Fact #100690
When:
Short story:
Blind Faith (Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker and Rick Grech) make their UK debut with a free concert in Hyde Park, London, England, UK, Europe, supported by Richie Havens, Donovan, The Edgar Broughton Band and Third Ear Band. The audience includes Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones and his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull.Full article:
Late on this afternoon, allegedly, the members of Blind Faith were ensconced in the plush Brook Street offices of their manager Robert 'Stiggy' Stigwood, gaining considerable altitude as they puffed merrily on the finest waccy baccy in town. In an hour or so they would be leaving for the momentous Hyde Park gig which would introduce them to the British public.
Stiggy excused himself from the room briefly to attend to some pressing business upstairs and, in his absence, fun-filled drummer Ginger Baker began rooting around, looking for something which might inspire a merry jape. In the top right hand drawer of Stigwood's roll-top desk, he located a large square tape box, clearly labelled as containing master recordings of the brand new forthcoming album by Stigwood's other top clients The Bee Gees, set for imminent release.
A gleam appeared in Ginger's eye and a Zippo lighter appeared in his hand. Setting the flame to maximum, he uttered the mystic incantation "Fuckin' hairdressers!" and applied the fiery fountain to one corner of the box. Much to the amusement of his colleagues, it blackened, smouldered, smoked and finally burst into flames.
Stigwood's footsteps, however, could now be heard descending the stairs outside. Hastily stuffing the flaming box back into the drawer, the members of Blind Faith made for the door. Luck was with them, because it was now past time for them and Stigwood to depart for the park. A last glance back confirmed that the desk drawer was now billowing with smoke, as they closed the door behind them and headed for the limo.
The next Bee Gees album, Cucumber Castle, was not released until May of 1970, almost a year later.
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Jeff Dexter (DJ) : The thing I remember most was walking over to Robert Stigwood's offices in Brook Street to meet Blind Faith and accompany them back to the park. Just before we all left, Ginger Baker opened a drawer in Stiggy's desk and found a master tape of the latest Bee Gees album, which he promptly set fire to and put back in the drawer!
(Source : interview with Johnny Black for Mojo magazine)
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The weather that afternoon was scorching. By the time Blind Faith got to Hyde Park, the crowd was 100,000 strong. Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Donovan and Mick Fleetwood were backstage, along with former Traffic members Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood. "Blind Faith's manager Robert Stigwood stood out like a sore thumb," recalls Andrew King, whose Blackhill Enterprises promoted the event. "For a start, he was the only man there in a suit, a very stylish dark blue job it was. What rather spoiled the image was that the shoulders were absolutely covered in dandruff."
Mystic hippies, The Third Ear Band took the stage at 2.30pm with their woozy brew of sitars, tablas, strings and oboes, followed by another staple of outdoor events in 1969, The Edgar Broughton Band. Richie Havens provided a brief foretaste of Woodstock; despite being all but inaudible to most of the crowd, Donovan's unannounced spot was well received by those in the front rows.
At five pm, with the sweet, heady aroma of dope wafting on pale blue clouds above the audience, Blind Faith took the stage. Kids clambered on car roofs and shinned up trees for a better look as the opening chords of Buddy Holly's Well All Right rang out.
"We had basically the same set-up we'd have used if we were playing to a hall with 3,000 people in it," remembers Steve Winwood. "We didn't have experience yet of big outdoor gigs. It was our first gig, and to do it in front of 100,000 people was not the best situation. Nerves were showing and it was very daunting. We couldn't relax."
Attempting to lighten the mood, Ginger Baker announced, "This is the first rehearsal." Clapton, in jeans and t-shirt, using a Fender Telecaster with a Strat neck, lingered in the shadow of his Marshall stack, delivering only one memorable solo, in I'd rather see You Sleeping On The Ground.
Baker, as if harking back to the days of Cream, was tending to push the band too hard. "This was when I first noticed something was amiss," he says. "In rehearsals and during recording, eric had been doing amazing stuff, but in Hyde Park I kept wondering when he was going to start playing.
Bassist Ric Grech simply kept his head down and ploughed on. "I was nervous," he revealed later. "Everybody was. We knew the numbers, but not to the extent of not having to think about them.
Clapton remembers how, even after three encores, "I came off stage shaking like a leaf because I felt, once again, that I'd let people down." Cries of 'We want Cream back' rang out from disappointed die-hards, and the subdued nature of the crowd as they drifted quietly away can only have reinforced Clapton's dismay.
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Eric Clapton : We rehearsed for three-weeks, publicized and all that hype, and the first audience we played to was 36,000 people at Hyde Park, London!
I promised Ginger that whatever I did, I'd take him with me because we had a close thing going. So, what happened was that we didn't rehearse enough, we didn't get to know each other enough, we didn't go through enough trials and tribulations before the big time came. We went straight into the big gigs and I came offstage shaking like a leaf because I felt once again that I'd let people down.There are 36,000 people waiting there for what you're going to do and if it's not what you think is right - no way!
