Free Party: A Folk History director Aaron Trinder breaks down what we can learn from the movement today.
The UK’s free party scene emerged at the tail end of the 1980s, when Traveller culture and the remnants of the free festivals of the 70s and 80s – a utopian era ended by the British state at the Battle of the Beanfield – collided head-on with acid house and rave. Bringing together diverse groups and organised by the likes of DiY, Spiral Tribe and Bedlam, the scene peaked with the Castlemorton Common Festival in 1992, before eventually spreading across Europe and laying the foundations for modern-day festivals.
A new film by Aaron Trinder, Free Party: A Folk History, turns back the clock to examine this often-overlooked chapter of British counterculture. To mark the film’s premiere this summer, Trinder walks us through the scene’s guiding principles and lasting legacies.
Fun, fun, fun
“The primary reason people did it was fun. It’s easy to get bogged down in politics, but they wouldn’t have done it if the events weren’t a massive amount of fun. Of course, there were concepts borrowed from the free festivals and Traveller cultures it came from – ideas such as ‘bring what you expect to find,’ ‘we are us,’ ‘leave no trace,’ ‘treat others as you wish to be treated.’”
Unity, not division
“What made those years between 88 and 92 so special was that it was a unifying period. The 80s had been very tribal – you were a hippy, a punk, a skinhead, a soul boy, a yuppie, an indie kid, a goth, a b-boy or girl. Rarely did these tribes overlap, and there was sometimes violence between them. But acid house, the arrival of ecstasy and the craving for community post Thatcher created a cultural shift that brought all the tribes into the same space. The free party scene took it further by combining elements of Traveller culture and connecting deeply to the countryside. The footage of Castlemorton in the film shows people from every possible background, all in the same fields – largely harmoniously (with a few exceptions) – having the chaotically self-organised time of their lives!”
An inherently political act
“Most of the people in the film said they weren’t intentionally political, certainly not with a large P. But the act of a free party was, in itself, political. I interviewed the artist Jeremy Deller for our virtual premiere, and he described it as ‘political behaviour’ – organising outside of the commercial mainstream, connecting and making networks. Once the Criminal Justice Bill had been brought in, people did become more explicitly political. It was a powerful movement.”
Radical legacies
“There are clear legacies in protest groups that sprang from the free parties, such as the anti-Criminal Justice Bill marches, Reclaim the Streets, the Newbury Bypass protests. These formed the template for environmental protest groups such as Extinction Rebellion, as well as tactics for decentralised self-organisation.”
Find the loopholes
“The draconian laws brought in since the 1986 Public Order Act, the Criminal Justice Bill 1994 and lately the Crime, Sentencing Bill 2022, have all increased the powers to limit our ability to gather, commune, protest, party. So, younger people definitely face more jeopardy than previous generations. But, as a lot of younger people who’ve seen the film have been telling me, they’re still doing it, finding loopholes in the laws. The guiding concept of DIY organising isn’t one that can be snuffed out easily.”
Look outside the mainstream
“The challenges facing club and rave culture today are largely the same as those putting pressure on most of society – access to space, whether that’s a home, common space for enjoying nature, running a business. They’re increasingly out of reach. But young people love to gather – it’s what they’ve always done. If legislation isn’t brought in to change the wealth disparity in society, then perhaps young people will use their ingenuity to create alternatives outside of the mainstream.”
Claim your space
“The original concept of the free festivals and parties was that they were on common land, or in free, empty spaces such as abandoned warehouses. This principle has been so eroded that in England, public access to land is at eight percent, and 50 percent of the land is owned by one percent of the country. So, the real change would come from making more spaces and land free or ‘common’. But, communities and co-ops buying spaces for open access and shared venues is a step in the right direction.”
Make a better world
“The story is really about the power of music, unity, joy, doing things for yourself and letting go of the divisions that – sometimes deliberately – divide us. The unifying energy that was present for a few precious years should be a reminder that it serves the powers that be to keep us in our box. Despite the chaotic imperfections, darker moments and challenges, I hope the film shows another world
is possible.”
The spirit lives on
“Glastonbury still has a part of it in its DNA, as many people from the scene work there. Despite it being inaccessible to many due to ticket availability, it still has fragments of the culture in the South-East Corner. Boomtown was set up by people in the scene, too. Elsewhere, there are many organisations doing things for themselves, and we’ve shared the film with groups across Europe where squatting and collectives are still present.”
… and on
“Many from the scene are still involved in music. DiY had their 35th birthday last year and Harry DiY published his amazing book, Dreaming in Yellow, about the early days of DiY. Spiral Tribe members are still active in promoting their original principles. Mark Spiral also released his book, A Darker Electricity. Steve Bedlam runs The Common at Glastonbury and the charity Refugee Community Kitchen, which serves food to homeless and stateless people in the UK and abroad. Many from the Traveller side of the story work on events, and their children are involved in sound systems and festivals.”
COMMENTS
[fbcomments title=""]