Knebworth 79

Knebworth 1979 was the last Knebworth festival of the 70s, the first one was in 1974.  The festivals took place at Knebworth house in Hertfordshire England in August and was the last festival to be promoted by Freddy Bannister.  This festival was also Led Zeppelin's big UK come back.  They had not played in the UK since 1975 and did not even play live for two years, because of the death of Robert Plants son Karac.  New Musical Express, Sounds, Rolling Stone and The Sunday Times described Led Zeppelin's performances as being sluggish and rusty.  Robert Plant had this to say about Knebworth. "Knebworth was useless. It was no good at all. It was no good because we weren't ready to do it, the whole thing was a management decision. It felt like I was cheating myself because I wasn't as relaxed as I could have been. There was so much expectation there and the least we could have done was to have been confident enough to kill. We maimed the beast for life, but we didn't kill it. It was good, but only because everybody made it good. There was that sense of event."  Other acts that performed at the Knebworth were The New Barbarians, Marshall Tucker, Todd Rundgren and Utopia, Fairport Convention, Southside Johnny, Chas & Dave, Commander Cody and others.

photos-ukrockfestivals.com