![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/gillan5.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/mcbride4.jpg)
Not a blade of grass to be seen
MetalTalk celebrates 50 years of the famed Knebworth festival by talking to the Knebworth House custodian, Henry Lytton Cobbold.
Knebworth 1985 saw the legendary Deep Purple concert that holds a special place in the band’s history and in the annals of rock music. This was a massive one-off UK reunion show by Deep Purple (Mark II lineup) as part of their Perfect Strangers world tour. This is one of many shows that Knebworth House custodian Henry Lytton Cobbold covers in his new book, Knebworth – 50 Years Of The Greatest Rock Venue In The World!
Held on 22 June 1985, the Return of the Knebworth Fayre also featured Scorpions, UFO, Mountain, Blackfoot, Mama’s Boys and Meat Loaf. “I was there,” MetalTalk’s Mark Taylor said. “It will be the 40th anniversary in one month’s time. It was my first ever festival, and I remember it like it was yesterday.”
“I’ve got the recordings of all the bands, except for Scorpions, who were not professionally recorded that day because they just released World Wide Live. Scorpions were absolutely superb that day, as were Deep Purple.”
Read more in MetalTalk.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
I was at a great DP concert in August 1985 at Atwood Stadium in Flint, Michigan. That’s an (American) football field: https://youtu.be/lkoz5vvH3yo
May 22nd, 2025 at 02:41Good to see Mama‘s Boys were also there. I saw them later that year in Mannheim supporting Gary Moore. They were always straight forward, no looking back!
May 22nd, 2025 at 05:37For me, those are more like 40 years, not 50.
May 22nd, 2025 at 05:50They started those festival concerts 1974.
It surely is almost 40 years since that rainy (?) DP gig.
My first Purple gig was only in 1987…But it was Big Ian´s birthday that day and all. They sure did have fun at the Jäähalli, Helsinki. Blackmore did the deed to Gillan with his Stratocaster…
…Knocking At Your Back Door….if You guess the rest.
: )
Great times.
(And to be precise, that is spelled Clem Clempson, in the previous story here.)
Have a warm Spring and Summer everyone.
May 22nd, 2025 at 07:34Bloody hell, Woman From Tokyo and Uwe will be pleased we hope. They played the middle section. Thanks for that. Cheers.
May 22nd, 2025 at 08:2050th aniversay of the Knebworth Festival,40th of the Fayre.
May 22nd, 2025 at 09:15Thogh the Bucolic Frolic was 1974, with the Fraternal bands headlinibg, Doobie and Allman