Official programme · 50p
Official concert programme, Knebworth, 9 September 1978 · scans via the AFKA Zappa scrapbook archive
The running order · Tubes last
The festival
1978
Knebworth Park
Hertfordshire, England · September 9, 1978
- Frank ZappaJoint headliner
- The TubesJoint headliner · closed the show
- Peter GabrielSupport
- The Boomtown RatsSupport
- Dave EdmundsSupport
- Nick LoweSupport
- Wilko Johnson’s Solid SendersSupport
Billed, gloriously, as “Oh God, Not Another Boring Old Knebworth.” Zappa and The Tubes were announced as joint headliners — the official programme puts both names on one line, at the same size. The running order printed inside settles who finished the night: Wilko Johnson, Rockpile, the Boomtown Rats, Peter Gabriel, Frank Zappa, and then The Tubes, closing the festival in front of roughly 45,000 people. Peter Gabriel spent his set climbing the stage scaffolding with a large stuffed panda. One of the great strange bills of the decade, and the high-water mark of the band’s standing in Britain.