First-person recollection · City Rock 77

Maurice Hyde remembers City Rock ’77

Maurice Hyde’s Flickr account, themaninthejar, records his memories of the City Rock Festival at Chelmsford on 17 September 1977. This page presents only Maurice’s account; other material in the original Flickr description is omitted.

Source and attribution: Maurice Hyde, Flickr account themaninthejar, uploaded 6 April 2010. The account is personal testimony, written decades after the event. Details below are attributed to Maurice and are not presented as independently verified facts.

Flickr image accompanying Maurice Hyde’s recollection. View the original Flickr item. Only Maurice Hyde’s account is transcribed and summarized on this page.

The festival Maurice remembers

Maurice recalls a large punk festival promoted for Chelmsford, hosted by John Peel. The advertised bill included Eddie and the Hot Rods, Doctors of Madness, Lew Lewis Band, Chelsea, Slaughter and the Dogs, Asward, Fruit Eating Bears, John Cooper Clarke, Glory and Solid Waste, as well as The Damned. He gives the advance ticket price as £3, or £3.50 on the gate.

In his recollection, The Jam and Generation X withdrew before the show because advance sales were poor. He says The Damned did not perform because they were not paid, while the other advertised acts played; Eddie and the Hot Rods ultimately headlined. Maurice also says The Damned later returned to Chancellor Hall and played without charge.

Disruption and the audience

Maurice remembers low attendance, financial and organisational strain for promoter Bob Mardon, and a breakdown in arrangements with stewards and security. He recalls reports reaching the site that entry might be free, and John Peel appealing to the crowd to stay calm. He describes bottles and bags of urine being thrown, with Asward driven from the stage.

He also remembers the show continuing while a scaffolder dismantled the stage, beginning during Doctors of Madness and carrying on as Eddie and the Hot Rods played. These details are presented as Maurice’s eyewitness recollection.

Being a Chelmsford punk

Maurice describes balancing a part-time punk identity with a conventional appearance at work. For the festival, he recalls silver hair, a ripped Baddow Comprehensive blazer decorated with chains and a swastika badge, ripped jeans and silver Dr. Martens boots.

Looking back, Maurice imagines a dream bill that might have included the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, Sham 69, X-Ray Spex, Generation X, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Adverts and others.

Reading the evidence: The surviving festival poster and related event records preserve what was advertised. Maurice’s account adds what he remembers happening on the day. The two kinds of evidence are kept distinct; the recollection does not by itself confirm every advertised appearance or incident.

Open the City Rock 77 event record · Open the archive poster and ticket source page · Open the separate poster and community memories page