Elton John among famous line-up
With forgeries doing the rounds and security lax the festival began to unravel.
And just when things could scarcely get any worse the weather turned.
A storm hit the site on the Saturday evening as the heavens opened. Many people were sleeping in thin plastic bags which offered little protection from the wind and rain and the organisers were forced to pull the plug around midnight.
“The temperature dropped to just above freezing and there were thousands of cases of exposure so we just had to stop everything,” says Brian. “On Sunday they were warning people on the radio not to travel because it was a disaster area and they needed the roads to get ambulances in and out.”
The police and even the Army were called in to search the site to make sure there were no bodies, which thankfully there weren’t.
For Brian, in particular, the
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■ festival had been disastrous. It cost in the region of £60,000 to put on and the organisers were left owing £30,000.
Despite losing his pub he bounced back later moving to Devon making his name writing questions for Trivial Pursuit for over 25 years.
He has also written a foreword to Ben Graham’s new book – Pink Floyd Are Fogbound In Paris: The Story of the 1970 Krumlin Pop Festival.
Ben grew up in Sowerby Bridge and knew about the festival. “It was a bit of a local legend when I was growing up. There was this myth that there was this big festival and a huge storm destroyed it. Nobody ever seemed quite sure exactly who played, partly because all the bands booked for the Sunday didn’t play.”
He says the festival was beset with problems from the outset.
“Nobody could prepare
There were thousands of cases of exposure so we just had to stop everything. On Sunday, it was declared a disaster area.