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ABSTRACT
This article examines the narrative construction of two British music festival films, Message to Love: the Isle of Wight Festival (1995) and Glastonbury Fayre (1972): films which demonstrate narratives and techniques familiar from Woodstock – Three Days of Peace and Music (1970). I argue that these films, which portray the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival and the 1971 Glastonbury Fayre, have helped to construct and reinforce what I refer to as the “countercultural carnivalesque” – a way of thinking about festival culture that is informed by a particular understanding of the youth counterculture of the late-1960s.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. A classic example of this is the positioning of Country Joe McDonald’s solo performance of “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” midway through Woodstock - Three Days of Peace and Love (1970) even though it actually occurred at the beginning of the event (CitationBennett 46).
2. For detailed histories of British music festival culture in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, see Michael Clarke, Kevin Hetherington, George McKay, and CitationAndy Worthington, who chart the more countercultural history of the sector during those decades.
3. This was due to a combination of cash flow problems, escalating costs, and the actions of the “free festival” radicals who attended the event.
4. More information about the New Age travelers and free festivals can be found in Kevin Hetherington, CitationGreg Martin, and Andy Worthington.
5. 1969 also saw gate-crashers at the Denver Pop Festival, the Atlantic City Pop Festival, and the Newport Pop Festival.
6. Prior to the event, the musician and activist Mick Farren issued leaflets under the White Panther name, advising festivalgoers to watch for free from a hill overlooking the arena, and that “The fencing would not withstand a well organised attack by the people” (qtd. in CitationFoulk 277). Desolation Row is also referred to as “Devastation Hill” and “Desolation Hill” in the press of the time.
7. Ray Foulk offers summaries of the press coverage from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday which, while positive at times, tends to focus on issues related to drugs (complaints from locals and arrests by the police), disorder (gate-crashers, foreign radicals, thefts, and property damage), and the organizers’ financial difficulties (CitationFoulk 134, 162, 216-17).
8. Standard tickets cost £3 for the weekend, but the VIP enclosure was sold at the premium rate of 10 guineas (£10.50), with proceeds going to charity (CitationFoulk 89).
9. It is the version by the Great Awakening, released in 1969 by London Records. It became the unofficial theme of the festival, with DJ Jeff Dexter playing it prior to the start of each day’s performances.
10. This strategy is common to all three films under discussion in this article, thus providing narrative movement and an element of drama for the viewer (CitationGoodall; CitationKitts).
11. Lewis admits on the Making Of feature that she was high on drugs at the time.
12. For example, during the first twenty minutes of Woodstock we hear live performances on the film soundtrack but do not actually see the performers.
13. This was another precursor of the later “free festival” scene in the UK, with Andrew Kerr suggesting that the initial idea for Glastonbury Fayre came when he and Arabella Churchill (co-organizer of the event) visited Canvas City at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival (CitationFoulk 325). According to another Glastonbury Fayre organizer, Thomas Crimble, the idea was to stage an event that was “the exact opposite of the Isle of Wight” (qtd. in CitationAubrey and Shearlaw 27).
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Chris Anderton
Chris Anderton is Associate Professor of Cultural Economy at Solent University, Southampton, UK. He has strong pedagogic and research experience in the recorded and live music industries, music festivals, music history, music culture, music marketing, event management and the intersection of fan practices and intellectual property law. He is the author of Music Festivals in the UK. Beyond the Carnivalesque (Routledge, 2019), coauthor of Understanding the Music Industries (Sage, 2013), and has published and presented internationally on music festivals, the music industry, and music history. Current projects include a coauthored book about music management and marketing, and edited collections about music history and the production, promotion and consumption of live music.