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DISC & MUSIC ECHO

7 March 1970

JETHRO SAY 'NO' TO £10,000 CONCERT

Jethro Tull have been offered the biggest fee ever for a British group to play at a British concert — the largest concert ever staged — but are likely to turn it down!

Ian Anderson and his group have been offered £10,000 by Scottish impresario Harry Margolis to top the bill at Scotland's first pop festival, at Glasgow's 120,000 capacity Hampden Park football ground on D-Day, Saturday, June 6. Others already approached for the festival include Marmalade and Tremeloes.

But says Jethro's manager Terry Ellis:

"It's not a question of money. Of course we would like £10,000 but I don't think the group could hope to get itself over to an audience of this size. The largest place they have ever played was 70,000 and that was too big. On the next American tour we have stipulated venues of no more than 5,000 capacity."

But Margolis remains hopeful:

"This will be the first occasion ever that pop-starved Scotland has had its own big-name festival. I hope to have at least a dozen top names, from London, Scotland and America. The show will last from 1-7 pm and I want to get the top in both pop and progressive music on the bill.

"Why was my offer to Jethro Tull so enormous? Simply because I think it would be worth it."


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Note: this festival was never staged.

Many thanks to Glenn Cornick for this article