The Bardney Pop Festival (1972) | BFI National Archive

Dive into the world of fuzz, fans, freaks and bands at the Great Western Express Festival, a live rock music extravaganza which caused controversy with the local Leicestershire residents one weather-beaten weekend in May 1972. Witness self-declared ‘square’ coppers cobbling together their old-school policing strategy; look on as the way-out long-hairs dig the groovy sounds - despite the lousy weather.

Atomic Rooster are captured onstage in their heyday in this fabulous compilation of fascinating footage shot for an Anglia Television documentary. Other notable acts at this contentious festival (at which the price of loon pants ranged between £2 and £2.60) included The Faces, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Beach Boys and an early incarnation of Genesis.

This video is part of the Orphan Works collection. When the rights-holder for a film cannot be found, that film is classified as an Orphan Work. Find out more about Orphan Works: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/c.... This is in line with the EU Orphan Works Directive of 2012. The results of our search for the rights holder of this film can be found in the EU Orphan Works Database: https://euipo.europa.eu/ohimportal/en...

Subscribe: http://bit.ly/subscribetotheBFI.

Watch more on the BFI Player: http://player.bfi.org.uk/
Follow us on Twitter:   / bfi  
Like us on Facebook:   / britishfilminstitute  
Follow us on Google+: https://plus.google.com/+britishfilmi...