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

Memories of Knebworth

From: paul 
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 01:37:48 GMT
Message-ID: <9601041648.AA18297@mism.ad.ic.ac.uk>
Yes, I was at Knebworth '85 and my memories of it are similar to those of Garry Smith:

> Gawd, you must have been to some real bummers if that was one of the
> best!!

Yes, it did rain (and then some!!), but it was also cold. Call me a wimp, but do I not like being soaked to the skin!! I also remember the Portaloo demolition to build a fire; more like a smoke screen from where I was camped, 30 yards away; the problems of trying to burn damp or wet wood not striking a chord (haha!) with some cretins ('Smoke On The Water' seemed very appropriate!!). Ah yes, the rain, the cold, the smoke, the long and winding queues for anything, the overflowing urinal tanks (and I mean HUGE TANKS!) dangerously close to collapse and a tidal wave down the hill. AND IT JUST WAS'NT LOUD ENOUGH (local authority noise restrictions applied).

Ah yes, the boring, tedious support bands (IMO!!). Mountain; ok I've got a Mountain LP and it's listenable, but this reincarnation were just dull and they did'nt even play 'Nantucket Sleighride', whatever it's called, the one song they're really famous for in this country; remember the theme to 'Weekend World'(?) on Sunday mornings some years ago? Blackfoot; never did like the albums beforehand; too much macho, drinking, shooting, real men bullshit! They committed an unforgivable sin at Knebworth; they used the John Sinclair rant that starts the MC5 live album 'Kick Out The Jams' as their intro. Blackfoot blew it before they said a word or played a note, and then blew it all again when they did! UFO; this was sad. One of my all-time favourite rock bands, some of my most enjoyed gigs. This was not the originals, merely a band called UFO fronted by Phil Mogg. They even managed to make the old classics sound uninspired.

Meatloaf; sorry, never have and probably never will like his music; the tub of lard on 'Have I Got News for You' is probably more interesting, although Meatloaf performing with a broken leg was almost as amusing!

Aw, this is just me being an old fogey; there were some good things like accidently meeting up with two seperate groups of friends in a crowd of 80,000(?), 50/60 people huddled under a huge plastic sheet slowly disappearing into a veil of condensation, the kind and generous hospitality of a farmer and his wife when the car broke down outside their house on the Friday night, the large amount of free Scotch given to us by the night porter at the hotel on Saturday night, the Scorpions set which lifted the whole day by their sheer professionalism and determination to inject some life and energy into a cold, drenched, subdued crowd. Oh yes, the fireworks; very pretty!! Also, the intense anticipation as DP came on.

The bottom line is that all of the above would'nt really have mattered as much if I'd come away as emotionally moved as, for instance, Stathis said he was. I came away feeling disappointed and a little sad. Sure, they played well, it was a good show, but, for me, it was missing something. Simply being (un)fortunate enough to be 'older', I'd already seen DP MkII, MkIII & MkIV live and all the subsequent off-shoot bands; Rainbow, Gillan, Whitesnake, even PAL, so my expectations and reactions were probably different from a 'first-timer'. The drive was still there, but the cutting edge had been blunted. I know, it's probably got a lot to do with 'the passing years', 'moving on', 'parting of the ways', and other sensible drivel, but there you go, that's what Knebworth '85 was for me; the end of a chapter. Having said that, Fireball, 25th DPIR and Live In Japan are, in particular, getting a good bashing on the cd player these days! And yes, I did go to see Rainbow last year and yes, I am going to see DP this year!!

IMO,

Paul.