British Rock Meeting
The British Rock Meeting (in retrospect also referred to as the 1st British Rock Meeting ) was a music festival with more than 25,000 visitors that took place on September 4th and 5th, 1971 on a Rhine peninsula in Speyer .
History and process
Twenty-two predominantly English singers and bands performed, including Fleetwood Mac , Deep Purple , Black Sabbath , Rory Gallagher and East of Eden . Entry was 20 DM .
The city of Speyer only allowed 10,000 visitors. In view of the rush of visitors, the organization largely collapsed, there were too few utilities and the sanitary facilities were insufficient. The lack of space on the private property could have been alleviated by releasing adjacent communal areas, which the city refused.
The police were not prepared for the large crowds, in the city there were problems with the traffic control for the arrival and departure of the visitors. A police spokesman confirmed to the festival visitors that they had behaved "extremely disciplined" and that there was no need to intervene on the site. The State Criminal Police Office set up a special commission which “essentially” restricted itself to observations.
Many people had to be treated, often for foot injuries caused by broken glass, others had to be given medical and psychological care because of drug problems. According to a doctor deployed, the number of injured was "by no means too high" given the number of visitors. Fights or major disputes were not observed.
The festival organizers were Marcel Avram and Marek Lieberberg from Mama Concerts . The Deep Purple, not announced on the poster, received almost 50,000 DM for their appearance.
American soldiers
The American army initially supported the organization of rock festivals in the Rhine-Main area , including the British Rock Meeting. The GIs were able to purchase tickets at advance booking offices in the army grounds, the AFN soldier broadcaster advertised them, and bus trips from the barracks to the concert were organized. The soldiers made up an average of 50 to 70 percent of the festival visitors. In the summer of 1973 this cooperation was terminated by the US Army. Lieberberg canceled a third British Rock Meeting at short notice on the grounds that "without our regular American audience the whole effort would be wasted". The 2nd British Rock Meeting took place in May 1972 in Germersheim .
Others
An event on July 23, 1979 on the Loreley open-air stage was also referred to as the British Rock Meeting . That day, The Police , Barclay James Harvest , Dire Straits , Talking Heads and Dr. Feelgood .
Web links
- Speyer Cathedral Garden Hippies: British Rock Meeting 1971 in Speyer (video documentation)
- British Rock Meetings at shadowplays.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Der Spiegel of September 17, 1973: For the Katz , accessed on February 13, 2014
- ^ Website of the open-air theater Loreley ( Memento from May 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 24, 2014