The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream
The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream was a rock concert that took place on April 29, 1967 at London's Alexandra Palace (nicknamed Ally Pally ). The concert, which also included poets and artists, began on Saturday, April 29th at 8 p.m. and lasted until 10 a.m. on Sunday morning (14 hours). Entry was £ 1 . Several of the leading rock bands of the time performed. The number of visitors is estimated at 7,000 to 10,000.
prehistory
The underground magazine The International Times (IT), the first edition of which was celebrated with a concert by Pink Floyd and others on October 14, 1966 in the Roundhouse , was repeatedly the target of police raids in the spring of 1967 . In response, Barry Miles (co-owner of the Indica Gallery ), John "Hoppy" Hopkins (one of the UFO Club's operators ) and David Howson ( Middle Earth Club manager ) planned a major underground culture event to raise funds for magazine.
They booked Alexandra Palace for the night of April 29-30, 1967. Hopkins had photographed a concert by John Lee Hooker with the Rolling Stones there in 1964 and has been fascinated by the building ever since. The evening before, April 28th, the weekly party took place at the UFO Club .
The festival
Two stages were set up in the huge hall of the Alexandra Palace . The larger stage was on the back wall of the hall, the smaller stage in the middle of the hall. At times two bands performed at the same time. An organ that was permanently installed in the hall was surrounded by a scaffolding that was hung with cloths. Underground films were shown on these makeshift screens. There were also extensive light installations. Another attraction was a giant slide ( Helter Skelter ) that had been rented especially for the event.
Julian Palacios describes the festival in his book about Syd Barrett "Lost in the Woods" as a kind of medieval market with stalls, jugglers, acrobats and fortune tellers. The psychedelic mood was fueled by excessive drug use; sometimes drugs were given out for free. Still, the atmosphere remained peaceful.
The artists and bands
The performing artists and bands were not announced in advance. There were rumors about possible participants who did not appear, for example The Velvet Underground , Allen Ginsberg , Andy Warhol and Frank Zappa with his Mothers of Invention .
There are no reliable sources about the artists who actually performed. An esteemed list of appearances includes The Crazy World of Arthur Brown , Soft Machine , The Move , Tomorrow , The Pretty Things , Pete Townshend , John's Children , Alexis Korner , Social Deviants , The Purple Gang , Champion Jack Dupree , Graham Bond , Savoy Brown , Ginger Johnson and his African conga drummers, The Creation , Denny Laine , The Block, The Cat, The Flies , Charlie Browns Clowns, Glo Macari and the Big Three, Gary Farr , The Interference, Jacobs Ladder Construction Company, Ron Geesin , Lincoln Folk Group, Mike Horovitz , Poison Bellows, Christopher Logue , Robert Randall, Suzy Creamcheese , Sam Gopal Dream , Giant Sun Trolley , Simon Vickenoog, Jean Jaques Lavel, The Stalkers, Utterly Incredible Too Long Ago To Remember Sometimes Shouting At People, Barry Fantoni , Noel Murphy, Dick Gregory , Derek Brimstone, Dave Russel, 117, Mick & Pete, Binder, Edwards & Vaughan, Alexander Trocchi and Yoko Ono .
Pink Floyd arrived around three o'clock, they had previously had concerts in the Netherlands . Their appearance accompanied the sunrise.
aftermath
Palacios describes "The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream" as "epoch-making experience" ( epochal experience ) for many. “The underground came to the surface” ( The underground […] went overground ). The BBC reported live from the festival on the 10pm news. This is how John Lennon found out about it and set out to be there.
Excerpts from the festival can be seen in the documentary Tonite Let's All Make Love in London by Peter Whitehead , who documented swinging London in the 1960s.
On April 21, 2007, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of “The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream”, a commemorative event was held at the London Institute of Contemporary Arts . Some of the musicians who were there 40 years earlier performed, including The Pretty Things and Arthur Brown . In addition, film material was shown and discussions were held with contemporary witnesses.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream. Excerpted from 'Syd Barrett: Lost in the Woods' by Julian Palacios. ( Memento of the original from February 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Speakers' corner: The 14 hour Technicolor Dream. Psychedelic April '67. Luna Kafé article, February 4, 2007
- ↑ a b Collection of articles on ukrockfestivals.com (English)
- ↑ Article about the festival on PinkFloydz.com (English)
- ↑ "Our Technicolor Dream" on Optifanatics.com (English)
