Did The Hollies Ever Play At A Festival?

[cameron]

I was watching the Moody Blues at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970 earlier. This was only three or four years into their new-found success, after a very dry patch in the mid-1960s, when most fans wrote them off. But they got a rave reception nonetheless. What struck me was the sheer size of the audience (they reckoned well in excess of 100,000) and all those people who were exposed to their music, presumably a lot of them for the first time. The Moodies did really well to regain their career and take it to the next level and find a whole new audience. As festivals became a 'thing' in the 1970s, and perhaps THE favoured way to explore new music, it got me thinking; could this be perhaps the main reason why the Hollies' success tailed off in the 1970s, the fact that they never played any high-profile festivals? 

Look what happened to the Beach Boys as a direct result of snubbing Monterey Pop Festival, it effectively ended their career in America and cemented their image as "un-hip" and if it wasn't for an oldies revival in "Endless Summer", they'd have been more or less consigned to the history books, and the rock press in America certainly wrote them off after 1967. 

I've never found any evidence of the Hollies ever being so much as approached to perform at somewhere like Isle Of Wight or Glastonbury. Apparently they were going to attend a music festival in Ibiza in 1969/70, but the concert was cancelled at the last minute and the Hollies seemingly never went to Spain again because of it. Perhaps someone else could elaborate on that story, as I can't remember the ins and outs. Even now, it seems odd that they don't play Glastonbury, given the 'oldies' stage that they now have, which is second only to the Pyramid Stage. 

[poco]

The Hollies did play Spain in 1970. I have a sound board from one of their shows.

[dirtyfaz]

Didn't they play a festival in New Zealand a few years ago?

[Deleted]

Wasn't that 1968 Croatian concert part of a festival? But yes, I agree, big festivals in the UK and USA at their commercial peak would've been great.

[Stranger]

Tony was asked that in an interview once and his reply was something like we would have liked to but we were never asked.

[Gralto]

Come on people, let's not forget Sport Aid '88 at Hillsborough Park, Sheffield ( 11 Sept 1988). :-)


Er...not their finest onstage moment it must be said...and this overall event was a massive failure I understand as a poor crowd puller, though this was not the fault of the Hollies of course who were only a week away from being at number one again, thank you very much.

[gee]

They played a few festivals in Europe - that one in Germany at Mainz was a fest plus with Carl Wayne they joined The reformed Lovin' Spoonful for a festival at Cape Cod and both bands got glowing local press reviews - the last time The Hollies played in the USA to date

in more recent years they have done an open air show with Lindisfarne in the UK

however the key issue re sixties festivals say circa 1969-72 etc when music festivals could really make a band (i.e. Ten Years After at Woodstock) seemed to bypass them

- when CSN were 'made' by Woodstock The Hollies were probably doing Batley Variety Club or in cabaret somewhere still wearing those white suits !!

sadly image wise they went in the wrong direction at the wrong time - ironic as Tony Hicks was a backstage guest of The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park in 1969...!!!

had they dressed more casual, played their deeper album songs, 'matured' to the wider public and kept firmly with the changing times they might well have made the crucial transformation into a more 'acceptable' early seventies band - they certainly had the material and the ability....however they kept it more 'smart suit' image on Television appearances over 1969-70 ...then Clarke exited crucially over the 1972-73  period which probably cost them proper American acceptance

after that it was more their own concert show which largely would only be attended by firm fans of the band effectively they became a 'marginalised' band who seemed quite happy to keep it 'low profile' much of the time - some who had liked them assumed they broke up in the mid seventies !

tho' later they have played some festivals they were it seems never considered for those key late sixties / early seventies big open air festivals like Isle of Wight probably as they had no firm image and were seen as a 'pop group' (inside their segment on Mickie Most's dartboard etc)

one thing I would add which overall may be crucial re The Hollies despite massive success always seemingly never quite achieving SO MUCH MORE which we all know they had the talent to do....

was that besides Nash (obviously) and I'd guess Sylvester and Rickfors too being willing to 'put themselves out' to aim bigger - Clarke, Hicks and Elliott I suspect really always wanted 'fame on THEIR terms' (Clarke's solo career attempts spell it out re him quite clearly with no touring band ever assembled etc - while post Clarke Hicks and Elliott seem content with their nostalgia based 'old hits' concert show....) and the three main Hollies were content to 'plough their own furrow' as it were career wise after 1974 - indeed Clarke seemed positively annoyed when he began being recognised again by fans in the local shops in 1988 after 'He Ain't Heavy' shot to number one !

this rather 'conservative' attitude held the band together but I suspect also prevented them from really going for it re their clear band potential and likely was a major reason both Nash and Sylvester each 'walked' from the band respectively

 
ironic but years later Cliff and The Shadows went down really well at Knebworth I think it was....!

[cameron]

Oct 8, 2018 20:28:17 GMT gee said:

- when CSN were 'made' by Woodstock The Hollies were probably doing Batley Variety Club or in cabaret somewhere still wearing those white suits !!

That did make me chuckle, because it's so true. The Marmalade made a similar mistake, as did The Move and even the Kinks actually. The Kinks' fortunes seemed to change in 1970 as they began to tour America again and they appeared at the first Glastonbury Festival in 1970. Cabaret was safe money though at the time, and good money at that. Cabaret guests were paying way more than teenyboppers at the local Odeon, so artists benefitted accordingly. But it was seen as career suicide to move into Cabaret. It's strange how people completely overlook that that's what the Kinks were doing throughout 1968 and 1969. 

It's certainly true that festivals could make or break a band back then. Monterey Pop was perhaps one of the key moments of the entire 1960s music scene as it shifted the focus onto rock rather than pop music. Look how the Who rose to prominence without having a particularly well selling studio album until 1969. They made their name at live shows and by playing festivals.