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Roy Harper Vs Ginger Baker


Ady

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Glastonbury 1981: http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/glastonbury...tival-1981.html

Friday night was possibly the best music wise, although Roy Harper's set was gate crashed by Ginger Baker .

Roy Harper put it thus 'Later I'm playing the gig, going down quite well, building up to the finale. Then Ginger starts walking on with drums, setting up right in front of me, destroying everything. I couldn't believe it. So I left the microphone and said 'Hey, what you doing?' And he said, 'F--- off, you've been on here too f---ing long, you c---' and his band started bringing all their gear on.

'So I started to seethe, nudged one of his drums with my left foot and he lunged at me. I just burst, turned round and gave him one right in the guts. Ginger goes, 'Urrgghh you c----.' Then we were fighting and the stage was full of people. I completely flipped my lid.' '

There we were at a festival dedicated to peace and love man and I hit someone. He may have been the thickest idiot at the festival but I'd actually hit him. After that I was filled with frantic remorse and basically just wanted to hit everyone, everything I could lay my bloody hands on.' 'So they got hold of my arms and carried me off, looking like I'm ripe for Broadmore, wearing this human straightjacket, screaming 'You f---ing bastards. 'I'd lost it altogether, I was fighting f---ing mad.'

According to Harper the crowd then proceeded to bottle Ginger , one hitting him on the head , whereupon he was taken to hospital . Another source says that Ginger carried on playing .Yet another source says that Ginger threw a can at Harper and it hit him on the head. Strange how tales become distorted in all directions by memory . Whatever happened , it was a pretty silly scenario , these two seasoned musicians should have been able to sort out their differences in some other fashion.

Mother Gong © Nigel Sivyer

Hello... I want to add my piece about the fight onstage between Harper and Baker... Glastonbury 81.

It was the most unforgettable thing i ever saw on a stage. Harper was doing fine... we were warmed up and enjoying the show; after a handful of numbers I recognised Baker onstage and a fist fight kicked off. I remember Roy H hitting out and people grappling and tumbling around. Harper got forced off-stage by people holding his arms as he struggled furiously.

There were boos and bottles as Baker started up... They impressed us but rocks came at the band.. sharp chunks of granite or similar. A near fist sized chunk arked from a long distance and smacked Ginger on the forehead. It should've killed him surely but he didn't miss a beat. He continued with furious energy till the end of his set.

Next day I saw Baker walking around the site with a thick black gash on his forehead, obviously in need of stitches. Baker was asking people if anyone knew who the bastard was who threw the rock.

Keith Emslie Mitchell

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Glastonbury 1981: http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/glastonbury...tival-1981.html

Friday night was possibly the best music wise, although Roy Harper's set was gate crashed by Ginger Baker .

Roy Harper put it thus 'Later I'm playing the gig, going down quite well, building up to the finale. Then Ginger starts walking on with drums, setting up right in front of me, destroying everything. I couldn't believe it. So I left the microphone and said 'Hey, what you doing?' And he said, 'F--- off, you've been on here too f---ing long, you c---' and his band started bringing all their gear on.

'So I started to seethe, nudged one of his drums with my left foot and he lunged at me. I just burst, turned round and gave him one right in the guts. Ginger goes, 'Urrgghh you c----.' Then we were fighting and the stage was full of people. I completely flipped my lid.' '

There we were at a festival dedicated to peace and love man and I hit someone. He may have been the thickest idiot at the festival but I'd actually hit him. After that I was filled with frantic remorse and basically just wanted to hit everyone, everything I could lay my bloody hands on.' 'So they got hold of my arms and carried me off, looking like I'm ripe for Broadmore, wearing this human straightjacket, screaming 'You f---ing bastards. 'I'd lost it altogether, I was fighting f---ing mad.'

According to Harper the crowd then proceeded to bottle Ginger , one hitting him on the head , whereupon he was taken to hospital . Another source says that Ginger carried on playing .Yet another source says that Ginger threw a can at Harper and it hit him on the head. Strange how tales become distorted in all directions by memory . Whatever happened , it was a pretty silly scenario , these two seasoned musicians should have been able to sort out their differences in some other fashion.

Mother Gong © Nigel Sivyer

Hello... I want to add my piece about the fight onstage between Harper and Baker... Glastonbury 81.

It was the most unforgettable thing i ever saw on a stage. Harper was doing fine... we were warmed up and enjoying the show; after a handful of numbers I recognised Baker onstage and a fist fight kicked off. I remember Roy H hitting out and people grappling and tumbling around. Harper got forced off-stage by people holding his arms as he struggled furiously.

There were boos and bottles as Baker started up... They impressed us but rocks came at the band.. sharp chunks of granite or similar. A near fist sized chunk arked from a long distance and smacked Ginger on the forehead. It should've killed him surely but he didn't miss a beat. He continued with furious energy till the end of his set.

Next day I saw Baker walking around the site with a thick black gash on his forehead, obviously in need of stitches. Baker was asking people if anyone knew who the bastard was who threw the rock.

Keith Emslie Mitchell

Hats Off To (Roy) Harper.

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The heroin had probably kicked in prior to the skirmish.

I haven't thought of that incident in years! I remember reading about that when it happened and being surprised that Roy Harper was involved in an onstage skirmish. My husband and I talked about it and the first thing we thought of was that the combination of heroin and alcohol had affected Ginger.

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  • 5 years later...
  • 6 years later...

Well I was there, and I remember the fight, vaguely, but most of the crowd probably didn't notice. I do remember Bert jansch band coming on to play avocet, but they were clearly very very stoned, and made a mess of the first number. Bert apologised, asked the crowd for a moment while they "got their act together", then completed a superb set, the turbo sound system giving the tightly inter woven acoustic playing real clarity. Taj Mahal was magnificent, and the New Order performance has stayed with me to this day. Don't remember anything else, but then I was very very 

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