When The Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd united for one chaotic day at Knebworth in 1976
Britain has plenty of hallowed musical turf within its shores. There are countless venues and festivals which have all hosted a string of iconic moments, but you could argue that there isn’t anywhere as important, within rock and roll at least, as Knebworth.
My generation knows it best for its place in Britpop history. In 1996, Oasis played two back-to-back nights in the Hertfordshire Estate, delivering two shows that live long in cultural history, and suddenly, the word Knebworth became synonymous with the idea of a mass gathering, the default place where good things in music happen. But the truth is, Oasis only picked Knebworth because of its long history of delivering.
One of the few bands who can only feasibly claim to be bigger than Oasis, The Rolling Stones put on two very similar nights at the famous venue, laying down the blueprint for rock and roll shows that would ensue thereafter. On August 21st, ‘76, the Stones brought music, chaos and even violence to the venue when they played one of the most fraught shows in its history. The rumours of how many people descended upon Knebworth remain contested, but the highest rate of storytelling tax has raised the figure to somewhere around 300,000.
Whatever it was, the mood was at absolute fever pitch, given the sheer volume of people both ticketed and unticketed who arrived. Buoyed by the excitement, nearly all of those fans stuck around for the opening act, Lynryd Skynyrd, who put on one of the opening shows of the ages. Going from relatively unknown names to full-fledged stars. “Skynyrd caused a real buzz backstage,” remembered Freddy Bannister, “We all wondered how anyone could follow them”.
10cc followed and swirled tension in a completely different manner. The up-and-coming band were desperate to make an impact and deliver a show packed with ambition, to a point where their ideas didn’t actually come to fruition. Serious technical problems in their sound design arose, and in came the lengthy delay, which would ultimately create a domino effect of drama.
“It was their own fault,” insisted the promoter, “They’d been trying to upstage the Stones ever since arriving the previous day. There was a buzz in the sound system that the engineers were trying to sort out. But after 90 minutes, I went on stage and told the band to either play or go home. Their response was, ‘Would you still pay us if we didn’t play?’ Fortunately, I didn’t have to answer, because the roadies then sorted it out. But I’m convinced that they induced that buzz in order to take the Stones’ slot.”
A fraught mood descended upon the audience, who were battling with rumours of a complete Stones cancellation. Fights broke out amongst a drunken crowd who, by this point, were desperately hungry for some full-blooded rock and roll.
It wasn’t until the wee hours of the evening that The Stones appeared to a stage that was pitch black and created a dramatic backdrop for one of the biggest bands in the world to step foot on. The fans were waiting for their signal to erupt into chaos and Keith Richards finally gave it to them, with the opening note of ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’.
That song started a 150-minute set, one that Bill Wyman said was “the longest show we had ever played” and staked their claim as not only Britain’s, but the world’s biggest band, showing Led Zeppelin how an outdoor show should truly be done. Three years later, they got their chance to dominate the Hertfordshire estate, but no one has spoken about it in the same light as the Stones’ show.
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