“This is History!” Noel Gallagher “I thought it was Knebworth?!” Liam Gallagher
50 years ago this week Knebworth Park held its very first rock concert and so began a new volume in the history of the 500-year-old Hertfordshire home. In the decades that followed the music venue, the largest in the country, has become as legendary as the greats of rock, jazz and pop that have held court on its historic hillside.
British rock history has been made as every major rock band has wanted to be part of the Knebworth legacy, since its first show in 1974 with the Allman Brothers, Van Morrison and Doobie Brothers to the most recent Liam Gallagher concert in 2022. Knebworth Park’s beautiful natural bowl and historic house setting, its direct access to the A1M and national transport networks, and most significantly its capacity for 125,000 music fans (30,000 more than Wembley Stadium, and the largest single-stage capacity in the country) has made it the premier rock venue in Britain.
Millions have travelled to this Hertfordshire hillside to see their heroes, and for many the Knebworth concert they attended in their youth defined their generation. In 1975 Pink Floyd introduced a live Spitfire into their performance of ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ and debuted ‘Wish You Were Here’. In 1976 The Rolling Stones played on a giant inflatable red lips and tongue stage, designed by Bill Harkin who designed the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Led Zeppelin played their last ever UK gigs in their original line up at Knebworth in 1979. The Beach Boys played their last ever UK gig in their original line up in 1980. Queen’s Freddie Mercury played his last ever show at Knebworth in 1986.
In 1990 MTV took Knebworth worldwide, broadcasting a charity gig featuring every major British rock act, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Genesis, Mark Knopfler, the list goes on… In 1996 a quarter of million people turned up to witness Oasis define the Britpop era with their two Knebworth shows. Seven years later, Robbie Williams went one better, playing the biggest music event in British history (until the Taylor Swift shows this year), when 375,000 people turned up at Knebworth to see him over one weekend in 2003.
The Sonisphere Festivals between 2009 – 2014 brought the best of international heavy rock to Knebworth, including three performances from American rock giants Metallica and in 2010 the largest live audience in the UK ever for a non-English language concert for the German band Rammstein. At Sonisphere 2011, Bill Bailey entertained the largest UK audience ever for a live comedy show. 26 years on from Oasis’s historic shows, and in the wake of a worldwide cinema release of ‘Oasis Knebworth 1996’, Liam Gallagher returned to Knebworth Park in 2022 to play to 160,000; the biggest shows of his solo career to date.
And so records continue to be broken, and Knebworth continues to be the ultimate destination for bands and artists seeking to make history, at the world’s greatest rock venue.
Join us at Knebworth House this summer as our exhibition of unique memorabilia and film clips from the full 50-year history of Knebworth shows. Here’s to the next 50 years!
Henry Lytton Cobbold of Knebworth House comments: “I am proud that Hertfordshire is home to the largest single-stage music venue in the country and that, over 50 years, Knebworth Park has become legendary worldwide for its classic shows. I’m so grateful my father had the vision back in 1974, with original promoter Freddy Bannister, to create this extraordinary legacy. Before his death in 2022, my father and I had both only ever missed one of all the Knebworth concerts. He said the one I missed – Pink Floyd in 1974 – was the best. But I was quick to tell him that, no, the only one he missed was the best – the last night of Robbie Williams in 2003. As Robbie said on the night, ‘This is the best show in the world right now.’ Robbie was right. 20 years on, I’ve not seen a better one.”
For more information on the history of Knebworth Concerts see www.knebworthhouse.com/concerts/ or visit the Knebworth House Rock History Exhibit in Knebworth House, open weekends from now until end of September, and daily throughout August.