(Source : not known)
Terry Reid (singer/songwriter) : Steve Winwood is a mate from then of course. He’s pretty quiet and shy. I went to see Blind Faith in Hyde Park and they all had their own roadies setting the gear up and Steve had his organ pushed right to the back. Eric turned up and said what are you doing? Steve says, I wanna be back here and Eric says, "No fucking way! You’re the singer," and you could hardly see him.
(Source : interview by Max Bell for Classic Rock, 2012)
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Stiggy excused himself from the room briefly to attend to some pressing business upstairs and, in his absence, fun-filled drummer Ginger Baker began rooting around, looking for something which might inspire a merry jape. In the top right hand drawer of Stigwood's roll-top desk, he located a large square tape box, clearly labelled as containing master recordings of the brand new forthcoming album by Stigwood's other top clients The Bee Gees, set for imminent release.
A gleam appeared in Ginger's eye and a Zippo lighter appeared in his hand. Setting the flame to maximum, he uttered the mystic incantation "Fuckin' hairdressers!" and applied the fiery fountain to one corner of the box. Much to the amusement of his colleagues, it blackened, smouldered, smoked and finally burst into flames.
Stigwood's footsteps, however, could now be heard descending the stairs outside. Hastily stuffing the flaming box back into the drawer, the members of Blind Faith made for the door. Luck was with them, because it was now past time for them and Stigwood to depart for the park. A last glance back confirmed that the desk drawer was now billowing with smoke, as they closed the door behind them and headed for the limo.
The next Bee Gees album, Cucumber Castle, was not released until May of 1970, almost a year later.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeff Dexter (DJ) : The thing I remember most was walking over to Robert Stigwood's offices in Brook Street to meet Blind Faith and accompany them back to the park. Just before we all left, Ginger Baker opened a drawer in Stiggy's desk and found a master tape of the latest Bee Gees album, which he promptly set fire to and put back in the drawer!
(Source : interview with Johnny Black for Mojo magazine)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The weather that afternoon was scorching. By the time Blind Faith got to Hyde Park, the crowd was 100,000 strong. Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Donovan and Mick Fleetwood were backstage, along with former Traffic members Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood. "Blind Faith's manager Robert Stigwood stood out like a sore thumb," recalls Andrew King, whose Blackhill Enterprises promoted the event. "For a start, he was the only man there in a suit, a very stylish dark blue job it was. What rather spoiled the image was that the shoulders were absolutely covered in dandruff."
Mystic hippies, The Third Ear Band took the stage at 2.30pm with their woozy brew of sitars, tablas, strings and oboes, followed by another staple of outdoor events in 1969, The Edgar Broughton Band. Richie Havens provided a brief foretaste of Woodstock; despite being all but inaudible to most of the crowd, Donovan's unannounced spot was well received by those in the front rows.
At five pm, with the sweet, heady aroma of dope wafting on pale blue clouds above the audience, Blind Faith took the stage. Kids clambered on car roofs and shinned up trees for a better look as the opening chords of Buddy Holly's Well All Right rang out.
"We had basically the same set-up we'd have used if we were playing to a hall with 3,000 people in it," remembers Steve Winwood. "We didn't have experience yet of big outdoor gigs. It was our first gig, and to do it in front of 100,000 people was not the best situation. Nerves were showing and it was very daunting. We couldn't relax."
Attempting to lighten the mood, Ginger Baker announced, "This is the first rehearsal." Clapton, in jeans and t-shirt, using a Fender Telecaster with a Strat neck, lingered in the shadow of his Marshall stack, delivering only one memorable solo, in I'd rather see You Sleeping On The Ground.
Baker, as if harking back to the days of Cream, was tending to push the band too hard. "This was when I first noticed something was amiss," he says. "In rehearsals and during recording, eric had been doing amazing stuff, but in Hyde Park I kept wondering when he was going to start playing.
Bassist Ric Grech simply kept his head down and ploughed on. "I was nervous," he revealed later. "Everybody was. We knew the numbers, but not to the extent of not having to think about them.
Clapton remembers how, even after three encores, "I came off stage shaking like a leaf because I felt, once again, that I'd let people down." Cries of 'We want Cream back' rang out from disappointed die-hards, and the subdued nature of the crowd as they drifted quietly away can only have reinforced Clapton's dismay.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Clapton : We rehearsed for three-weeks, publicized and all that hype, and the first audience we played to was 36,000 people at Hyde Park, London!
I promised Ginger that whatever I did, I'd take him with me because we had a close thing going. So, what happened was that we didn't rehearse enough, we didn't get to know each other enough, we didn't go through enough trials and tribulations before the big time came. We went straight into the big gigs and I came offstage shaking like a leaf because I felt once again that I'd let people down.There are 36,000 people waiting there for what you're going to do and if it's not what you think is right - no way!
(Source : not known)
Terry Reid (singer/songwriter) : Steve Winwood is a mate from then of course. He’s pretty quiet and shy. I went to see Blind Faith in Hyde Park and they all had their own roadies setting the gear up and Steve had his organ pushed right to the back. Eric turned up and said what are you doing? Steve says, I wanna be back here and Eric says, "No fucking way! You’re the singer," and you could hardly see him.
(Source : interview by Max Bell for Classic Rock, 2012)