The day the hippies faced the MOOsic!
50 YEARS OF GLASTONBURY (PART 2)
1975 Increasingly disgruntled at being asked to move from their usual fields into cramped accommodation half a mile away, the sizeable glastonbury herd of cows staged a protest, mooing at the top of their lungs during a set by hippy folk-rockers The Incredible string Band. ‘It wouldn’t have been so bad, but they couldn’t even hit the right notes,’ complained the band’s frontman Mike Heron.
However, the cows’ protest paid off, forcing farmer Michael eavis to recompense them with first-class alternative accommodation in a neighbouring barn, with duvets and shower facilities throughout the week-long event.
Half a dozen cows, selected through ballot, also got to meet that year’s glastonbury headliners, genesis. ‘ They were absolutely charming,’ said lead cow DaisyBelle, ‘and were happy to sign my treasured copy of their legendary concept album, nursery cryme.’
1976 The glastonbury Festival was already beginning to show signs of being taken over by the middle classes. Just to the west of the Pyramid stage, the new Keith stage, named after actress Penelope Keith, was opened by HrH Princess anne, who paid tribute to ‘ the immensely colourful mix of young people here today’, though she was overheard later asking whether any of them had ever ‘come into contact with a bar of soap’.
The first concert on the Keith stage was by The James last Orchestra, who performed a medley of eurovision classics. strawberries and cream were served during the interval.
1977 Following widespread complaints of drug use at glastonbury, the somerset Police anti-Drugs Unit sought to inflitrate the festival. Ten police sniffer dogs were on site disguised as hippy dogs in kaftans and psychedelic spectacles.
sadly, eight of them ‘went rogue’, and were found at three in the morning with starry eyes, dancing to a late-night set by prog-rockers Van Der graaf generator. Many sharp- eyed observers were convinced they had spotted Metropolitan Police commissioner sir robert Mark onstage with Pink Floyd, wearing a beard and hippy wig, and playing maracas.
One of those who identified him said: ‘what aroused my suspicions was he said, “evenin’ all”, before he introduced their first track.’
1978 Hippy entrepreneur richard Branson launched The glastonbury experience, a £7.50 kit consisting of a pair of binoculars, a pair of pink spectacles and a bucket of mud. It came with the instructions: ‘To recreate the “Far Out” glastonbury experience at home for a fraction of the price, simply go into a local field, douse yourself in the mud, place a television 100 yards away, and look at it through the wrong end of the binoculars to make everything look smaller.’
1979 Glastonbury is wellknown as a festival at which the forgotten stars of yesteryear can re-invent themselves, but never more so than in 1980, when Dame gracie Fields took to the Pyramid stage to perform a selection of her greatest hits. These included The Biggest aspidistra In The world to a heavy-metal backing from Black sabbath. Dame gracie concluded her set by climbing a gantrey and waving a Free nelson Mandela banner, before changing back into evening dress and jetting off to her retreat on the Isle of capri.
1980 THe year gave rise to further complaints in the letters pages of Melody Maker, sounds and new Musical express that the glastonbury Festival was in danger of losing touch with its roots by becoming too bourgeois.
One irate reader complained that she had spotted a middle- class family sitting down to sunday lunch in a five-bedroom yurt with a full cooking range, a chicken brick from Habitat and dining room furniture from John lewis.
In an attempt to ward off complaints that the festival was fast becoming the preserve of the middle class and the middlebrow, Festival co-ordinator alan Titchmarsh took to the Pyramid stage to introduce that year’s headliners.
‘let’s kick out the jams and get down with it!’ he announced, to huge applause, before welcoming The carpenters to the stage.
at the end of their barnstorming set, Titchmarsh appeared back on stage. Having called for silence, he then alerted the crowd to a special festival tombola, with the once-ina-lifetime opportunity to win a sunlounger, a silver tea service or a luxury fondue set.
after the clamour for tickets died down, the festival audience sat back to enjoy The clash.