THOUSANDS AT BELFAST

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32525, 8 February 1971, Page 1

THOUSANDS AT BELFAST

Thousands of young rock fans crowded a hot, dusty, 14-acre paddock in Belfast on Saturday for the Englefield Rock Festival.

For 12 hours they sat drinking beer, smoking, and listening to the music of 13 groups under skies that changed from earlymorning clouds to brilliant sunshine. Showers fell as the first visitors began arriving about 10 a.m., but a rapid improvement in the weather encouraged an influx of young persons that did not slow until well into the evening.

By early afternoon the festival had attracted a crowd of about 1400; by the end of the last performance at 10 p.m. almost 6000 persons packed the area.' There were problems—there were several arrests for disorderly behaviour, there were traffic jams, thousands of bottles littered the paddock, and two small fires broke out—but the festival was generally orderly and well run.

The syndicate that promoted the festival—the ages of the four members range from 18 to 22—imported the former “Hair” star Tomay Fields, and hired top-class bands from throughout the country, including the winner of last year’s “Battle of the Bands,” the Inbetweens.

Criminal Investigation Branch drug squad men

moved among the crowd throughout the day, but there were no arrests under the Narcotics Act.

Empty beer and soft-drink bottles soon became the major problem of the festival; thousands of them scattered were across the ground in front of the stage. One girl was taken to Christchurch Hospital by ambulance after she cut her foot on broken glass, and the situation became so bad that the festival was halted until bottles were stacked into piles. Early in the evening the mood of the crowd—which until then had been very light—deepened as police took beer from spectators and poured it out. Soon after this a member of the crowd fought with a policeman and most of the 18-man police force present were needed to disperse the hundreds of persons who pressed close to the fighting pair. The festival quietened within half-an-hour and the atmosphere regained its air of informality, emphasised by the jeans and bare chests—loose blouses for girls—worn bv most.

The “Epitaph Riders” motorcycle club, in full colours claimed the area at the left of the stage as their own, their performance attracting as much attention as those of the bands. At one stage

seven members mounted a single machine and tried to drive along the strip in front of the band; police prevented the completion of the attempt. The festival was filmed by a Christchurch television company for possible commercial use, some of which will be used for national screening by the N.Z.B.C. Hie stage entertainment was taped by three recording enthusiasts, with the intention of selling the tapes to groups that appeared in the festival.