Knebworth Festival
Appearance
The Knebworth Festival is a recurring open-air rock and pop concert held on the grounds of the Knebworth House in Knebworth, England. The festival first occurred in 1974 when The Allman Brothers Band, The Doobie Brothers and other artists attracted 60,000 people.
Since then the venue has hosted numerous outdoor concerts, featuring artists including The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, Deep Purple, Queen, Status Quo, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Robert Plant, Dire Straits, Mike Oldfield, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robbie Williams and Oasis.
Major concerts
- In 1976 Lynyrd Skynyrd performed at Knebworth on the same day as The Rolling Stones and are widely acknowledged to have "played The Stones off the park".
- In 1979, Led Zeppelin performed at Knebworth for two gigs, their first concerts in the United Kingdom since 1975. The band reportedly played to record crowds in excess of 200,000 people, even though official admission records only list 109,000 people. The New Barbarians, Ron Wood's solo outfit with Keith Richards played at the second show on 11 August. Support bands included Fairport Convention and Chas and Dave.
- The Beach Boys headlined the 1980 Knebworth concert, which would later prove to be the last UK performance of the band's original lineup. Drummer Dennis Wilson would die in 1983 from drowning. Their set was released in 2002 as Good Timin': Live at Knebworth England 1980.
- The 1985 event was the first UK gig by the re-formed Deep Purple.
- On 9 August 1986, Queen performed their last show with their original lineup. The band did not perform live again until after the death of lead singer Freddie Mercury, at his tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in April 1992.
- On 30 June 1990, the park was the location for The Silver Clef Award Winners Concert which was recorded and released on DVD. It included the performance of artists including Pink Floyd, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Tears for Fears, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Ray Cooper, Robert Plant (w/ Jimmy Page), Status Quo and Phil Collins (w/ Genesis).
- In 1996, Oasis, who were supported by The Charlatans, Kula Shaker, Manic Street Preachers, The Bootleg Beatles, The Chemical Brothers, Ocean Colour Scene and The Prodigy, played two shows with an audience of 125,000 per night. Over 2.5 million people applied for tickets for the shows, making it the largest ever demand for concert tickets in British history.
- In 2003, Robbie Williams headlined at the main stage in Knebworth over a three-day period, drawing crowds of over 375,000, and a further 3.5 million who watched live on television and online.[1] Other acts to perform on the same stage were The Darkness, Ash, Moby and Kelly Osbourne.[2] This was reputedly the biggest UK pop concert ever and caused a huge traffic jam on the A1(M) as thousands of cars[3] tried to reach the venue during Friday evening rush hour. A subsequent album, entitled Robbie Williams – Live At Knebworth, was released, and reached number two in the UK charts. A DVD entitled What We Did Last Summer, was released afterwards.
- In 2009, Metallica and Linkin Park headlined the first ever UK Sonisphere Festival. Other bands included Nine Inch Nails and Heaven & Hell. The festival took place again in 2010 with Rammstein and Iron Maiden headlining plus performances from other big acts such as Alice Cooper, Iggy and the Stooges and Mötley Crüe. In 2011, the festival hosted the first UK performance of the Big 4 bands of thrash metal.
Concert history
References
- ^ "Robbie Williams Live at Knebworth".
- ^ "Robbie Williams at Knebworth 2003 line-up and rumours - eFestivals.co.uk". www.efestivals.co.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "Robbie Williams @ Knebworth". 5 August 2003.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Knebworth House Rock Concerts: The Seventies". Archived from the original on 3 January 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-28.
- ^ "1974 Knebworth Festival, The Bucolic Frolic @ www.ukrockfestivals.com". Retrieved 13 June 2006.
- ^ "The 1975 Knebworth Concert @ www.ukrockfestivals.com". Retrieved 13 June 2006.
- ^ "The 1976 Knebworth Concert @ www.ukrockfestivals.com". Retrieved 13 June 2006.
- ^ "The 1978 Knebworth Concert @ www.ukrockfestivals.com". Retrieved 13 June 2006.
- ^ a b "The 1979 Knebworth Concerts @ www.ukrockfestivals.com". Retrieved 13 June 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f "Knebworth House Rock Concerts: The Eighties". Archived from the original on 3 January 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-28.
- ^ a b c d e f Kennedy, Kevin (Summer 1982). "Capital Jazz". The Wire (1): 4.
- ^ Getty Images: Berry and Waters; FitzGerald; Vaughan; Paraphernalia; Cobb Davenport and Ford; Jacquet; Pepper; Vinson; DeFranco and Gibbs; Gordon
- ^ "www.deep-purple.net".
- ^ "www.geocities.com". Archived from the original on 26 October 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Knebworth House Rock Concerts: The Nineties". Archived from the original on 3 January 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-28.
- ^ "Genesis Live at Knebworth 1992 (1992)". letterboxd.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "Genesis". Retrieved 28 May 2006.
- ^ Classic Rock Knebworth supplement, circa June 2010
- ^ "Virtual Festivals: Ministry @ Knebworth 2001". Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2006.
- ^ "eFestivals: Knebworth '01". Retrieved 29 May 2006.
- ^ a b c "Knebworth House Rock Concerts: Robbie Williams Live at Knebworth". Retrieved 28 May 2006.
- ^ a b c "Virtual Festivals: Robbie Williams @ Knebworth 2003". Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 28 May 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Sonisphere Festival". Archived from the original on 7 July 2009.
- ^ a b "Rock Concerts". Official site. Knebworth House. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
- ^ "FESTIVAL ALERT: EASTERN ELECTRICS 2013, LONDON". Daily Beat. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Concerts at Knebworth House.