The programme looked good, but unfortunately  the full line-up did not eventuate. The biggest no show  ( and most tragic , IMHO as they never toured the Uk in my knowledge) was Quicksilver. Spirit was another significant omission and the fact that Third Ear band and Roy Harper did not show must have been the only time they did NOT play at a major British Rock festival of the 70's . Still, there were sufficient goodies to make it worth showing for all three days. 

SATURDAY: A much stronger day, building gradually to the Beefheart set, ( which actually took place at 4-00am Sunday). 
The morning jazz bash with Mike Westbrookwas fun and the afternoon sets by The Incredible String Band and Donovan were  predictably enjoyable and laid back. . I have no memories of Captain Beyond, Sam Apple Pie or Cheech and Chong , but a tape exists of Captain Beyond's performance.
 The Kinks were  drunker than normal and reportedly threw  their piano off stage ( which I strangely do not remember, but then , it had been a LOOOONG day of drinking and general carousing. so I must have burnt out the relevant memory cells on site) .Flaming Groovies were pretty good. Family were as usual , totally frantic and the Cap'n and the Magic Band were absolutely wonderful and made everyone else look ordinary. Poor old Pacific Gas & Electric had to come on after the Cap'n and predictably bombed. (Beef Review here) 
 

SUNDAY.
Just exactly why everything was so late on Sunday is probably due to the fact that the Saturday show actually finished around 6.00 am Sunday. Certainly it wasn't due to a surfeit of band changeovers as there were only six acts over the space of the entire day. This of course did not prevent the Dead from finishing around 4.am Monday. 
Some people have said the Dead played for five hours ,but  the entire show comes in around 245 mins, so there was a considerable exaggeration factor present. 

I have no idea whether there was any break at all in the programme on Sunday morning, but with the non show of yet another band ,this time the 'Horse with no Name' one hit wonders- "America"- and a couple of local acts in the early morning, there was only Country Joe and Brinsley Schwarz to entertain the masses before the onset of the Dead and the New Riders. I have faint recollections of the Schwarz's set and I'm sure I did catch Country Joe, doing a reprise of his Woodstock function. But really, Sunday was the day the Grateful Dead embedded themselves into my conscious for good and everything else paled in comparison. 

• The Bickershaw diaries-

  Mike Plumbleys saga at Bickershaw, with more photos and extensive first hand observations of his time at the festival. 

• Repfoto- massive collection of commercially available photos of Bickershaw for sale and view