Welcome to: FAC15 - 'ZOO MEETS FACTORY HALF WAY' - LEIGH ROCK FESTIVAL '79
'Official Memoirs' by Joan Miller, Facts, Reviews, Pics, Interviews from a 3 Day Event!
The Leigh Rock and Music Festival back in 1979 was a few One Day Events & A Three Day Festival organised by Joan Miller, John Basham, Pete Mcdonough & co-hosted by 'Zoo' and 'Factory' Records on Monday the 27th. It was held in Leigh on the 3, 19, 25, 26 & 27th August. 'Factory' gave the Monday 27th gigs the catalogue number FAC15. and the title 'Zoo Meets Factory Halfway'. The Event was so-titled because the town of Leigh is about Half-way between Liverpool the home of 'Zoo Records' and that of 'Factory Records' in central Manchester. The full Festival '79 line-up was as listed here:
Joy Division
OMD - Orchestral Manouveres in the Dark (OMITD)
Echo and The BunnyMen
A Flock of Seagulls
Teardrop Explodes (The)
A Certain Ratio
The Distractions
Elti-Fits
Lori & The Chameleons
Crawling Chaos
Supercharge
EXoDus
Virginia Woolf
Body
The Mediators
Hot Ice
Armageddon
Gog
Visual Arts
Steroid Kiddies
Inertia
The Risk
Sister Ray
Cool Hand
Karma Sutra
Beechwood
Ex-Directory
IAN CURTIS & PETER HOOK of JOY DIVISION - 27/08/79
Photograph by Kevin Cummins - http://www.kevincummins.co.uk
Our idea was for the Bands to help raise money for a much needed 'Open Door Resource Centre' in Leigh. The Festival only went ahead after months of hard toil and the sheer willpower of 'Leigh Youth Training Workshop'. Sadly however, No cash was raised as the Festival was a washout. Mrs Miller and the local organisers were left bankrupt. Here The legacy of this unique Rock Festival has a flashback nearly 30 years later! And Yes, It's still the best 'FAC' ever to have been seen on an empty, rainswept Lancashire Coalfield! The Leigh Youth Festival (1979) or 'Zoo Meets Factory Halfway'.
Recalled Anthony H./Tony Wilson 'That night was the night of the turd wasn't it? A very big moment. Bernard (New Order) told me years later that he and Ian (Curtis) had gone to the bogs and Ian had come out terribly excited, because there was a piece of shit as long as half an arm, They were all down to have a look at it. It made their day!' (Interview used without the kind permission of Mr. Wilson)
This Website is maintained by Leigh Youth Festival '79 organiser Mrs Miller & her son Chris. We hope the information is correct. If any of the featured artists or fans feel any part is incorrect please inform us and we'll do our best to get it put right! The Festival was labelled 'Top of the Flops' in the national music press back in 1979. However We still have the belief that it was the best NorthWest pop festival ever to have been staged. Feel free to join this page and leave us your memories and general comments. If anyone has any photos, items or articles they wish to submit to better this website. Please send them! Sorry it's taken nearly 30 years to document all of this! Check our various pictures & myspace blog for more Leigh Festival '79 Information - Cheers Everyone! Enjoy what you missed!
'IT'S TOP OF THE FLOPS!' - OR IS IT 'THE FLESH THAT BROUGHT THE VINYL?'
