It was God’s land, It was ragged and naive, It was Heaven…
BowieNetter Gaz pointed me in the direction of a great little site called
Over several pages musicians and old friends of David’s recount their memories of the day, here’s a bit from Bridget St John…
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“I remember the day in general – the pagoda-like structure – being outside and it being a beautifully relaxed and sunny day – I don’t remember my set – but my biggest memory is that after performing a group of us went and listened with David to his test pressing of the single Space Oddity – it was quite amazing and we played it over and over – it was so remarkable.”
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And here’s a bit from the DJ on the day, Tim Goffe…
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“I played a bit of acoustic guitar at the time – I was never any good, but enjoyed singing in and visiting folk clubs – but had this rather nice 12-string, a Swedish Hagstrom, that was lying around the flat whilst I was at college. DB fancied it, borrowed it and played it for a while.
The picture of him at BFF shows him playing it and on the www.Hagstrom.org.uk website it is reported that he used it on Space Oddity. I’m not sure about that – I never discussed it with DB, but he gave me his 12-string, an old cherry sun-burst Gibson, for my Hagstrom in a straight swap. It was the Gibson (see pic above) that was used on Space Oddity. I have often wondered what happened to my old Hagstrom and whether DB has still got it, or who has it now. Incidentally, he told me that the Gibson previously belonged to Pete Townsend of The Who. I can believe that, because it was in poor shape when I got it and it never played well.
I did book David as a live act for a college “Hop” (The London Hospital Medical College, Whitechapel) around the time of the launch of Space Oddity -a sell out!”
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Bill Leisagang from Appendix Part 1 who also played on the day, albeit under the unfortunately named Abortion, remembers this…
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“Another anecdote; A few weeks after the BFF David had been off the scene, there was a report that he had been seen at the Prompt Corner cafe in Beckenham in women’s clothes or something like that! A week later I had a call from Neil Holmes saying David wanted to see me regarding a new band he was in the process of forming. I got on the back of Neil’s rusty moped and headed off towards Haddon Hall. This was very plush compared to the last pad he had. I assumed he must have had some advance from a Record company.
David mentioned me getting involved with a project involving a girl guitarist and Tony Visconti. There was some mention of wearing female clothes. It must have been the catalyst for The Spiders from Mars! Needless to say I made a BAD career move, and turned it down (not because of the dressing up, but because I was just starting at college in Bristol, which was 90 miles away. Needless to say I never completed the course!!”
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Here’s a bit more from Bill, proving, if his story is accurate, that DB had imagined ways to provoke reactions from people long before Ziggy did just that…
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“Bowie used to get people up on stage to play or do mime, or do their own thing! One day he gathered a bunch of us 16 year old hippies and took us into Beckenham Place Park – where we re-enacted various scenes from Lord of the Rings! A light aircraft was circling overhead and kept hovering, so David got us all to form a gigantic V sign to tell the pilot to ‘F’ off!
He was planning on a procession down Beckenham High St with everyone dressed as giant penises, as well as a street fair to coincide with the festival. The people involved were Neil Holmes, Chris Redwin, Mick Udell, Steve Jeffries, Pete Legon, Amanda Jennings, Judy? Larry Frane, Spud Murphy and Bob Bland. Unfortunately this is a tragic list as most of the people here have passed into another world. I miss them dearly.”
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There’s plenty more worth a read at
August 2009 will be the 40th anniversary of The Beckenham Free Festival. To mark that occasion a plaque (see above) will be placed on the bandstand at Croydon Road Recreation Ground. The date for the unveiling is tbc and there will be an event to coincide with this.
Another chance for Bowie fans to meet up and have a bit of a bash perhaps?
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