Festivals Britannia

[SweepingTheNation]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/2010/wk50/fri.shtml#fri_fb

Continuing the highly successful and critically acclaimed Britannia series for BBC Four, Festivals Britannia tells the story of the emergence and evolution of the British music festival through the mavericks, dreamers and dropouts who have produced and experienced them.

This 90-minute documentary traces the ebb and flow of British festival culture over the past 50 years and explores the central tension between people's desire to come together, dance to the music and build temporary communities; and the desire of the state, councils and locals to police these often unruly gatherings. At the heart of the documentary is an ongoing argument about British freedoms set to a wonderful soundtrack of 50 years of great popular music.

The programme tells the festival story in three parts, Something In The Air; Ramble On; and A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours. Firstly, it looks at how a heady mix of youth-music festivals and politics combined in the early Sixties to create the rumblings of Britain's first counter-cultures. Exploring events such as the early jazz festivals at Beauliue and the National Jazz and Blues festivals, the free Hyde Park concerts and the first Isle of Wight festival, the film traces the evolution of music and festival culture through the Sixties and explores the gathering arguments about whether rock 'n' roll and festivals should be free.

Ramble On charts the reaction against commercialism and the golden era of the free festival movement in the Seventies. When an aristocratic hippie called Andrew Kerr teamed up with Somerset dairy farmer Michael Eavis to put on Glastonbury Fayre in 1971, it unwittingly became the spiritual birthplace of the free festival movement. This section explores the notion of festivals becoming more about an alternative, nomadic way of life. The Sixties hippie ideal of a new society was becoming an alternative reality for a growing number of people but the advent of Conservative rule in 1979 would change British festival culture for ever.

A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours looks at how festival counter-culture came head to head with the establishment and how it was eventually co-opted by mainstream society. At the dawn of the Eighties, unemployment and strikes were rife, with new sub-cultures emerging, such as punk and the new wave of heavy metal, as festivals such as Donington and Reading became society's pressure-release valves. The original hippie idealists were being joined by the post-punk urban squatters and this collective, known as the "Peace Convoy", would change the face of the free festival movement beyond recognition by 1984's Stonehenge Festival.

The programme investigates the emergence of rave culture in the late Eighties and explores the changes forced by stricter controls and tighter legislation in the Nineties and beyond. With big business and TV broadcasting moving in, the ideological battle for the heart of Britain has faded away, as music and big name acts have returned to the forefront of the festival stage.

Produced and directed by Sam Bridger, the programme features contributions from Michael Eavis, Richard Thompson, Acker Bilk, Terry Reid, The Levellers, Billy Bragg, John Giddings, Melvin Benn, Sandy Sanderson.

[Paul ™]

Nice one cheers

[5co77ie]

soundes great - if very similar to the brace of excellent books by George McKay on the subject

[glasto_mongrel_2008]

Sounds good, I'll have to set a reminder to set the Sky Plus up for it. Cheers

[timespeedsup]

Nice find, and I'm not yet booked on some unnecessary Xmas shebang that night

[llcoolphil]

soundes great - if very similar to the brace of excellent books by George McKay on the subject

[5co77ie]

He was my dissertation supervisor diy culturewas the inspiration behind my dissertation and an excellent read to boot

[5co77ie]

news here:

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/10/101208f.shtml

remember: on BBC4 at 9pm on Friday 17th December and will be followed by Pulp's performance at Glastonbury Festival in 1995.

[LondonTom]

Should be a rather good evening

[timespeedsup]

news here:

http://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/10/101208f.shtml

remember: on BBC4 at 9pm on Friday 17th December and will be followed by Pulp's performance at Glastonbury Festival in 1995.

[5co77ie]

Don't forget this on tomorrow night.

[Paul ™]

V+ is set

[LondonTom]

I am going have to catch it on Iplayer, final day of term, I am going be sozled from Miday onwards, actually i probs end up not going to the club and enjoying it in a true glastonbury way:P

[LusciousLucy]

What??? No comments yet? Blimey...call yourselves members of a festival forum?

Well that was a wonderful way to forget its icy and bloody cold outside our front doors wasnt it?

I learnt lots from that programme and it laid out/presented the time line and development of festies really well I thought. I am very glad to have been a member of the festy scene for the past 15 years and quite jealous of folk that have had the full 40+ year experience so far.

But I do have to say, I think there was a collective WTF?!?!?! when Jeremy Beadle appeared on screen with 'Festival Organiser' under his name!!! Certainly wasnt much of a festy was it?

[grumpyhack]

I enjoyed the exploration of how the government and authorities struggled to come to terms with the blossoming 'youth culture'. The police behaviour at times was shocking.

Buffalo Springfield summed it up.

