Barkisland Krumlin Festival
Barkisland Krumlin Festival
August 14th-16th 1970
The Yorkshire Folk, Blues & Jazz Festival.
Krumlin, Barkisland ,Yorkshire.
"Krumlin -the bands "
Fairport entertain the masses © Mike Taylor Unfortunately none of the Sunday bands performed due to the rotten weather and many of the other bands did not turn up because of rumoured financial problems faced by the promoters .
* Indicates the artist definitely did perform . This list is in order of appearance.
Friday
The Humblebums*
Elton John*
Georgie Fame *
Atomic Rooster*
Pretty Things*
Juicy Lucy*
Amazing Blondel.
Manfred Mann
Saturday
JoAnn Kelly*
Ralph McTell*
The Johnstons*
Honey Dew *
Pentangle*
The Groundhogs*
Alexis Korner*
Kinks
Fairport Convention*
Graham Bond & Alexis KornerFotheringay*
Zoot Money and Alan Price *
Pink Floyd (did not appear)
Sunday
Ginger Baker's Airforce
Mungo Jerry
Taste
EdgarBroughton
Yes
Quintessence
Steamhammer
Mike Westbrook Concert Orchestra
National Head Band w/Their Heavy Friends
Greatest Show On Earth
Jan Dukes De Grey w/70 Piece Choir)
Pentangle
This music press report fills in many of the gaps.
Bill-topping Pink Floyd - who many must have come to see — never appeared. The Move — not advertised in the Press or programmes — arrived but didn't play because their van got stuck in the narrow lane leading to the stage. Manfred Mann was another casualty, along with Amazing Blondel and all the groups on Sunday, which included Ginger Baker's Airforce. And there was a rumour that he was bringing Peter Green along to play with his band.
Of the groups that did appear, Elton John was the star on Friday night, and Fairport Convention made Saturday worth while.
The festival was due to start at 3 pm on Friday but didn't actually get under way until 7.45. The five hour delay — which must be something of a record —was due to the late arrival of groups and arguments about who vwas taking the Stage first when they finally turned up.
First to go on were the Humblebums who were billed to appear on Saturday but had arrived early to listen to Fnday's groups. No sooner had they turned up than the first of the rain started to fall and huge queues formed around a Caravan selling Polythene bags.The Humblebums were well received despite the obvious feeling in the crowd. Their Scottish humour — delivered by Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty — and lively folk songs took away some of the gloom.
And so on to Elton John who made a festival debut he will not forget. Opening with " Glad Side Of The Moon'' he went through his songs with the professionalism of a veteran. A man standing near me summed up his act when he said: ''He's like a male. white Arthea Franklin." ''Holy Moses'' and ''60 Years On'' had the crowd cheering for more and he had the whole field clapping to the Stones' " HonkyTonk Women.'' ''I hope this dispels the myth that I am Radio One Club and Tony Blackbum show,'' he quipped before coming back to a well-deserved encore.
His bass player, Dee Murray. was occasionally playing chords on his bass guitar and drummer Nigel Olsson must have broken a dozen sticks. But it was worth it to hear the cheers echo over the Yorkshire hillside.
In contrast, Georgie Fame was a disappointment - Elton was hard to follow and Georgie did his best. '' Seventh Son '' was followed by James Taylor's ''Fire and Water`' and he finished with ''Somebody Stole My Thunder'' — a longer version which was too long.
Atomic Rooster — next on — provided the first really progressive sounds of the night and they deserved their encore. Organist Vincent Crane treats the keyboard like bongo drums during the solos and guitarist John Carr can handle a Fender well.
The Pretty Things took over from Rooster and blasted away into the night with a competent but rather unexciting set. By this time most of the audience were tired and Jucy Lucy had a hard job to keep up interest whilst sparring with the elements.
For those suffering from insomnia there was an all-night folk concert in the balloon tent which has become a familiar sight at festivals.
Saturday's concert got underway at about midday instead of the advertised 10 am with an extension of the folk Concert.
JoAnn Kelly, Ralph McTell, the Johnstons and Honey Dew were punctuated with rain, and Pentangle received the first big ovation with a set of electric folk which included ''Basket Of Light '' and their anthem '' Take Three Girls."
Tony ,McPhee and the Groundhogs' heavy bluesy material went down well.
But the Fairports stole the afternoon. Messrs Thompson, Nichol, Swarbrick, Mattacks and Pegg took the stage with instruments in one hand and pints in the other. Dave Swarbrick played his violin so fast the strings must have smoked. Fooling around between numbers, they seemed to dispel the gloom. And the rainsoaked crowd got to their feet to applaud.
Graham Bond followed the Fairports with his jazzy blowing and Alexis Korner took the stage with him to finish the set.
Fotheringay — another refugee from the bar tent — played a good set along the lines of their friends from Fairport. Sandy Denny's voice improves with time and her keyboard work is now an integral part of the group's music.
It was left to Alan Price and Zoot Money to finish off the night and, as it turned out, the entire festival. These two organ giants sound hot alone. so you can imagine what both playing at once brew up. 'Simon Smith'' and ''Hi-Lili '' were the highlights of their set which eventually had to stop because the rain was pouring into the stage and there was a danger of electrocution.
If you have enjoyed your visit to this website, please spread the word by clicking the 'like' and 'share' buttons below. Thank you