Politantric Circle

The summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge have been provided for free by the Politantic Stage crew to facilitate the enjoyment of the solstice celebrations for over two decades.

Stonehenge free festival was banned in 1985.

The crackdown by the authorities in 1985-1986 gave birth to the big raves with the likes of the Mutoid Waste Company and the remenants of the convoy organising huge squat parties in London and the famous outdoor rave at Castle Morton which unfortunately led to rectionary Criminal Justice Bill, the year before Stonehenge freaks organised the first ever nights of ecstacy parties with the likes of the Shamen, The James Taylor quartet, Psychic TV, Dave Ball of Soft Cell, Gaye bikers on Acid, Nik Turner, an early formation of Portishead and Nasty suicide of Hanoi rocks, to name a few.

The music was a mix of 60´s psychedelia, 80´s industrial and Chicago house which gave birth to the whole acid house movement. The idea was to generate the same kind of head space as the free festivals combining distinct environments musically and artistically mixing, music, lazers lights, spaces, sculptures, painting, fashion dance and culture into a heady mix where the audience would be transported to a euforical state of utopian frenzy.

These parties were at the vanguard and therefore exclusive and sporadic because of the intensive and improvisational nature of the events.

Highly praised but unrepeatable and inimitateable it is true to say they set the stamp of quality by which all subsequent raves were judged and inspired to emulate.

In a way, the festival can be thought of in two ways: an as an actual physical event, the gathering of people in one place at one time; and also as a spiritual event, in other words as a state of mind.

From the organisational perspective it is easy to forget this dual nature of the festival and become over-involved in the practicalities.

The spiritual side does not have to involve ritualistic mumbo-jumbo or far-fetched cultism - care, respect for others and the environment, and sharing, would guarantee a real celebration of life and a happy time for everyone. The annual walks to Stonehenge which have taken place since 1985 have already demonstrated that this desirable state of mind has returned.

When Wally Hope started a ramble to Stonehenge with the rainbow banner of '60s counter culture TV news of 'hippies' gathering for the summer solstice at Stonehenge did not capture the idealistic vision of a utopian stonehenge the free festival was a catalyst for.

At the beginning of the 1980s "New Age Traveller's" were relatively free of hassle. Anarcho United Mystics (AUM) started working back in 1977 because the 'revolutionaries' kept overlooking the need to change themselves as well well as the world, and the 'occult/religious' element kept overlooking the need to change the world as well as themselves.

The London borough of Camden became the base for early Stonehenge festivals, with its street-by-street network of squats, housing revolutionaries and artists who subscribed to the philosophy of giving and practiced consensus politics rather than "representative democracy", establishing an anarchic lifestyle with a sense of community.

The first festivals at Stonehenge were the expression of this kind of community feeling. They were spontaneous "happenings" and quickly attracted other avante-garde groups and communes from around the country.

The eviction of the 'Free City of Camden' made tens of thousands of people homeless and many of them took to the road. The festival became the community's home, rather than its playground.

By the early 1980s the initial momentum of the early small gatherings began to attract a huge following. The people who helped to put the festival together year after year began to take on specific roles and their numbers did not increase sufficiently to cope with the increaced size of the festival.

Willy X and Polytantric, (an off-shoot of the White Panthers) took the lead in organising the layout of the stage and pyramid roof. Nik Turner of Hawkwind offered valuable experience in erecting the pyramid which had originally made its debut with Sphinx at the Edinburgh festival.

Two months of planning with the guest bands and performers brought together a programme of five days and nights of contemporary music with Ruts DC, the Thompson Twins, The Damned, Misty in Roots, and Hawkwind.

In 1982 after an international Cultural Herb festival in Brockwell Park, Brixton, with Jah Shaka, Loxsone Outernational and DBC Stonehenge begun to grow rapidly: in 1980 12,000 people had attended, but by '82 there were 35,000.

Co-ordination between English Heritage, the National Trust and the Politantic circle seemed to be breaking down, the festival's expansion caused those in authority some concern.

Many of the Stonehenge festival's problems could be solved by closer co-ordination and planning by all parties. In 1983 it was decided to move the stage to the field closer to the woods and further away from the Stones. Sid Rawles in company with others wandered across the fields past the mounds clutching a dowsing rod; it twitched downwards in a circle of daisies - this was to become the site for the stage. In 1983 the PA was boosted to 12K. PA wings were extended and the Black Pyramid light show organised visuals.

As in previous years the overall festival budget was kept as low as possible, all the bands played for free donations from the audience and traders, as the groups played, was sought to keep the generators running.

Six days and nights of music followed, with Doctor and the Medics, Hawkwind, Roy Harper, the Enid, Buster Bloodvessel, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Urban Warrior, Ted Chippington, Flux of Pink Indians, the Tibetan Ukrainian Mountain Troupe, Here and Now, and Benjamin Zephaniah, to name just a few.

By 1984 things were looking decidedly precarious. A group of travellers had squatted the Fargo Plantation in April, supposedly depleting the National Trust's budget for that year's festival in the clear-up operation. The authorities were looking for scape-goats.

The Polytantric got the stage up at the 'Henge by the 16th of June. A video crew arrived to record the Enid, Roy Harper and Hawkwind at the Stones.

At its height 83/84 stonehenge free festival attracted 60,000-80,000 people with bands and DJ´s playing for six days and nights.

By 1984, after a lot of trouble with unwelcome drug sellers and junkies there was an effective ban on hard drugs, but the damage had already been done, as public opinion, fanned by adverse publicity, turned against the festival.

The campaign for a new free festival is now well under way and much needed communication established on a year-round basis through meetings and activities around the country.