[% META title = 'Knebworth Fayre 1985' %]

Memories of Knebworth

From: bill@thrash.demon.co.uk (Bill McLaren)
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 1995 01:12:13 GMT
Message-ID: <818991027.10292@thrash.demon.co.uk>
On Thu, 14 Dec 95 10:21:25 GMT, Dave Hodgkinson wrote:
>I've gone down on record here as being seriously unimpressed with DP
>at Knebworth. Of the bands I remember there I'd say in order of
>enjoyment for _me_ were Meat Loaf, UFO, the Scorps and DP.

Knebworth was the first time I had been to see DP since I only became interested in them around 1980. It was definitely the best gig of any kind I had ever been to. In fact, the only gig I can think of that could posibly beat it was a Gillan one in Birkenhead in 89/90 and that was only because the place was so small if I had fallen over I would have landed in the base drum (the stage was a small step up from the main floor). If IG happens to see this, yes that's right, I was one of the s**ds that wouldn't let him off stage (he had to come through the croud to get off) until the 20th encore.

I had seen Meat Loaf before (at the Newcastle City Hall) and thought he was better there than he was at Knebworth. Unfortunately I missed most of UFO, we got to about 5 miles from the concert and one of the people I was with had an epileptic fit so we had to lay him out in a petrol station and wait for him to come round again. The Scorpions as I said I was seriously unimpressed with, my brother has all their stuff (at least he did at that point) and I was always intending to borrow it from him, after hearing them live I didn't bother.

>> BTW DP were excelent there even if everyone in the croud was VERY wet
>> (open air gig).
>
>On the tortuous way out as we were picking our way towards the exit I
>saw a sight that will stay with me forever. There was a bunch of
>biker types who had made a long mudslide. One of their number who was
>_very_ drunk was spinning his way down this slide like a starfish,
>dick out, peeing vertically like a fountain and crying out "Wheeeeeeee!"
>
>I guess you had to be there.

What do you mean be there, that sounds like Jeff, one of the guys that was in the back of my car. It took me ages to get all the mud out of the the seats :-).

It was quite a time, I had to drive 360 miles the day before to collect my brother from Glasgow. Then had to drive the 250 or so miles to get to Knebworth and the same back again followed by dropping Sandy back to Glasgow the next day. All in a very clapped out Saab 96 that tryed to shake it's self to bits if you went over 55. To add insult to injury, since I was the one doing all the driving I was stone cold sober with 6 palatic idiots in the car (yes I did say 6 others, we though about writing to the Guiness book of records after that one - especially as we were all well over 6 foot).

Over all though it was a great day, though I am glad the DP are back to playing the "local" gigs rather than this idea of 1 or 2 gigs in the country and that's it.

Bill McLaren
bill@thrash.demon.co.uk
Fidonet 2:256/504 (ZMO/MO)