Phun City

Phun City was a rock festival held at Ecclesden Common near Worthing, England from July 24 to July 26 1970. Organised by the UK Underground anarchist Mick Farren, the festival was notable for having no fences and no admission fees. It was not intended to be a free concert, but funding was withdrawn a few days before the event. Rather than cancel it, the organisers told the scheduled bands who turned up that they would have to give their services for nothing. Remarkably, most of the acts stayed on. Free were billed to play, but withdrew. Those who did appear included The MC5, Pretty Things, Kevin Ayers, Steve Took's Shagrat, the Edgar Broughton Band, Mungo Jerry and the Pink Fairies "who were taking all their clothes off as they played". The Beat generation poet William Burroughs also appeared.

The Hells Angels - UK had been hired as the security force, but Farren said, "It slowly dawned on us that although none of our original plans had come together, we were no longer in control." Instead, the audience themselves were now in charge, with the organizers just making sure the bands came and went – it was, if somewhat inadvertently, the first large-scale "people's festival" held in the UK.

The poster art was by Edward J. Barker.

References

* [http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/phun-city-menu.html Festival Archive – Phun City Pages]
* "Get On Down: A Decade of Rock and Roll Posters", edited by Mick Farren (1977).

ee also

* Festivals in the United Kingdom