Not kidding, hang in through this performance from the 1970 Glastonbury Festival and watch sparks fly off Dave Swarbrick’s fiddle and total electric mayhem/dancing abandon in the field below. At the moment the electric guitar starts ripping the twin solo, Fairport Convention might have outheavied the Crazy World of Arthur Brown that weekend, a totally blasted performance. Taken from the amazing Glastonbury Fayre doc from 1972 directed by Nicholas Roeg and Peter Neal; Gong, Family, Melanie, and Terry Reid also make appearances. Track it down if you can, it’s a spectacle of sight and sound where the crowd are equal stars: dancin’ druggin’, flopping around in mud. One guy’s naked on stage talking with a chicken into the mic. Surely the Utopian antithesis of Gimme Shelter. (Brian Turner)
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2 Responses to “Fairport Convention, Precursor to Lightning Bolt?”
Wow, Good post! I arrived here via the WFMU link. I missed this festival in 1970 because I wasn’t brave enough to go on my own from chilly Jockoland and couldn’t persuade anyone else to go with me. I can’t imagine a 16-year-old being so inhibited today. Glastonbury and the Isle of Wight Festival are the big gaps in my musical youth…
I used to play Tiger Woods golf on the Wii blasting Fairport Convention. Good times