Peace Pop World - Berliner Sportpalast, West Berlin, West Germany, March 30, 1970

The Nice, Deep Purple, Spencer Davis, Hardin & York, Wonderland played this significant German gig. Significant because it was the last show The Nice ever played. Ritchie Blackmore jammed with them and Keith Emerson played a couple of numbers with Deep Purple.

In the history of European festivals, Germany played quite a big part from the early days and were especially famous for great one-day shows such as this one where the promoters would bring over a popular and a hot new band from the UK and across Europe. 

There are theories that West Germany embraced the new festival and gig culture more enthusiastically than most because they were building a new frontier entirely divorced from the Nazi past. In many ways the period from the late 60s to early 70s was year zero for the country. It explains why so much great electronic music came out of the place at that time. It was entirely new and not rooted in the past. 

The counterculture vibe was perhaps not as widespread and strong as in America, though there were plenty of collectives and communes being set up, but I reckon they learned early on how to monetise shows and how to run them efficiently.