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There were two festivals in Essen at the Gruga Halle in 1969 and 1970. This first one was an important one, especially in West Germany where it was one of the first really big three-day shows. And if you look at the bill, you can see just what an amazing collection of bands was booked to play.
Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation, Champion Jack Dupree, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, Free, Keef Hartley, Muddy Waters, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Taste, The Nice, The Pretty Things, Yes, Spooky Tooth, Warm Dust (terrible band name) Steamhammer, Hardin & York, Amon Duul II, Alexis Korner,
The Gruga Halle was approved for 8,000 visitors and on the first two days up to 9,000 got in, but on the final day, when Pink Floyd and Deep Purple, among others, performed, the hall was completely overcrowded with at least 13,000 visitors.
Bands played outside, in front of the hall through the night for about 1,000 heads who had not been able to get a ticket.
The guy who put the shows on in both years was called Konrad Mallison and he’d come into a lot of money when his father died. He was a long hair and had gone to Bath in the west of England to see the festival held there in 1969 (and in 70 too) and was inspired to put on something similar at home.
“Due to the early death of my father I had inherited so much money that I was able to pre-finance the 1st festival from 09-11 October 1969. The other 2 festivals in April and October 1970 and a spectacular CCR concert on April 12, 1970 I was able to finance from the profits.”
Sounds like a freak whose got his head screwed on and hasn't smoked too many carpet tiles.
“When we arrived in London from Bath, I visited the Marquee Club in Wardour Street the same evening. I had heard that all the major bands play there. After a show in the evening I went backstage and asked a band manager if he knew how or through whom I could engage well-known British bands for a festival in Germany. By chance I had already found the right manager backstage. He invited me to come to his agency the very next day to discuss everything. After the visit to the agency it was clear that the engagement of bands was no problem, not even of absolute top bands.”
So he went home, booked the hall and returned to London and promptly signed up pretty much every significant blues and rock band in the UK with a few exceptions such as Led Zeppelin. What a guy! He even got the show on TV.
“I also succeeded in getting the WDR television station interested in the festival and signed a contract for recording rights worth DM 40,000. This amount covered almost the entire fees of the bands.” I have no idea how much 40k Deutschmarks is today, but it doesn’t sound a lot for such a huge bill of great bands.
“After Deep Purple’s performance it turned out that the band didn’t have a manager with them who is normally responsible for logistics. They had to perform the next day in the evening at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, didn’t know their way around, didn’t have a hotel in Amsterdam and didn’t know how to get to Amsterdam with the roadies and equipment. I spontaneously agreed to take care of the transfer and logistics.
So I drove with the band in my Mercedes 220S from Essen to Amsterdam, followed by the roadies in the truck with the equipment. Early in the morning I looked for a hotel for the band in Amsterdam, where we stayed in several double rooms, completely exhausted. I shared one of the double rooms with drummer Ian Paice. In the course of the day. I brought the band to their venue in the Concertgebouw after lunch. Everything went perfectly, harmoniously and in the best mood between me and the band members.”
Later Konrad said of those shows that “everyone was excited and turned on by the Flower Power, underground music, musical HAIR, but also by the Woodstock Festival, which had taken place two months before. There was an extremely loving and peaceful atmosphere in the GrugaHalle. Everyone loved the music and were united by that.”
What a time to be alive.
