Knebworth has hosted some of music's all-time great artists over the years, and here are seven of the festival's most iconic performances for you to enjoy.
1. Oasis
Noel Gallagher concluded the Oasis documentary, Supersonic, by claiming that the band's two-night show at Knebworth in 1996 was the "last great gathering of the people before the birth of the internet".
Whether you agree with him or not, the Manchester rockers put on a performance for the ages on that weekend in early August.
Britpop had become a cultural phenomenon, spearheading a chaging nation by mid-1996, and Oasis were at the very forefront.
Such was their popularity, more than three million people applied for tickets when it was announced that the band would be coming to Hertfordshire.
In the end, 250,000 people were lucky enough to get in, and what they witnessed over two nights was an iconic show, jam-packed with Oasis classics including Wonderwall, Don't Look Back in Anger, Champagne Supernova, Whatever, Live Forever and many more.
"This is history!," Noel Gallagher shouted as he arrived on stage in Knebworth, and he was exactly right.
2. Pink Floyd
A little over 20 years earlier, another of the UK's most influential bands took to the stage in Hertfordshire.
Pink Floyd were one of the biggest acts in the world by 1975, following the success of their seminal and timeless classic album, The Dark Side of the Moon.
So many people wanted to see Floyd that huge queues formed on the motorway as music lovers flocked to Knebworth on July 5.
The show started with two Supermarine Spitfire's flying overhead, followed by the band playing new songs from their latest album Wish You Were Here.
They then preceeded to play The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirity, with all the effects and lighting you'd expect from a Pink Floyd concert.
They would be back at Knebworth in 1990 too, putting on yet another iconic show.
3. Led Zeppelin
Promoter Freddy Bannister had been trying to get Led Zeppelin to Knebworth since he started the festival back in 1974.
He would finally get his wish in 1979. It was an historic show, and Led Zep's last stand, but one Bannister would regret.
Led Zeppelin’s Knebworth appearance would be their first UK show in four years, and their first performance of any kind since the ill-fated 1977 North American tour, that ended prematurely after the death of Robert Plant’s son, Karac.
They would play on August 4 and 11, with the band's fee for performing reportedly the largest ever paid to one single act at the time.
READ MORE: Led Zeppelin’s final stand and the end of Freddy Bannister’s Knebworth Festival
The band played legendary hits including Stairway to Heaven, Kashmir and Whole Lotta Love, but the shows didn't exactly go to plan, with critics slamming their performance, while Plant would later admit: "Knebworth was useless. It was no good at all.
"It was good, but only because everybody made it good. There was that sense of event."
Then the problems truly started.
While the police believed the attendance figure to be 200,000 for the first show, Bannister and Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant had their own numbers, and a dispute over money followed.
Grant claimed that 218,000 people were at the first concert and 187,000 at the second, while Bannister believed that only 104,000 had attended in the first week, and half that for the second.
This disagreement eventually forced Bannister's concert promotion company into liquidation, and it would be his last Knebworth Festival.
It would prove to be the end for Led Zep as well.
Drummer John Bonham would die on September 25, 1980, and the group decided to disband rather than replace him out of respect for their former bandmate.
Knebworth 1979 was their last live performance in the UK.
4. The Rolling Stones
Bannister had been turned down by Led Zeppelin in 1976 too, and Queen did the same that year. The Rolling Stones then offered themselves up, and they were simply too good to turn down.
But by the mid-1970s, run ins with the law, media criticism and the emergence of punk rock had seen their once bright star begin to fade.
The tempremental rockers were a risk, and the problems started as early as Thursday night. As the band soundchecked in the grounds of the manor house, a rather irate Girl Guide leader took issue.
READ MORE: The Rolling Stones and the chaos of the 1976 Knebworth Festival
Complaining that she had booked part of the park and her girls were unable to have a camp fire sing-song due to the noise, Bannister told her to take up the issue with Jagger himself.
