“STATELY HOME IS GOING POP”, wrote The Evening News in May 1974, “A Stately Home is to open up its gates to thousands of discerning fans in a summer pop extravaganza. A one-day event of modern progressive music will take place in Knebworth Park, Herts., on Saturday July 20 and it is thought that up to 100,000 may attend.” And so it began. On 20th July 1974 The Allman Brothers, The Doobie Brothers and Van Morrison became the first Knebworth Concert headliners. It’s a shame that Van Morrison is not coming back this Saturday 20th July to mark the 50th Anniversary of Knebworth Rock Concerts. But in the absence of a 2024 concert, we will be marking the anniversary with an update of my 30th Anniversary book, now entitled ‘Knebworth – 50 years of the greatest rock venue in the world!’.
Trying to find the perfect cover for the book, I set myself the challenge of making a denim jacket with a sewn patch of every headliner that has played Knebworth Park. The challenge then was to find someone to sew every one of those hundred patches on! Brilliantly Dogan Sahin at Knebworth Alteration took on the challenge, and the beautiful jacket will have made its debut by the time you read this on the Knebworth Twinning float in the Châtelaillon parade. If you want to see the jacket – and I promise you it looks even better in colour – please join us for a talk I will be giving ‘Celebrating 50 Years of Knebworth Rock Concerts’ in Knebworth House on Wednesday 4th September in aid of Knebworth Twinning. Tickets from knebworthtwinning@gmail.com.
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH
