August 1968. Kempton Park Racecourse, Sunbury, South-West London.
I’d never heard of this gig but that’s a pretty stellar line-up. Friday, from 8pm, The Herd, with Peter Frampton, Marmalade, Jerry Lee Lewis and Time Box. The first three acts named would have been very wary of following Rory Gallagher’s Taste, an incendiary live act.
Saturday afternoon saw a load of jazz whereas the evening was sensational. Deep Purple kicked things off, the band were only 5 months old, then The Nite People, Joe Cocker, (almost a year to the day before his groundbreaking performance at Woodstock,) Tyrannosaurus Rex, (Marc Bolan’s folky band, pre-T Rex,) Arthur Brown and Ten Years After. Somewhere, they squeezed Ginger Baker in, (Cream’s farewell concert at The Royal Albert Hall, with Yes as support, was just 3 months away,) before Jeff Beck appeared. The Jeff Beck Group in August ’68 was still the classic lineup of Jeff, Ronnie Wood on bass, Mickey Waller on drums and Rod Stewart on vocals. They had released the album, Truth, just a week earlier and were, by all accounts, a fantastic live act. Headliners were The Nice closed out the night, the band featuring Keith Emerson, just a few weeks before they kicked out guitarist, Davy O’List.
Sunday afternoon revolved around The Incredible String Band with support from The Johnstons, (featuring a 21 year-old Paul Brady,) Sonya and Eclection, (featuring Trevor Lucas and Gerry Conway, prior to both of them joining Fairport Convention,) before The Fairports themselves preceded Al Stewart.
In the evening, after Tramline and Dynaflow Blues, Jethro Tull were followed by Chicken Shack, Fairport Convention again, John Mayall, (with the pre-Rolling Stones Mick Taylor on guitar,) Spencer Davis, (with Ray Fenwick on guitar,) and the headliners, Traffic, whose debut album was still a month away, so you’d have seen Steve Winwood, Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi and Dave Mason.
So, if you’re into your guitarists, here’s some of the people on show:
Peter Frampton
Rory Gallagher
Ollie Halsall (Time Box)
Richie Blackmore (Deep Purple)
Henry McCullogh (Joe Cocker)
Marc Bolan
Alvin Lee (Ten Years After)
Jeff Beck
Davy O’List
Paul Brady
Jerry Conway
Trevor Lucas
Richard Thompson (Fairport Convention)
Simon Nicol (Fairport Convention)
Al Stewart
Micky Moody (Tramline)
Rod Price (Dynaflow Blues – later joined Foghat)
Martin Barre (new guitarist in Jethro Tull)
Stan Webb (Chicken Shack)
Mick Taylor
Ray Fenwick
Dave Mason
Steve Winwood
What a weekend! And all for £4.
https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/75eeb922ba39.jpeg
https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/sunbury1.html
I have tried to post the photo of the poster but with no luck, I’m afraid.
Here you go.
I could have spent my 21st birthday watching The Nice, Jeff Beck, Ten Years After, Arthur Brown, T Rex, Joe Cocker, Deep Purple (bottom of the bill!).
@mikethep Thanks 🙏
Ollie Hansall of Time Box was in the Rutles
Also with one of Kevin Ayers’ later line-ups(?)
Yes, but without the typo. Guitarist with Patto also.
He was the fictional fifth member Leppo of the Rutles and did all the vocals for Eric Idle.
Never mind about the rock acts. Don Rendell/Ian Carr, Mike Westbrook and Ronnie Scott!!!
Interesting – I saw Chicken Shack and John Mayall as a double bill a few years after this
Being a local, I used to know someone who actually attended this, and as he was an older music fan with some interesting 60s experiences I remember speaking to him about it. Unfortunately he died a couple of years ago, but he remembered it chiefly for the rock acts…he wasn’t the type to consider checking out some jazz or folk. By the sound of it though he had a great time, and all a stone’s throw from where he lived.
Wonderful.