Myponga Pop Festival

The Myponga Pop Festival was a music festival which took place on a farm near Myponga, South Australia from 30 January to 1 February 1971.[1] Myponga Pop Festival drew approximately 15,000 people,[2] the biggest event in Adelaide since the Beatles drew a 300,000 strong crowd in 1964.[3] The main funder[4] and figure in the festival organising company, Music Power, was Hamish Henry.[5][6][7][8] The festival has been described as a "tribute to Henry's entrepreneurial genius".[9] As well as organising the Myponga festival, Henry managed several of the headlining local bands, War Machine and two other Adelaide groups, Headband and Fraternity.[10][11] Hamish had brought rock band Fraternity to Adelaide, South Australia and soon had them headline his Woodstock inspired festival alongside Black Sabbath.[12][13]

Trevor Brine was the festival's booker and artist liaison.[14][15][16][17] The festival was headlined by heavy metal pioneers, Black Sabbath. Cat Stevens was advertised as co-headline artist at the festival but he cancelled to perform in Los Angeles.[15][16] The compere was Adrian Rawlins,[18] who wrote of his experiences at Myponga, and other festivals, in his book Festivals in Australia: an Intimate History (1982).[15][16] Another international act was Syrius, (from Hungary, see Jackie Orszaczky).[15]

According to festival assistant Alex Innocenti,[19] "we went down to the farm at Myponga in Hamish's great American sports car with no roof, like movie stars. The farmer says, `What do you guys want?' and Hamish says, `I want to buy your farm.' He gave him a $1 deposit and paid him the next week." Innocenti says he has no idea what's happened to Henry.[20]

Australian artists included Daddy Cool, Spectrum, Fraternity, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Fanny Adams, Jeff St John's Copperwine with Wendy Saddington, Company Caine and Chain; South Australian artists included Steve Foster.[15][21]

The Canberra Times' correspondent reported that the "festival rocked to a close tonight after taking l​¹⁄₂ days to warm up. The pop crowd, estimated at 8,000, started arriving at the 62-acre farm at Myponga early on Saturday morning. Most of them had brought plenty of alcohol and, although violence did not erupt, the atmosphere at the festival was tense at times."[1] The promoters did not make any profit.[22]

Author Clinton Walker in his book 'Highway to Hell: The life and death of Bon Scott' described the Myponga Festival: "With a bill boasting an exclusive appearance by Black Sabbath as well as the cream of Australia's progressive bands, Myponga - bankrolled by Hamish Henry was the biggest thing to hit Adelaide since the Beatles..."[23]

In March 2013 Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne recalled the group's debut Australian performance, "That was the Myponga Pop Festival if I remember right? Management told us we'd have an exact copy of our amplifiers there, which we thought was great, but when we got there they were nothing like our amplifiers! But you know what? You get up there and do your best and I had a good time. I remember we had a big party at the hotel and some chicks there got absolutely shit-faced and were throwing up everywhere and we had to send them home. I don't remember much on the sex front after that..."[24]