Far from overawed by the rock icon, she marched to the stage, grabbed his arm and bellowed: "Young man, this noise must stop. My girls can't hear themselves sing."
Jagger’s response was to the point. "F*** off."
Sound would continue to plague the festival, when on the Saturday, technical issues would lead to lengthy delays between acts, much to the frustration of the estimated 200,000 strong crowd - which included Beatle Paul McCartney (more on him later) and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
The problems meant The Rolling Stones only went on stage at 11.30pm, dangerously close to the festival's curfew, but with the spirit of rock and roll coursing through the air, the show went on as Jagger, Richards, Wyman and Watts looked to end Knebworth on a high.
Playing their biggest concert since their 1969 Hyde Park show, Jagger strutted his stuff as the 'Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World' ripped through their extensive catalogue of hits, backed by an impressive lighting display.
They rocked until the early hours, and a hefty fine was to follow.
"We were supposed to finish by midnight, and it eventually ended at about 2am," recalled Bannister.
"I think David Cobbold, who held the licence, got fined £2,000."
We also have to give a mention to Lynyrd Skynyrd, who appeared that same weekend and blew the crowd away with an unbeliveable rendition of their hit Free Bird - which you can watch below.
5. Robbie Williams
The only entry from the 2000s on this list, but how could we not talk about Robbie Williams and his Knebworth shows in 2003.
If there was ever a challenge to Noel Gallagher's "last great gathering of the people before the birth of the internet" claims, then this would be it.
Oasis played two nights in front of 250,000 people in 1996, but Robbie played a three-night residencey to 375,000 fans, and it was just as good as it sounds.
Ever the showman, he recreated the cover of album Escapology by dangling upside down above the stage as the curtains parted, before launching into opening track Let Me Entertain You.
He played Angels too, because why wouldn't he, and he was also joined on stage by fellow Take That star Mark Owen for the final night as they performed Back for Good.
Robbie's shows were the last at Knebworth to have more than 100,000 people attend until Liam Gallagher's shows in 2022. Maybe he took the "last great gathering" thing personally.
6. Queen
Much like Led Zeppelin at Knebworth in 1979, the 1986 festival would also prove to be the last for another great band, not that anyone knew at the time.
A year earlier, Queen had stunned the world at Live Aid, putting on by far and away music's most iconic performance. At Knebworth, they would wow again in front of 120,000 people.
Freddie Mercury and the band arrived in style, touching down in a helicopter personalised with the art from that year’s A Kind Of Magic album, and then they ripped through their seemingly never-ending back catalogue of timeless hits.
Bohemian Rhapsody, We Are The Champions, Radio Ga Ga, We Will Rock You, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, I Want to Break Free, Another One Bites the Dust, Under Pressure. You name it, they played it.
It was a show for the ages, but when they left the stage on August 9, 1986, it would be for the very last time.
The signs were already there, with Brian May recalling how just moments after the show Mercury would exclaim: "I can’t f****** do this anymore, my whole body’s wracked with pain."
Throughout the late 1980s, rumours swirled that Mercury had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, and on November 23, 1991 he annouced he had AIDS.
24 hours later, he passed away aged just 45. That Knebworth show in 1986 was the last time the original Queen line-up ever performed together.
"Can you believe that on Freddie Mercury’s last concert, the great showman, no one actually pressed record?," said Henry Lytton-Cobbold.
7. 1990 Silver Clef Award Winners Concert
Five years on from Live Aid, Knebworth hosted a charity concert of its own, with what can only be described as one of the greatest line-ups in the history of music.
In full, the concert saw performances from Cliff Richard and The Shadows, Dire Straits, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Genesis, Sir Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Tears for Fears and Pink Floyd.
The legends even joined each other on stage, with Clapton playing alongside Mark Knopfler and Elton, while Page and Plant reunited on stage for perform Led Zeppelin hits.
McCartney played hits form his solo collection, The Beatles and Wings, as well as a touching tribute to former bandmate John Lennon.
"There is something special about Knebworth," said Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason after the show.
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