Barbeque ’67: When a Lincolnshire market town hosted the UK’s first rock festival
It’s often the case that history is made in some of the most unsuspecting of locations, and as a result, these key events tend to fade into obscurity, remembered only by those who were there and bothered to preserve such a monumental moment.
Of course, you don’t always know you’re experiencing something monumental until much later, which was surely the case for the attendees of Barbeque 67, an event hosted in the unassuming market town of Spalding in Lincolnshire. Taking place at the Tulip Ball Auction Hall, bands like Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, and Pink Floyd descended on the town in the spring of 1967 for what is now considered the UK’s first rock festival.
These days, the presence of great live music is pretty absent in Lincolnshire. Despite being the second-largest county in the country, it’s almost exclusively missing from UK tours, no matter the size of the artist, unless a musician decides to stop off at a venue in Lincoln, the county’s most notable city. Perhaps it’s because Lincolnshire is so densely populated with countryside and small market towns that bands tend to pass the area by, but in doing so, this only continues to erase the county’s forgotten involvement in rock and roll.
In Boston, a town that has certainly seen better days, the Gliderdrome can be found tucked away behind a Matalan and a petrol station, but it once hosted the likes of Hendrix, The Who, and The Kinks. The Beatles even played in Lincoln’s ABC Cinema, while even towns such as Grimsby used its local halls for hardcore punk shows back in the ‘80s. There’s evidently a history of musical excitement in Lincolnshire, but it has now been erased.
The fact that Barbeque 67 has been forgotten despite the fact that it stands as the UK’s first rock festival is perfectly indicative of Lincolnshire’s fading legacy. These days, Spalding is better known for its tulip production, with a Flower Parade to boot, but in 1967, soon-to-be rock icons took over the town, with over 6,000 attending the event.
Sadly, it was marred by technical difficulties. The crew were unprepared, and it was an especially hot bank holiday, causing plenty of discomfort for an overcrowded venue full of eager fans. Hendrix had just released his debut album, Are You Experienced, that month, so people were desperate to catch a glimpse of the American star. Thousands of fans were reportedly turned away, unable to experience this seminal moment in rock history.
Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, Zoot Money and his Big Roll Band, The Move, and Sounds Force 5 played alongside Hendrix, Cream and Pink Floyd, all of whom concert-goers could catch for just £1. You’d have kicked yourself to have missed that. Yet, many did – despite a large number of rock and roll lovers travelling across the country to get there.
The Summer of Love soon commenced, and Hendrix rose to even further stardom before dying in 1970, while Pink Floyd became one of rock’s most beloved bands. Barbeque 67 remains a forgotten relic, though, perhaps because Spalding is the kind of town you only really visit if you absolutely have to. It proved to be a rather hostile town for musical innovation, too, with the next instalment of the festival relocating to Cambridgeshire the following year.
