A GROUP of old friends are to feature in a TV documentary about their extraordinary journey to a 1960s super-concert starring some of the era’s greatest musicians.
Martin Willmott, of Worcester, and friends John Percival and Ivan Willis, are to be the focus of a documentary about Barbecue 67, a concert in 1967 that featured an all-star line-up including Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Cream, Zoot Money, the Ram Jam Band and Geno Washington.
Mr Willmott’s memories of the concert will form part of the BBC programme In Touch, presented by the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, which will be aired at the start of next month.
Fifty-eight-year-old Mr Willmott, who lives at Tay Avenue, St Peter’s and performs vocals and plays the guitar for his own band, the Mood Elevators, said it was his internet blog which first sparked the interest of TV producers.
Mr Willmott had been a 16-year-old pupil at Worcester Royal Grammar School when he and his friends decided to go to the concert in Spalding, Lincolnshire.
He arranged for tickets and generated enough interest to hire a coach from the Cornmarket in Worcester to take them.
But the concert tickets still had not turned up when they went to board the coach – and the friends did not dare tell the 40 other people on the bus. Mr Willmott said: “We didn’t have the tickets and we couldn’t contact anyone – there were fewer phones in those days and we had already paid for the coach. We couldn’t really afford not to go. Everyone in the coach was going on trust.”
But their prayers were answered when by coincidence the coach was trailed by Zoot Money, one of the headline performers at the concert, and they got him to pull over by writing “stop” in lipstick on the back of the coach. He agreed to help them and they were eventually able to get in early on the door.
Mr Willmott, speaking about the concert on his blog, said: “I had really come for Hendrix and Cream but I have to say that Geno stole the show. He was awesome and created an atmosphere you could cut with a knife. It is hard to believe that Geno is not a major star today. He had the audience in the palm of his hand.”
Mr Willmott is interested to hear from anyone with memories, photographs or memorabilia from the time of the concert. He can be contacted on 01905 733380.
