Phoenix Festival

The Phoenix Festival was set up by Vince Power of the Mean Fiddler Music Group in 1993 as an alternative to the established Glastonbury and Reading Festivals. It was held at Long Marston Airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon and was one of the first four day festivals in Britain.

History

Its first year in 1993 featured Sonic Youth, Hole, Faith No More and The Black Crowes as headliners with Julian Cope, The Young Gods and House of Pain. It was marred with controversy as festival goers were harassed by security demanding they put out campfires at midnight and turn off sound systems, this was unusual compared to the 24 hour culture of Glastonbury Festival. This caused people to demand their money back and marred the festival's reputation from the start.

The festival never really recovered from this bad start. Although it had a consistently good line up, festival goers were less than happy with the site, which was an old airstrip, or the prices onsite.

These problems reached a climax in 1996 when many festival goers missed David Bowie on the Thursday night due to massive problems letting people on site. Having sold out for the first time due to Glastonbury being cancelled, the organisers struggled to cope with the crowds and extreme heat that saw temperatures on site topping thirty degrees celsius on all days. The weekend was further marred with problems with water being unavailable in parts of the site, though the Sex Pistols headlined their first major UK festival on this weekend. The festival limped on for one more year but could never compete with Glastonbury Festival. The 1998 festival was cancelled due to poor ticket sales but some acts were moved to that year's Reading Festival.

The Phoenix Year By Year

1994

The 1994 Phoenix was held from the 14th to the 17 July at Long Marston, Statford-Upon-Avon. The acts were as follows, with headliners in bold type:

Phoenix Stage

* The Wonder Stuff - Friday 15th
* Carter USM - Friday 15th
* The Fall - Friday 15th
* Squeeze - Friday 15th
* The Posies - Friday 15th
* Paul Weller - Saturday 16th
* Pop Will Eat Itself- Saturday 16th
* Ozric Tentacles - Saturday 16th
* Crash Test Dummies - Saturday 16th
* Gil Scott-Heron - Saturday 16th
* Senseless Things - Saturday 16th
* Urban Dance Squad - Saturday 16th
* The Sandals - Saturday 16th
* The Red Devils - Saturday 16th
* Jah Wobble - Saturday 16th
* The Goats - Saturday 16th
* Whiteout - Saturday 16th
* Iggy Pop - Sunday 17th
* Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Sunday 17th
* Killing Joke - Sunday 17th
* Buzzcocks - Sunday 17th
* Magnapop - Sunday 17th
* The Family Cat - Sunday 17th
* No FX - Sunday 17th
* Blaggers ITA - Sunday 17th

Vox Stage

This stage in association with IPC Media's Vox Magazine:

* Gary Clail On U Sound System - Thursday 14th
* Bim Sherman - Thursday 14th
* Little Axe - Thursday 14th
* Adrian Sherwood - Thursday 14th
* The Pogues - Friday 15th
* John Cale - Friday 15th
* Kirsty MacColl - Friday 15th
* Tom Robinson - Friday 15th
* The Trash Can Sinatras - Friday 15th
* David Gray - Friday 15th
* The Coalporters - Friday 15th
* Ben Harper - Friday 15th
* The Beautiful South - Saturday 16th
* The Blue Aeroplanes - Saturday 16th
* Terry Hall - Saturday 16th
* Eddi Reader - Saturday 16th
* The Bible - Saturday 16th
* My Life Story - Saturday 16th
* Marion - Saturday 16th
* Cast - Saturday 16th
* Thrum - Saturday 16th
* Inspiral Carpets - Sunday 17th
* Renegade Soundwave - Sunday 17th
* A House - Sunday 17th
* Mother Earth - Sunday 17th
* The Grid - Sunday 17th
* A Certain Ratio - Sunday 17th
* Sons of Arga - Sunday 17th
* Youthu Yindi - Sunday 17th
* Terry Edwards - Sunday 17th
* Baby Chaos - Sunday 17th

