Sonisphere will return this weekend, after a wee rest, to celebrate 40 years of festivals at Knebworth. One of the most iconic names in the history of rock music, the venue will open its gates to metal royalty in the form of Metallica and Iron Maiden, with the Prodigy set to shake the earth on Friday night.
Knebworth’s chapter in the history of British rock ‘n’ roll is one packed with iconic characters and attendance figures that’ll reduce your abacus to splinters, with this weekend’s acts out to become more than a footnote. Here, we take a look back at five seminal Knebworth shows, from riff-lords to indie royalty and beyond.
Bucolic Frolic - 1974
Promoted by Freddy Bannister, whose name would become synonymous with Knebworth until the recriminations that followed Led Zeppelin’s 1979 performance, Bucolic Frolic was the first of the one-day festivals to take over the grounds on July 20, 1974.
Featuring a 60,000-strong crowd and a wide-ranging bill including jam specialist headliners the Allman Brothers, the Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, the MahavishnuOrhcestra, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and Tim Buckley, who opened, this paved the way for what was to follow.
Led Zeppelin - 1979
By 1979, Led Zeppelin had reached heights of popularity that mere mortals can scarcely fathom and descended a couple of steps again. Their headline sets at the 1979 Knebworth Festival represented their first UK shows in four years and their first gigs of any sort since the tragic death of Robert Plant’s son, Karac, two years earlier.
The rock titans displayed some rust on a grand stage, something acknowledged by several contemporary reviews and later by Plant himself, but the concerts would become seminal memories for many in attendance (just how many were in attendance is less easy to define). The second date was the band’s last on home soil, with John Bonham’s death following in 1980.
Queen - 1986
On August 9, 1986, Queen played their final show with the late, great Freddie Mercury at Knebworth in front of a crowd of 120,000. With support coming from Belouis Some (bottled), Status Quo (not bottled) and Big Country (bottled a bit), the crowd was impatient for their heroes to arrive as afternoon turned to evening.
As only he could, Mercury conducted proceedings from the opening note of One Vision through to the last throes of God Save The Queen. He would not play live again prior to his death in 1991. Following the show, though, fans were left in the dark as the power was cut and police searched for further information on a stabbing that had occurred in the crowd.
Oasis - 1996
Headlining Knebworth is a privilege reserved only for the biggest bands, so it’s easy to see why Oasis decided it was for them. At Britpop’s culture-smashing peak, the brothers Gallagher took over the venue for two nights and rolled out the hits from ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’.
The support bill, if you can even call it that, featured the Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy, Manic Street Preachers, the Charlatans, Cast, Kula Shaker, Ocean Colour Scene, Dreadzone and the Bootleg Beatles. Such a strong line up again played into the unbelievable confidence that coursed through Oasis’ collective veins. Two nights, 250,000 people: rock history.
Robbie Williams - 2003
In 2003, Robbie Williams was unstoppable, as his trio of shows at Knebworth proved. Following the release of ‘Escapology’, his fifth UK #1 album on the bounce, the former Take That man enlisted Moby, Ash, Kelly Osbourne and the Darkness to open the biggest weekend of live music in the country’s history.
If Oasis made a dent in rock history, then Williams - perhaps putting some of his ‘fat dancer’ weight behind it - thrust his fist through it by drawing 375,000 fans across three evenings. The subsequent live album also reach the upper reaches of the charts and stayed there for 21 weeks.
Sonisphere Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Fri July 04 2014 - STEVENAGE Knebworth Park
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