Another Hippy Remembers Part 2

Summer turned to winter. From tentative seeds, we had become flower children in full bloom. Along the way we had eagerly sought out the music that spoke most of what we were experiencing. And now , as Christmas approached, we were anticipating 'Magical Mystery Tour' to hit the airwaves to cap off a year of psychic revolution.

Flower power was the thing throughout that summer, and many like me dropped out of the mainstream. Festivals were sprouting up everywhere.

At Windsor Festival, The Pink Floyd were top billed along with Arthur Brown. To the dismay of the crowd, the Floyd cancelled at the eleventh hour due to Syd Barrett suffering "…nervous exhaustion…", only to be replaced by Andy Fairweather-Lowe's white soul band, Amen Corner, and ex Manfred Mann vocalist, Paul Jones, performing solo. The crowd were not pleased, and when Fairweather - Lowe dropped to his knees for a little theatrical testifying, the crowd did a little testifying back.( Ironic, considering Fairweather-Lowe's close links to Roger Waters today.)

All was not well in clubland, the writing was on the wall. UFO had by now moved to the Chalk Farm Roundhouse and a looming demise, Electric Garden had become Middle Earth, and soldiered on at Covent Garden.

However, dozens of commercial Blues and Psychedelic clubs opened in their wake, providing a lot of the creative energy that fuelled the 'underground'.

We were abuzz with speculation about the Floyd's expected demise, when another all-night Love-in was announced for December 22nd at Earls Court Olympia, London, featuring The Pink Floyd, with Syd Barrett! 'Christmas on Earth Continued', as it was called', featured another celestial line-up…Hendrix… Traffic(who replaced an advertised The Who)…Tomorrow…Soft Machine…Eric Burdon and the Animals…Sam Gopal Dream…Graham Bond…The Move.

This was a much more commercial event than we were comfortable with, however, the music alone would have induced Terry and I to crawl over broken glass to be there, so plans were made, plots hatched, and off we duly went.

Olympia was a much more cavernous venue than the Ally Pally, and the focus was on two stages, facing each other across the vast hall. Bands were playing alternately, causing the majority of the 10,000 crowd to turn, first left for fourty minutes, then right and so forth, like a colony of paisley penguins!

The light shows, if anything, surpassed the amazing Ally Pally event the previous July, with the wall to wall coverage and dreamscapes. ( Mark Boyle's Sensory Laboratory was specifically billed as support for Soft Machine, and the Floyd had announced the first appearance of their fabulous new '3D lightshow'.) We were absolutely wired for a good time and the bands didn't disappoint us.

Soft Machine, with Kevin Ayers resplendent in pre-punk black string vest, climaxed with the ultimate Dada version of 'We did it again' as Robert Wyatt leapt into a full bath of water, that just happened to be on-stage with them! At least, we assumed it was water.

Tomorrow powered through their unique mix of heavily Beatles influenced psychedelia. During 'Strawberry Fields Forever' Twink(drums) and Junior (bass) performed a mimed fight whilst being subjected to the most powerful strobe light effects I've ever witnessed. Steve Howe was a revelation, moving from raga to classical to Barrett - style anarchy with an almost arrogant ease.

Traffic, still with Dave Mason, even performed 'Hole in my shoe'. Steve Winwood was into his white cheesecloth period, and their music was so unlike anything else around that they occupied a totally original space. The song, 'Here we go round the Mulberry Bush' was very typical of their trippy, watery sound at that time.

Hendrix - voom! All light shows were killed for his performance. Noel Redding was constantly niggling Jimi, playing bass behind his head as Jimi performed his tricks with his guitar. It was the first time I saw Hendrix with his Gibson Flying Arrow, and the tension on-stage produced some electrifying music.

Note: for real seekers of the truth, two good records of this event are available. The video,'Jimi Hendrix Experience' produced in 1967/ 8 by Peter Neale., contains quite a bit of footage from the Saville Theatre, and importantly, extensive grabs from 'Christmas on Earth…". A snippet of the 'COE' show also opens 'Hendrix at Monterey', with a performance of 'Wild Thing'. Tomorrow's full performance at Olympia has recently surfaced on "Tomorrow - '50 Minute Technicolour Dream' CD - recommended!

Back at Olympia…

We were all in a state of high anticipation as The Pink Floyd's roadies set up their equipment. 'Piper at the Gates of Dawn' had been released in the interim since the last time I had seen the Floyd, and it had quickly become emblematic of the times. UK psychedelia leant very much towards childhood myth and literature - misty nights, Dickensian bed-sits, The British Raj, Fairy Tales, Midsummer Nights Dream, Tolkien and Art Deco. Quite a different vibe to the more down to earth and organised American trip - a sort of parallel dimension really. 'Piper' mirrored the European scene as well as had ' Sgt.Pepper', and we had played it constantly throughout the summer. It was, and is, timeless.

A set of perspex, two dimensional triangles, about 5 foot high, were positioned across the Olympia stage. Each triangle had random concentric circle motifs etched into them, and these circles picked up the light as it passed over the perspex. Introduced by John Peel, the Floyd set up amongst these shapes, enclosed within this weird environment of floating, geometric designs. The music kicked - in, and then it hit us.

Syd was sat on the floor, right out front. He looked beautiful in every sense, the Dylan curls (the look that year!), the satin and the scarf. But Terry shouted in my ear,"Syd's guitar isn't plugged in!" And sure enough, Syd's arm hung loosely over his famous Telecaster, no lead evident, and he just gazed out across the crowd - calm, but dis-engaged with his band. The full catastrophe! Yet the music was still that unique sound that we had witnessed first hand the previous July. Lots of Rick Wright organ and Water's bass, and strangely enough, guitar. We later heard that David O'List (The Nice) would often fill-in Syd's parts from the wings, and maybe this was what we could hear. At this point, it would be important to underline the 'ritual' effect of The Pink Floyd on stage - much the same as a Dead concert. They had defined an original form, and defined their audience. There were no predecessors or competitors, so their very presence elicited a 'high' whenever they appeared. This was a short set though, and as history records, Syd's last official appearance with the band. (However, there has been much talk about some five piece gigs - Col suggests he may have witnessed one - but to all intents and purposes, I believe that this was the final gig of the classic line-up.).

The night drifted by after the Floyd, and Terry and I emerged into a freezing cold sunny day, and a sleep on the pavement at Sloane Square.

1968 loomed around the corner, flower power was dying as a scene. But for a lucky few, the psychedelic ideal would never fade. The combination of light and sound had occurred in a way, which was unique, and so, lives on as a true innovation. To paraphrase the good Doctor Thompson, 'I saw bigger and louder Floyd shows, but somehow they never seemed brighter than when it was Syd's Floyd'.

To come - my time with GONG, and the FLOYD/GONG connection.

PART 1 | PART 3