Rhino Factoids: The Bath Festival of Blues

47 years ago today, a major league blues festival went down in England, featuring performances by a number of notable artists, including Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, and Ten Years After.

The Bath Festival of Blues took place – where else? – in Bath, England, and it’s funny to look back at the poster for the event, which made two major promises: 1) “In case of bad weather, there will be a substantial amount of undercover accommodation,” and 2) “Refreshments and hot snacks will be available all day.”

Oh, sorry, were you more interested in the bands that played than the prospect of all-day hot snacks and refreshments? Well, fine, we’ll fill you in, then.

The lineup of the festival was listed thusly on the poster:

Fleetwood Mac
John Mayall
Ten Years After
Led Zeppelin
The Nice
Chicken Shack
John Hiseman’s Colosseum
Mike Abraham’s Blodwin Pig
Keef Hartley
Group Therapy
Liverpool Scene
Taste
Savoy Brown Blues Band
Champion Jack Depre
Clouds
Babylon
Principal Edward’s Magic Theater
Deep Blues Band
Just Before Dawn

Based on most reports, it seems that at least a handful of the bands listed didn’t actually perform that day after all, but certainly the majority of them did, including the big guns whose names doubtless leap out at you. The festival was the brainchild of Freddy and Wendy Bannister, working in conjunction with the Bath Festival Society, and it proved to be a financial success, with all 30,000 tickets selling out the first week they were on sale. When it returned the following year, however, it had a new name: the Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music.