Woodstock It Certainly Wasn't

Steve Anderson remembers the music festival that was more than a match for almost any British counterpart, then or since

- Steve Anderson

Although it wasn't Woodstock, the fondly-remembered Concert of Contemporary and Traditional Folk Music — to quote its official title — was more than a match for almost any British counterpart, then or since, when it took to the stage in Lincolnshire 54 years ago on 24 July 1971.

Austin Mitchell, then a young Yorkshire Television reporter, would no doubt have expressed similar sentiments when he stumbled over my outstretched legs during a momentous set by co-headliner James Taylor. “You've got a friend,” was not my initial reaction to the man who would later become the MP for Great Grimsby. But he did apologise, I seem to recall, as he, a cameraman, a sound engineer and a producer stepped across yet more vulnerable limbs.

I was one of a dozen people from the Yorkshire town and port of Goole who hired a minibus to attend the day-long event at Tupholme Manor Park, Bardney, near Lincoln just 60-odd miles away by road when the M62, Humber Bridge and other “modern” transport hubs in the area were still at the late-planning stage.

With the exception of Mike Foster and, I recall, Rachel Petch, I can’t remember the names of my fellow travellers who made the trip to Lincolnshire, but we were among an estimated crowd of 60,000 who were treated to one of the greatest gatherings of folk/folk-rock “royalty”, along with a few other stars whose CVs didn’t quite embrace that loosely-defined musical genre.

James Taylor's appearance at Bardney served as a showcase for many of his most famous numbers, including the aforementioned You've Got a Friend, which reached No 4 in the Official UK Singles Chart and, more significantly, topped the so-called Billboard Hot 100. His repertoire also included Fire and Rain and other notables from his Sweet Baby James album.