Various Artists - Bickershaw Festival 1972

Watch out, Beadle’s about

Located in an area of Wigan that the accompanying booklet claims even the locals disowned, Bickershaw was an anarchic hybrid of commercial and free festival set in conditions that would make refugee camps seem a haven in comparison. The Grateful Dead and Captain Beefheart headlined, rain dominated and, seen in contemporary footage here, youthful co-organiser Jeremy Beadle veered between idealistic and bewildered by the ensuing chaos. This is a semi-documentary-style retrospective. It might boast of “Rare Festival Footage”, but the footage is so rare as to be often almost impossible to locate. Beefheart and Country Joe are fairly well represented in the snatches of Super 8 film overlaid with third-generation soundtracks, but a billed appearance by The Kinks is little more than photographic evidence with negligible celluloid content. Yet, as a reflection on a key weekend in the 70s festival scene, it’s a fascinating montage of archive news items, press cuttings, and cine-film that more than adequatel job of sets the scene. Rose-tinted reflections from RC’s Mick Middles, Bad Trips tent organiser Bob Jones and Hawkwind’s ubiquitous saxophonist Nik Turner round things out.

Ozit Morpheus Records | OZITDVD 006

Reviewed by Ian Abrahams
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