- Weeley Festival
Weeley Festival was a British rock festival that took place in August 1971 near the small town of
Weeley outsideClacton inEssex .Details
Weeley Festival was organised by Clacton Round Table as a small charity fundraising event for around 5,000 people. When plans for that year's
Isle of Wight Festival fell through, focus shifted to Weeley and the festival grew in imprtance. Advance ticket sales were over 100,000, and estimates of attendance are between 110,000 and 150,000 [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/east/series4/weeley_festival_1971_essex_rod_stewart_t_rex.shtml BBC Inside Out - When Weeley rocked ] ] . The festival took place over the August Bank Holiday. The event was promoted as being non-stop music with acoustic acts scheduled to appear between the electric acts, and the music went on day and night.The opening act were Hackensack, who played an extended set as no other acts had yet arrived. The
Pink Fairies were not originally booked to play. They simply turned up and performed for free to the campers; they were so popular, however, that they were asked to play on the stage.Wally of Weeley
During the festival there were messages for Wally being read out over the sound system, and a Wally chant developed over the weekend.Evidence suggests that this was a continuation of the same behaviour at the
Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 [ [http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/weeley-festival.html The weeleyfestival 1971 ] ] .Hells Angels
During the festival there were fights between a gang of
Hells Angels and stall holders [cite news | first=Wise Old | last=Sam | title=MAD PIEMEN SLAY ANGELS ! | date=9-23rd Sept 1971| publisher=International Times | url=http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/weeley-festival-it-article.html ] . The Hells Angels were eventually driven away by a combined force of festival staff and stall holders.Performers
*
The Faces
* T.Rex
*Status Quo
*Mungo Jerry
*Mott the Hoople
*Pink Fairies
*King Crimson
*Barclay James Harvest
*The Edgar Broughton Band
*Stone the Crows
* Colosseum
* Quintessence
*Groundhogs
* Caravan
* Lindisfarne
* Tír na nÓg
*Van der Graaf Generator External links
* [http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/weeley-festival.html UKRockFestivals - Weeley]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/extra/series-1/weeley_festival.shtml BBC]
* [http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/weeley-fest-recollections2.html Crowd recollections]References
Footnotes
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