock and pop festivals

italics = festival ongoing

List of
festivals

1950s–
1960s

1950–1966	Big Sur Folk Festival Sanremo Music Festival Festival di Napoli Newport Jazz Festival Beaulieu Jazz Festival Nationaal Songfestival Eurovision Song Contest Melodifestivalen Benidorm International Song Festival Thessaloniki Song Festival Viña del Mar International Song Festival Melodi Grand Prix Sopot International Song Festival Reading and Leeds Festivals National Jazz and Blues Festival Festival Omladina National Festival of Polish Song in Opole Festivali i Këngës Festival da Canção Un disco per l'estate Parada ritma / Vatromet ritma Jazz Bilzen Gitarijada (Belgrade) Golden Orpheus Gitarijada (Zaječar)
1967–1968	Mantra-Rock Dance Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival Barbeque 67 Monterey Pop Festival Schaefer Music Festival Miami Pop Festival I Northern California Folk Rock Festival I Summerfest Quebec City Summer Festival Newport Pop Festival Festival de Ancón (Perú) Isle of Wight Festival Sky River Rock Festival Internationale Essener Songtage San Francisco Pop Festival Los Angeles Pop Festival Miami Pop Festival II
1969	Big Rock Pow-Wow Northern California Folk-Rock Festival II Newport 69 Pop Festival Denver Pop Festival Bath Festival of Blues Mississippi River Festival Atlanta International Pop Festival I The Stones in the Park Harlem Cultural Festival Laurel Pop Festival Midwest Rock Festival Seattle Pop Festival Atlantic City Pop Festival Woodstock Gold Rush Vancouver Pop Festival Texas International Pop Festival New Orleans Pop Festival Toronto Rock and Roll Revival Altamont Free Concert

1970s

1970	Redwood 70 Festival of Political Songs Hollywood Music Festival The Kickapoo Creek Rock Festival World Popular Song Festival Atlanta International Pop Festival II Super Concert '70 Aachen Open Air Pop Festival Piedra Roja Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music Phun City Kralingen Music Festival Strawberry Fields Ruisrock Pinkpop Festival Powder Ridge Rock Festival Goose Lake International Music Festival Man-Pop Festival Glastonbury Festival Vortex I
1971–1973	Festival de Ancon Roskilde Festival Pesnya goda Vilar de Mouros Festival Myponga Pop Festival Bumbershoot Ilosaarirock Tokyo Music Festival Weeley Festival Northern Lights Festival Boréal Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro Sunbury Pop Festival Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival Bickershaw Festival Concert 10 Mar y Sol Pop Festival Windsor Free Festival BOOM Festival Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival Aquarius Festival Day on the Green Summer Jam at Watkins Glen Hurricane Festival
1974–1979	Stonehenge Free Festival Volunteer Jam Ashton Court Festival Knebworth Festival Village Fair Zaire 74 August Jam Ozark Music Festival Rock Werchter California Jam Hollywood Rock Watchfield Free Festival Michigan Womyn's Music Festival Midtfyns Festival Stemweder Open Air Cropredy Convention 100 Club Punk Special Paléo Festival Nambassa Deeply Vale Festivals Texxas Jam Havana Jam Gurtenfestival Waikino Music Festival California Jam II Canada Jam Bele Chere

Key
people

v t e Rock festivals
Subtypes	List of folk festivals List of gothic festivals List of heavy metal festivals List of industrial music festivals List of jam band music festivals List of punk rock festivals
Traveling (italics = ongoing)	Anger Management Tour Area Festival Big Day Out California Jam California Jam II Crüe Fest Deconstruction Tour Doomination Family Values Tour Festival Express Fuji Rock Festival G3 Gigantour Good Things Hard Electric Tour H.O.R.D.E. Ilosaarirock Knotfest Kuopiorock Lilith Fair Mayhem Festival Magic Circle Festival Monsters of Rock Montebello Rock Nintendo Fusion Tour Provinssirock Qstock Rock am Ring and Rock im Park Rock in Rio Rock in Roma Rock Boat Ruido Fest Ruisrock Ozzfest Projekt Revolution Rock Never Stops Tour Sauna Open Air Metal Festival Sonisphere Festival Soundwave Summer Sanitarium Tour Taste of Chaos Tuska Open Air Metal Festival The Unholy Alliance Tour Uproar Festival Vive Latino Wacken Open Air Warped Tour
Culture	Deadheads Heavy metal Hippies La Onda Moshing Pogo (dance) Punk rock Headbanging Stage diving Crowd surfing Sign of the horns Summer of Love Rivethead
Related events	Rock concert Concert tour

53°30′38″N 2°34′16″W / 53.51067°N 2.571042°W / 53.51067; -2.571042

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