Stonehenge free rock festivals 1984 and 1985

The 1984 Stonehenge festival ( http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/henge-history-84.html ) was the biggest of all the years but also the last one before the notorious ‘Battle of the Beanfield’( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Beanfield ) A mate and I headed there on my motorbike to go and watch Hawkwind play – we weren’t much more than kids but loving our new found independence. I still remember the daunting but exciting experience of us parking up and walking into the festival area and trying to pretend that we knew what it was all about. I still remember that overwhelming feeling of being well and truly out of my depth and completely naive to what was happening around me.

I remember consciously not wanting to make eye contact with the Hells Angels – just in case I inadvertently upset one of them but in reality I’m sure I was an insignificant newbie and they were on the look-out for rival biker gangs and punks.

The original festivals were largely gatherings of peaceful, friendly hippie types but then, as the documented accounts show, the drug pushers moved in, the biker gangs tried to self-police things, tensions rose between biker gangs and punks because the influx of new music genres but then the authorities felt they had to move in to maintain law and order.

I feel there’s a strong correlation between the happy, carefree and somewhat Utopian view of blogging and Twitter and the outlook of the hippie movement. This is all very worthy and it would be good to chill out, go with flow and be friendly to everyone. However, the bigger these things get and the more people try to manipulate or exploit the environment for their own gains, the more tension and rivalries grow.

In the case of Stonehenge, the authorities felt the need to get very heavy handed and I’m sure a lot of innocent people got hurt in the process.

However, although the Stonehenge festivals were ended by the authorities, rock festivals in general have gone on to thrive in the 21st Century. Maybe they don’t have quite the edge of some of the originals but it seems, perhaps, we’ve got better at coming together in large groups to enjoy a cross section of culture and entertainment without everything erupting into a riot.