The Rolling Stones Knebworth 1976
The Rolling Stones, 10cc, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia , Hot Tuna , Don Harrison Band.
By 1976 The Rolling Stones were reaching the peak of their success. The Knebworth festival of that year was a massive event of celebration. The band had sold out a big UK tour, and this show was added to satisfy the huge demand for tickets. I’d seen their Glasgow Apollo show a few weeks earlier, but couldn’t resist going to see them again at this big show. Lots of my friends were going, it seemed everyone I talked to was going to make the trip south for this gig. I drove down with Marie and my friend John arriving the day before the gig. I’d been to the 1974 (Allman Brothers) and 1975 (Pink Floyd) Knebworth concert, but the crowd for The Stones was much larger; with a capacity crowd of 100,000 attending the festival. The supporting bill was pretty strong: Todd Rundgren put in a good set (I Saw The LIght was one of my favourite tunes at the time), and Lynyrd Skynrd almost stole the show with a mega version of Freebird, and some superb guitar dueling. 10CC were OK, and played all their hits. The stage was a giant tongue, based on the Stones logo, and two large screens projected the stage action to the back of the crowd. There was a long, long, boring wait for the Stones who came on very late. The Stones played a marathon set and delved deep into their back catalogue, playing many songs that hadn’t featured in their set since the 60s. The sound wasn’t too good in some parts of the field, and although they were fantastic it wasn’t the best Stones performance, but it was a great event. 
Setlist: Satisfaction; Ain’t Too Proud to Beg; If You Can’t Rock Me / Get Off of My Cloud; Hand of Fate; Around and Around; Little Red Rooster; Stray Cat Blues; Hey Negrita; Hot Stuff; Fool to Cry; Star Star; Let’s Spend the Night Together; You Gotta Move; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Dead Flowers; Route 66; Wild Horses; Honky Tonk Women; Country Honk; Tumbling Dice; Happy; Nothing from Nothing; Outta Space; Midnight Rambler; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll; Brown Sugar; Rip This Joint; Jumpin’ Jack Flash; Street Fighting Man. 
Annoying, and unusually, I don’t have my ticket stub for this event (although I do have my programme); I’m pretty sure the whole ticket was taken from me at the gate. This musn’t have been the case at other gates, as stubs do come up on ebay. I must try and get one sometime. Update on May 12th 2012. I bought a stub on ebay! See scan to right. Thanks to John for sending me the poster scan.
19 Feb
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by penny on May 18, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Hey! I was there at that gig too! I particularly remember waking up in a sea of legs as The Stones came on so late. bt a good time seems to hv bn had by all despite that. Happy days. i havnt bn to a really good concert for a while bt loads.in the psst.
Posted by Matey on October 1, 2019 at 7:36 pm
I was there as well. I remember the Stones were delayed and the crowd got restless. Then a guy jumped on stage dropped his trousers and started masturbating until security dragged him off. The crowd went wild as he was projected on the big screens. After 5 mins or so he must have escaped from security as he got back on stage and did it again to riotous cheers and applause from the crowd!
Posted by Geoff Wilson on August 6, 2022 at 5:18 pm
That’s exactly how I remember it too.
What a star he was!!😁😁
Posted by vintagerock on August 6, 2022 at 6:30 pm
Hi Geoff there was some crazy guys at festivals in the 70s. Does anyone remember Jesus (I think he was called Jesus Jessop) who used to dance naked at the front at every festival in the 70s? I wonder what happened to him. I found a website that suggested he was still going to festivals in later years. Does anyone know him? Happy days Peter
Posted by Hugh C on March 7, 2024 at 3:05 pm
Yes I remember that guy, but I heard he jumped off the stage the second time and broke both his ankles – don’t know if that is true or not. The naked dancer Vintagerock referred to was William ‘Jesus’ Jellett who recently died. Google him and you’ll find him.
Posted by vintagerock on March 8, 2024 at 2:23 pm
Sad to hear that Jesus died. I remember his naked dancing at many festivals in the 1970s. He was a real character. Happy days Peter