Barbeque 67
{{Short description|Music festival}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox music festival
| music_festival_name = Barbeque 67
| image = File:Barbeque67.jpeg
| location = Spalding, Lincolnshire, England
| years_active = 1967
| founders = Brian Thompson
| dates = 29 May 1967 | genre = Rock, including rhythm and blues, blues rock, psychedelic rock and soul styles.
}}
Barbeque 67 was a music event held in the market town of Spalding, Lincolnshire, in the East Midlands of England. Despite the presence of many well-known artists among its lineup, the event remains largely unknown. It is considered by some to have been the first rock festival.{{cite web|url=http://www.voicesofeastanglia.com/2012/05/the-worlds-first-rock-festival-spalding-67.html|title=The World's First Rock Festival – Spalding '67 – Voices of East Anglia|date=25 May 2012}}
Inception
Towards the end of 1966, Grantham promoter, former footballer Brian Thompson,{{cite web |url=http://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/mr-b-thompson-1-3375544 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180224113641/https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/mr-b-thompson-1-3375544 |archive-date=24 February 2018 |title=Mr B. Thompson }} set about booking Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band and the Move for a Bank Holiday concert in Spalding. Their management persuaded Thompson to also book three relatively unknown acts at that time: Pink Floyd, the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream.
The event was held in Spalding at the Tulip Bulb Auction Hall, most likely the largest building in the town that could hold a large crowd. In addition, Zoot Money's Big Roll Band were booked, along with a local covers outfit, Sounds Force 5, who were expected to ensure a decent turnout and were to perform in all changeovers between each band at the side of the stage.
Advertising was national and massively underestimated, with thousands making their way to the market town, causing national radio to warn travellers to turn back. Attendance numbers have been estimated with a venue capacity of 6,000 and twice as many unable to gain entry.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-31557062|title=Spalding unveils Jimi Hendrix plaque|work=BBC News |date=20 February 2015}} Tickets cost just £1 and covered accommodation came in the form of the Spalding Town F.C. stand next door.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/lI8yz4yLR6S77_OLO7H6eQ|title=BBC – A History of the World – Object : Jimi Hendrix's first music festival|website=www.bbc.co.uk}}
Lineup
- Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band
- Zoot Money and his Big Roll Band
- Cream {{efn|The setlist for Cream was "N.S.U.", "Sunshine of Your Love", "We're Going Wrong", "Stepping Out", "Rollin' and Tumblin'", "Toad" and "I'm So Glad"{{cite web|url=http://www.bootlegzone.com/album.php?name=c19670527|title=BootlegZone : Cream -- Live 1967-05-29 Spalding, Barbeque '67|first=François Vander|last=Linden|website=www.bootlegzone.com}}{{cite web|url=http://strangerthanknown.blogspot.com/2013/03/cream-live-at-spalding-bar-b-que-29th.html|title=stranger than known: Cream live at the Spalding Bar-B-Que, 29th May 1967|first=David|last=Mainwood|date=10 March 2013}}}}
- Jimi Hendrix Experience
- The Move
- Pink Floyd
- Sounds Force 5 (between each main performance)
The show
The Spring Bank Holiday was sunny and hot, which would have been very uncomfortable in a large crowd inside the venue, which was essentially a metal shed. The event appeared to be unorganised and the sound terrible. For the opening act, Pink Floyd, the audience was small, but the hall quickly became overfull with fans being trapped underneath the stage.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/spaulding-festival.html|title=The spalding festival: barbeque 67|website=www.ukrockfestivals.com}} The two bands seen as "psychedelic, Pink Floyd and the Move, opened the show, followed by the two blues rock groups, Jimi Hendrix and Cream. Pink Floyd performed at the rear of the venue using a white bed sheet onto which moving images were projected.
Hendrix had many technical issues, including tuning problems, was late on stage, meaning only a half-hour set, and finished by throwing his guitar into his speaker stack, the same red Fender Stratocaster he would burn at the Monterey International Pop Festival the following month.{{cite web|url=http://crosstowntorrents.org/archive/index.php/t-4698.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821160428/http://crosstowntorrents.org/archive/index.php/t-4698.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=21 August 2018|title=1967-05-29 'Barbeque '67', Tulip Bulb Auction Hall, Spalding, Lincolnshire, England [Archive] – Crosstown Torrents|website=crosstowntorrents.org}} It was widely agreed that Eric Clapton of Cream out-played Hendrix that day and that Geno Washington made a great show.
Legacy
{{Update-section|date=August 2018}}
Whilst a groundbreaking event for its time in the Summer of Love, ahead of the famous Monterey Pop Festival and possibly the first Rock music festival in the UK, the event remains largely unknown outside of its home.{{fact|date=July 2022}}
The event became a one off in Spalding due to opposition from local residents. Thompson, however, moved to a location in nearby Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, for the 1968 event, the Barn Barbeque Concert and Dance, which included Donovan, Fairport Convention, Fleetwood Mac and the Move.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/whittlesey-1968.html|title=Barn dance and barbeque whittlesey 1968 donovan, fairport convention fleetwood mac, the move|website=www.ukrockfestivals.com}}
In 2009 the event was featured in the BBC TV programme Inside Out.http://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/memories-of-barbeque-67-featured-on-tv-programme-1-582235 {{dead link|date=August 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lincolnshirelife.co.uk/posts/view/when-music-legends-rocked-spalding|title=When music legends rocked Spalding – Lincolnshire Life|website=www.lincolnshirelife.co.uk}} and in 2016 a blue plaque commemorated the event, placed at the Red Lion Hotel where Jimi Hendrix stayed that night.
In 2017 the 50th anniversary of the event was to be commemorated in the town at The Punchbowl with a Jimi Hendrix Experience tribute band and local covers groups.{{fact|date=July 2022}}
The event is the subject of a 2017 play, Barbecue '67 Revisited, based on the concert by the Nottingham-based theatre group 'Excavate'.{{cite news |last1=Russell |first1=Sadie |title=This iconic rock festival brought Jimi Hendrix to Lincolnshire |url=https://www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife/revisited-festival-brought-jimi-hendrix-173267 |access-date=21 August 2018 |work=lincolnshirelive |date=9 July 2017}}
A radio play Barbeque 67 – The Original Summer of Love, written by Andy Barrett, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 29 May 2022 and included reminiscences from Geno Washington, Zoot Money and Nick Mason.{{cite web |title=Barbeque 67 – The Original Summer of Love |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0017t8m |publisher=BBC Radio 4 |access-date=22 August 2024}} A documentary followed from BBC Radio Lincolnshire in 2025 called [https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0l4jskh Barbeque 67: Spalding's Groundbreaking Festival].
References
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Notes
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{{Historic rock festival}}
{{Rock festival}}
Category:Rock festivals in England