Genesis – Knebworth - 24th June 1978
I arrived at Knebworth for a Midsummer Nights Dream with Genesis four days before hand, having met some French Canadians in Cornwall a couple of weeks earlier, we arranged to arrive early. There were about 100 people who had the same idea and as the site wasn’t ready so we were directed to a nearby Army assault course and we were woken in the early hours by soldiers traipsing over the course. The next day we moved to the main site and as more people arrived there was a real sense of community.
Over 80,000 people attended this one day event on the beautiful grounds of Knebworth House, tickets were £5.50. Roy Harper kicked off the day with an impressive set, this is the first time I got to see him and many years later I got to book him to perform at Windsor Arts Centre after Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin tipped me off that they were releasing an album together, when I bumped into him in my local pub.
Other artists on the bill included jazz fusion Brand X which had featured Phil Collins but not on the day, Southern rock band the Atlanta Rhythm Section from America and new wave band Devo who had just released their debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! And had a very mixed response from the audience.
Next up Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers who blew me away, this was the first time I had seen them live and became an instant fan they were followed by Jefferson Starship who were without legendary singer who fell out with band on the lead up to the show. This was the second time I had seen Genesis live having seen them at Hammersmith Odeon in 1976 and I remember them being impressive with a great light show.
All in all it was a great day I met up with various friends which I have no idea how this happened with so many people and no mobile phones. The next day as we were packing up our tents I had a real sense of sadness which was a regular feeling for me after a festival,
If you were there tell us about your experience?
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