When you go to gigs, perhaps especially back in the day, before the invention of phones recording anything and everything, some people behaved very oddly. Driven to strange behaviour by the rock n roll…or by drugs.
When I first started going to gigs, I didn’t realise this would happen, but quickly got used to it. I suspect it doesn’t happen much anymore. Remember Jesus at festivals? Or do you recall people shouting ‘Wally’ before bands went on? There was always something.
That “Wally!” shout is interesting. It’s thought to have originated at the Isle Of Wight festival as a desperate call by some fans to find a lost friend. The last time I heard it was before The Who at Newcastle City Hall. I did think for a while that it referred to the band Wally an excellent early 70s prog band from Harrogate, managed by Yes’s Brian Lane who were discovered and co-produced by Bob Harris I think via a battle of the bands that Druid won - another great prog band whose Fluid Druid album we’ll be doing soon.
They made two records and split up, but were momentarily high profile, supporting Yes. But it wasn’t about them.
Most extreme behaviour involved various states of undress, of course. I’ve told you before of the well-endowed biker who took her top off next to me, as Zeppelin came on stage at Knebworth. Oooof. Her kids wouldn’t go hungry.
Jesus was rarely not naked at any festival. I never met him, but he was called William Jellett and this is some info about him >
It was a sign of festival tolerance that they accepted a naked thin man freaking out in their presence. He died a few years ago.
Then there were the stage divers who got onto the stage in an act that would always see the person crushed by hairy roadies, except at a Hawkwind gig where I saw one chap freaking in the strobes and was left to do so stage side. The funniest example is on that film of Springsteen playing Rosalita when a girl gets on the stage and just stands, head bowed, close to Bruce, looking embarrassed at what she’d done.
Festivals used to be less about corporate sponsorship and more about counter culture living, especially in America. I recall reading about one, I forget which, where half-naked biker women rode through the crowd firing rifles, which does sound like it should be a song.
Then again, extreme behaviour in general is treated differently now. We had a boy at school who when upset would take all his clothes off. A 14-year old boy just standing there starkers and screaming. God knows what was happening at home, but he was just treated like he was being naughty.
I’ve never indulged in any, I’m more likely to complain about people standing up in front of me at gigs, and especially if they’re filming. They must know how much they’re hated, but people still do it. These days, you never see people doing daft things. I mean, I saw people put their heads inside the bass bin at that Hawkwind gig. They must still be deaf. Anyway, things are less extreme than in the 70s, I think. Back then, we took for granted problematic behaviour and didn’t understand the various mental conditions that drove it.
When I think about how ‘problem’ kids were treated, it’s incredible. We had serial flashers who were arrested for exposing themselves in the woods, and once in our gym class! They were just treated like naughty kids. Admittedly, our violent arsonist was expelled for setting fire to the deputy head’s office and incinerating decades of records, burned furniture and books. Even then, it was obvious to us they were adrift from reality.
There were the young boys, no more than 11, who would turn up smoking and clearly very drunk, there were kids who dried and then smoked banana skins using the school bunsen burners. There was a boy who hid under desks to look up girl’s skirts. He later went to jail for something unpleasant. God, the more I think about it, it’s surprising I only emerged with a Micheal Schenker obsession and a fondness for Double Maxim (remember that bottled beer). All were treated like they were just bad kids.
Another was once kicking off in a class that was for some reason called ‘Rural Science’ and the teacher pushed him over, took a two-pronged pitchfork, placed it over his neck and dug it into the ground, pinning him like a butterfly in an exhibition and left him there for the rest of the class. Yeah, no problem. And at Grammar school, I had a teacher who would regularly pick me and other kids up by our hair. It hurt so much. Mind you, we did have a dissolute drama teacher who used to send lads out to buy him cigarettes.
So I suppose freaking out to Hawkwind on stage was relatively normal. Maybe there are drugs to control naked festival freakers now. It amazes me now, the degree we just took it all in our stride as normal life went on normally. Mind you, I did have a mother who heard voices and ripped a cuckoo out of a clock because when it emerged on the hour, she claimed it only came out to listen to her. I shouldn’t laugh, but it was very funny, maybe that’s how I learned to cope with odd behaviour. It all seems a long time ago now and a different age. Altogether now. Wally!!!
Driven to strange behaviour by Rock n Roll…
