It was held in an October weekend in 1981 somewhere near Stroud, NSW. Tanelorn was before the days of Narrara (which came soon after), Byron Bay Blues Festival and way before The Big Day Out was a twinkle in the eye of its creators.
The line up was incredible.
I was 15 and in Year 10 (or 4th form as it was called in the dark ages) in 1981 and right into music. Triple M had just started and I was plugged into a Sony Walkman every chance I could. With or without my black and yellow booted rollerskates.
I needed to go to Tanelorn. Up to that point, I had not been to a concert (except for seeing Midnight Oil perform on Wanda Beach one rainy afternoon where Peter Garret's sweat was flung over me from his shiny shiny head, but that's another story).
This would take some convincing. My parents were anything but strict but the thought of sending their youngest to a music festival for a weekend with her 19 year old sister and her then pot head boyfriend was even too much for them. I know I wouldn't have even considered it (and looking back it probably wasn't the best parenting decision they ever made).
I'm not sure how I did it but I was allowed to go! This also involved being driven by the said pot head which involved him speeding up the inner transit lane and stopping at the best front yard to cut a bit of hose off for his Orchy bottle bong. As it turned out, he forgot to pack the tent pegs for his tent, so I had to share my two person tent. This involved me lying across the short end of the tent and my sister and her boyfriend using me as a pillow so they could lie lengthways. He also had the forsight to pitch our three day home right next to the local bikie gang, the Gypsy Jokers' camp. Which turned out to be not too bad as I couldn't sleep at all anyway when they were doing wheelies on their bikes all night but they did end up adopting me during the concerts. They were perfect gentleman and held covers over me when it was pouring.
It was the best weekend of my life.
I was left to myself most of the time (besides meeting up with my big brother and his girlfriend by the bean salad bar - pure chance in the days of no mobiles and a crowd of thousands. The stand out acts (that I can distinctly remember) were Billy Thorpe, Split Enz and Mi-Sex (they even had a light show back then!). There was heat, rain and huge winds (not just from the beans). There was dust and mud, births and deaths (probably, I might be thinking of Woodstock) and nudity (by others of course).
If you want to see a little of what it was like, this is the only known footage (well all anyone can find on the internet anyway) of somebody's Tanelorn experience (I will endeavour to keep searching for more evidence of the festival).
If only I could remember more.....
