In Pictures: How they used to do festivals back in the day

3 May 2021, 18:00

The humble festival has been with us for over 50 years now. So how did your parents - or grandparents, even - enjoy the festival experience?

What were the differences? What were the similarities? What sort of bands were they watching? And, most importantly, what were the toilets like? Here are some brilliant archive photos of festivals from the1960s through to the 1980s.

1. Fans arrive at the Isle Of Wight for the 1970 "Pop Festival". They're looking forward to seeing The Who, Jimi Hendrix and the final UK performance of The Doors with Jim Morrison.

   

2. Festival goers start to arrive for a lo-fi-looking Reading Festival in August 1980. They were there to see Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, Def Leppard and more.

   

3. Toilets at the Isle Of Wight Festival, 1970. Good luck if you get the "cubicle" at the end.

   

4. If you lost your mates in 1976, how did you get in touch with them in the pre-mobile era? Leave a message on the message wall, of course! And then hope for the best.

   

5. There was one other option in those pre-mobile days.

   

6. Using the amenities at Glastonbury Festival, 1971. These lucky festival goers could have been watching David Bowie's first Glasto performance the next day.

   

7. Roger Daltrey "copters in" to play The Who's headline set at the Isle Of Wight festival in August 1969. The band aired their rock opera Tommy that night.

   

8. Reading Festival grew out of the National Jazz Festival in Richmond in the early 60s. By the start of the next decade, the event had moved to Reading and adopted a crowd that favoured heavy rock. This is the view from the stage in 1973, when Status Quo and Genesis played.

   

9. There was less of a stage show in the early days of British festivals, as this image from the Isle Of Wight in 1970 demonstrates.

   

10. The stage at Reading Festival in 1976. It's a bit "basic"

    

11. Forget "Follow us on Instagram" - at Reading in the 1976, you were encouraged to sign up with the "Daily Mirror Pop Club". Whatever that was.

    

12. British festivals always had connections with the counter-culture. In 1981, Glastonbury joined forces with CND - the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament, which protested against the arms race.

    

13. Glastonbury in the 1980s was a much more relaxed affair

    

14. It was a whole lot easier to star-spot in the late 60s! Keith Richards attended the Isle Of Wight in '69, as did John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr

    

15. The hippie ethos was to "let it all hang out" - why bother with anything as conformist as having a tent?

    

16. Some real canvas tents and a distinct lack of dark fruits cider at the campsite at Reading in 1976

    

17. The front row at Glastonbury 1990 - note the complete lack of flags!

    

18. This festival fan at the Isle Of Wight in 1969 is probably in her 70s now!

    

19. The crowd at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1969. The following year was to be the last event on the island for 20 years - over half a million people are thought to have attended, prompting a rethink of festivals by both the organisers and the government.

    

20. Health and safety, 1980-style

    

21. Festival-goers making their way to Reading in 1975