There's something happening here

What it is ain't exactly clear

There's a man with a gun over there

Telling me I got to beware

I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

There's battle lines being drawn

Nobody's right if everybody's wrong

Young people speaking their minds

Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound

Everybody look what's going down

[5co77ie]

It was nice to be reminded of the spirit of the festivals and why I went to them in my youth - I was indeed 'changed' by them in the Eighties. I liked Bragg's "Now we see how long it is until we let our kids go on their own."

Ours still comes with us, and I hope it'll be a few more years yet.

[gratedenini]

A fascinating docu that had me initially feeling very nostalgic, but at the end feeling very demoralised tbh.

It did show just how much social conditions have moulded festivals since the very beginning.

Although nearly everybody hails the famous IOW as being fantastic--it was in fact portrayed here as untimately a disaster..and I could see why.

However--there was a lovely naivety about the following few years with people exploring alternative lifestyles.

I was actually on the cusp of this era...dipping my toe in.. but back out again because at that time I just could not walk away from what i was brought up with.

The trouble started in the 80s really with the stranglehold of my nemisis TWATCHER and the social conditions reflecting in the musical tastes too.

And the introduction of the Public Order bill,,what a killer thats ultimately been.

This was a barren time for me festival wise.. married, kids etc etc...didnt like any of the new music and it wasn`t until the 90s that I returned to the fray.

And how things had changed... gone were the days when I would just be in a field with like-minded people,getting bladddered and more..now it was proper money and wristbands etc and stewards!

I didnt realise just how different things are now until last night.

How controlled we are at every turn.. herded here and there..fenced in and everything.

I went from being so euphoric at 9.45pm , to totally despondent by 10.30pm.

The commentators gave a very accurate description afaic.

I wonder, if in these more austere times--we might see another turn?

Larmer Tree for instance (which I love)... I thinks its the most expensive festival in Britain.. for how long can it continue with its rising prices. At this rate it will be the sole playground of the cardigan brigade/ pimms drinkers.

Overall a very thought-provoking programme for me, which has left me somewhat deflated to be honest.

Den

[grumpyhack]

You're right to a large extent. Things have certainly changed and have lost their edge buried under the weight of Health and Safety legislation but, in a way, things have become more inclusive. Old farts and the cardigan brigade (and I'm arguably now one of them) can now go in comfort and sip their Pimms. But there's still space for the next generation and I like the fact that festivals can now accomodate all ages and social backgrounds alongside each other.

[alframsey]

I loved this documentary, got me right into the festival mood/spirit all be it at the wrong time of year! I do wish I was around at the start of the festival scene (for want of a better phrase) and the 60's-mid 70's in general, cant imagine how exciting it must have been. It made me a little sad to see how commercial todays festivals are, ive always know this but the program made the modern day festival seem so tame compared

[grumpyhack]

To make sense of most things in life follow the money. Festivals are no different. Punters now expect spectacular staging, superb sound quality and all the pyrotechnics of a slick show. And that all costs money.

If you want to hippy-dippy nature of the early festivals there are still plenty of small 'boutique' festivals but you won't be getting the variety or 'big name' headliners.

Of the big fests Glasto has stayed closest to the early festival ethos and for me still offers the best of both worlds - a few huge acts on the Pyramid and lots of magical moments in the outlying areas.

[timespeedsup]

A fascinating watch. & I thought there was plenty more they could have explored if time, including pre-90s given that 90s onwards only got a token 10 minutes at the end.

Given our new government, and looking at how things changed in the 80s, are we in for gradually-increasing political themes at certain festivals now. Culminating in a modern-day Beanfield? Hope not, but suspect so.

Larmer Tree for instance (which I love)... I thinks its the most expensive festival in Britain.. for how long can it continue with its rising prices.

[rabid]

It was nice to be reminded of the spirit of the festivals and why I went to them in my youth - I was indeed 'changed' by them in the Eighties.

Edited December 18, 2010 by rabid

[greenfairy43]

I can't get over how much Roy Harper has changed. Last time I saw him was on a stage made of a horsebox ramp, at a free festival on Wickham Common, Hampshire in 1986/87.

Thos were the days!

[gratedenini]

I loved this documentary, got me right into the festival mood/spirit all be it at the wrong time of year! I do wish I was around at the start of the festival scene (for want of a better phrase) and the 60's-mid 70's in general, cant imagine how exciting it must have been. It made me a little sad to see how commercial todays festivals are, ive always know this but the program made the modern day festival seem so tame compared

[grumpyhack]

At the height of the Bush era I found quite a lot of American performers playing over here almost felt they had to apologise for their president and make it clear they were not Bush supporters. A few anti Bush jokes were the way to win an audience round. It must have been the same for Brits going abroad in Thatcher's time. I remember going to a 'do' in France at the height of Blair's warmongering when the local mayor launched a big attack on the UK's policies and I had to try to explain to him afterwards that not all Brits backed their PM.

I remember one American saying to me after Obama was elected: "Great, at least now we can stop pretending when we go abroad that we're from Canada."

Edited December 19, 2010 by grumpyhack