PRE-HISTORY
In Britain, the nearest thing to rock festivals in the early 1960s was the National Jazz And Blues Festival, which had been running since 1961 under the aegis of the Marquee Club (it later mutated into the Reading festival). By 1967, the counterculture had started in earnest in America and open air “happenings” were taking place in places like San Francisco, but the UK was a little slower off the mark, mainly because of the temperamental weather and archaic licensing laws.

There were numerous one-day events and specials at venues like the Roundhouse and Alexandra Palace in London and there was a series of free shows in Hyde Park starting in 1968, which went on to present The Rolling Stones, Traffic, Pink Floyd and later on, Queen, but you could still get a bus home after these shows, so they don’t count.

The nearest thing Blighty got to the Summer Of Love was the Woburn Festival in August of ’67, which showcased Jeff Beck, Eric Burdon’s New Animals and The Bee Gees (back in their psychedelic days). The Isle Of Wight Festival started as a one-dayer in 1968, graduated to two days in ’69 (with appearances from The Who and Bob Dylan) and went down in history with the mammoth 1970 show, with The Doors, The Who again, Jimi Hendrix and Sly And The Family Stone.

The Isle Of Wight event overshadowed another major gathering that year - The Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music in June 1970, which was when the British festival truly came of age. With performances from Led Zeppelin, The Byrds, Donovan, Santana, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa and many others. It impressed local farmer Michael Eavis so much, he thought he could attempt something similar on his own farm in Somerset…



PILTON FESTIVAL – 19 SEPTEMBER 1970
THE ONE WITH MARC BOLAN’S VELVET CAR
A very basic, one-day affair, Worthy was, as it remains now, a working dairy farm, so for the £1 entry fee, festival-goers could enjoy free milk. The original headliners were The Kinks, but they cancelled, leaving Marc Bolan, then making the transition from hippy mystic to glam rock icon. The Boppin’ Elf arrived in style, in a velvet-covered Buick car.

Approximately 1,500 people arrived to watch performances from Bolan, psychedelic folk group The Amazing Blondel, Ian A. Anderson(not the Jethro Tull singer, he's keen to point out) , Keith Christmas, new age/ world music pioneers Quintessance, blues rock combo Sam Apple Pie, Stackridge (folkies who managed to both open and close the festival), Steamhammer, Duster Bennett and future Year Of The Cat songsmith Al Stewart, then enjoying success with his album Love Chronicles.



GLASTONBURY FAYRE – 20 – 24 JUNE 1971
THE ONE WITH DAVID BOWIE AND A FLYING SAUCER
As a reaction to the commercialised festivals that were now springing up everywhere, the festival was moved back to the summer solstice weekend in June and became a free event. With funding from “rich hippies” and organised by Andrew Kerr and Arabella Churchill (Winston’s granddaughter and still a major driving force behind the festival), 1971 saw the first Glastonbury Fayre, complete with music, poetry, performance art and theatre. 1971 also saw the introduction of the first Pyramid Stage, fashioned from some scaffolding and corrugated iron in a tradition that continues to today. There was a bigger crowd this year, estimated at 12,000.

"Imagine," Andrew Kerr told The Observer at the time, "We're going to concentrate the celestial fire and pump it into the planet to stimulate growth.” Unsurprisingly, given the mood at the time, there were reports of a UFO hovering over the site on the evening of the Summer Solstice.

The event was filmed by Nicholas Roeg and David Puttnam and released as Glastonbury Fayre, while some of the performances appeared on a triple album of the same name the following year, including a track from The Grateful Dead, whose slot at the event itself was cancelled.

Actually appearing were prog rockers the Edgar Broughton Band, Arthur Brown (minus his Crazy World), folk rock stalwarts Fairport Convention, singer-songwriter Melanie, Quintessance (again), proto-metal band the Pink Fairies, Terry Reid with David Lyndley and Linda Lewis, Joan Baez, Skin Alley, Mighty Baby, Brinsley Schwartz (featuring a young Nick Lowe), Family, Traffic and eternal hippy fixtures Gong and Hawkwind.

David Bowie played at dawn on Wednesday morning (weekends being immaterial to hippies at this point), giving a solo performance that including songs such as Oh! You Pretty Things and Changes. Legend states that Pink Floyd were due to play, but they couldn’t get their stage gear to the Pyramid Stage. Maybe they were responsible for the UFO?

Paul Misso took some excellent photos of the 1971 festival, including the pic of the Pyramid Stage seen above. You can see his photo record of the festival here...



GLASTONBURY FAYRE – 28 JUNE – 8 JULY 1978
THE ONE THAT WASN’T PLANNED
After 1971’s festival, Michael Eavis decided not to hold another event in 1972, having been put off by the behaviour of some festival-goers. “There was a lot of LSD about, and people were freaking out, wandering into the village wearing only a top hat," he explains, and it doesn’t take much to stop your cows from producing their milk.However, every Summer Solstice saw a group of travellers, who added the mystical vale of Avalon to their annual trip to the Stonehenge Free Festival.

In 1978, the horrible weather had ruined Stonehenge, so many of the attendees moved onto Glastonbury, believing there was an event taking place. After some haggling with Michael Eavis, an ad hoc festival took place, powered by a nearby caravan. About 500 people enjoyed some swiftly-arranged music, including Hawkwind. Heavy.



GLASTONBURY FAYRE – 21 – 23 JUNE 1979
THE ONE WITH PETER GABRIEL
After the public demand for a festival in previous years, Michael Eavis decided to hold another event as the 70s ended, but this time it was to be a commercial venture, with profits going to the UN Year Of The Child. But despite 12,000 punters paying £7 a pop to get in, the festival didn’t cover its costs and was a worry for the organisers, with Eavis securing a bank loan against the farm. A donation was made to charity, however, and the successful local charity Children’s World was set up as a result. The main stage wasn’t the Pyramid this year, although a smaller version was in evidence as the “Polytantric Stage” (whatever that means).

Performing that year…
Peter Gabriel (with Phil Collins as special guest)
Mother Gong (another in the long line of Gong incarnations)
Tim Blake (Gong and Hawkwind keyboard player, who came on after Peter Gabriel)
John Martyn
Nona Hendryx
Steve Hillage (still a Glastonbury fixture)
Nik Turner’s Sphynx (ex-Hawkwind man)
UK Subs (the influence of punk being felt at now, along with…)
The Leyton Buzzards
Tom Robinson Band
The Pop Group
The Only Ones (whose PA kept breaking down)
Sky (we presume this was the briefly popular instrumental act featuring John “Deer Hunter” Williams and Herbie “Walk On The Wild Side / Grandad” Flowers)
Inner City Unit
Footsbarn Travelling Theatre

Were you at any of the early Glastonbury Festivals? What were they like? Or, if you weren't - which one do you think would be the one to take a trip in the TARDIS to? Tell us what you think here...