Melody Maker Stage

This stage was in association with IPC Media's weekly rock "inky" music paper Melody Maker:

* Dodgy - Thursday 14th
* Astralasia - Thursday 14th
* Trextasy - Thursday 14th
* Land Of Barbara - Thursday 14th
* Head - Thursday 14th
* Spiritualized - Friday 15th
* Stereolab - Friday 15th
* Bark Psychosis - Friday 15th
* Moonshake - Friday 15th
* Golden Claw - Friday 15th
* Radial Spangle - Friday 15th
* ROC - Friday 15th
* Drugstore - Friday 15th
* Puppy Love Bomb - Friday 15th
* Skunk Anansie - Friday 15th
* Back To The Planet - Saturday 16th
* Swervedriver - Saturday 16th
* Mega City Four - Saturday 16th
* These Animal Men - Saturday 16th
* Voodoo Queens - Saturday 16th
* Gunshot - Saturday 16th
* The Muddie Funksters - Saturday 16th
* Dub War - Saturday 16th
* Rub Ultra - Saturday 16th
* Done Lying Down - Saturday 16th
* Tribute To Nothing - Saturday 16th
* Shellac - Sunday 17th
* Girls Against Boys - Sunday 17th
* Brick Layer Cake - Sunday 17th
* The Raincoats - Sunday 17th
* The Pastals - Sunday 17th
* Bailterspace - Sunday 17th
* Tsunami - Sunday 17th
* Mambo Taxi - Sunday 17th
* AC Acoustics - Sunday 17th

Jazzterania Stage

* Incognito - Thursday 14th
* Urban Species - Thursday 14th
* Raw Stylus - Thursday 14th
* Ian & Rob - Thursday 14th
* Donald Byrd - Friday 15th
* Courtney Pine - Friday 15th
* Greg Osby - Friday 15th
* Freakpower - Friday 15th
* Ian & Rob - Friday 15th
* Galliano - Saturday 16th
* Snowboy - Saturday 16th
* Fishbelly Black - Saturday 16th
* Vibe Tribe - Saturday 16th
* Herbie Hancock - Sunday 17th
* Roy Ayers - Sunday 17th
* Courduroy - Sunday 17th
* D*Note - Sunday 17th
* Jhelisa - Sunday 17th

Loaded Comedy Stage

This stage was in association with IPC Media's "ladmag" monthly Loaded Magazine:

* Frank Sidebottom - Thursday 14th
* John Shuttleworth - Thursday 14th
* Kevin Day - Thursday 14th
* Ian Cognito - Thursday 14th
* Phil Kay - Thursday 14th
* Martin Coyote - Thursday 14th
* Mike Hayley - Thursday 14th
* Andre Vincent - Thursday 14th
* Ardal O'Hanlon - Thursday 14th
* Mark Thomas - Friday 15th
* Jeff Green - Friday 15th
* Rubber Bishops - Friday 15th
* Man with Beard - Friday 15th
* Sean Connery Brotherhood - Friday 15th
* Alistair MacGowan - Friday 15th
* Dave Spikey - Friday 15th
* Lee Evans - Saturday 16th
* Mark Steel - Saturday 16th
* Mark Hurst - Saturday 16th
* Lee Hurst - Saturday 16th
* Linda Smith - Saturday 16th
* Dominic Holland - Saturday 16th
* Hattie Hayridge - Saturday 16th
* Eddie Izzard - Sunday 17th
* Richard Moton - Sunday 17th
* Attila the Stockbroker - Sunday 17th
* Sean Meo - Sunday 17th
* Simon Bligh - Sunday 17th
* Fred MacAulay - Sunday 17th
* Paul Tonkinson - Sunday 17th
* John Moloney - Sunday 17th
* Rhona Cameron - Sunday 17th

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/110429.stm BBC article on the festival's cancellation] "link accessed 1 July, 2006"
* [http://www.angelfire.com/pa/purplepaul/phoe96.html Phoenix Festival 96 fansite]