I published a “disgusted from Shaftesbury” blog this week comparing what I thought value for festivals with the money being demanded by BoomTown this week
I went to my first festival at Blackbush in 1978, hitched there and paid a few quid to watch to watch Dylan follow Clapton, both follow Armatrading .
I thought I’d got in cheap but I now have competition from Derek Scott, a few years older and not paying London prices
I hope you can read this – I just about can! Here is Derek, as furious as me
Not quite “free” but this one back in 1972, just after decimalisation, was thirty bob, and didn’t involve camping:
The Grangemouth Pop Festival, Grangemouth Stadium, 12 noon to 11pm, 23 August 1972.
Line up:
Beck Bogert Appice; Status Quo; Steeleye Span; Dundee’s Sleaz Band (as stand in for later no shows?); Lindisfarne; The Everly Brothers; Uriah Heep (no show); Beggars Opera; Average White Band; Sunshine; Billy Connolly; Electric Light Orchestra (no show); and The Chris McClure Section.MCs: Tom Ferrie and John Peel.
All for £1.75 on the day, or £1.50 in advance.
I don’t think that we were different as teenagers as teenagers are today. But I think the opportunities to do things for ourselves are diminished for today’s teenagers.
The property my parents bought when coming out of medical school cost £800 in the early 1950s , today it is an inheritance tax problem for the next generation.
To see the Dylans Claptons and Armatradings, the Steeleye Spans , the Everleybrothers and the Uriah Heeps of today means digging deep into digitised bank accounts.
We are in a world where the consumer is measured by their capacity to pay.
Prices have inflated but not the value of the experience. The two need to come back in balance with each other.
Derek was also at Blackbush and probably a little used to concerts than me
Not only do I still have my “match programme” from 1978, but I have the above book too.
Here’s the text in normal size
Derek, they want our money – they missed out in 1978!