The Polytantric Circle was an organization that helped organize the yearly

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Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. These celebrations, called the

Stonehenge Free Festival The Stonehenge Free Festival was a British free festival from 1974 to 1984 held at the prehistoric monument Stonehenge in England during the month of June, and culminating with the summer solstice on or near 21 June. It emerged as the major fre ...

, ran from 1974 to 1984. By the early 1980s, the festival had begun to attract a large following, and the people who helped to put the festival together year after year began to take on specific roles. Willy X put together an annual festival list and had contact lists for bands, and the loose-knit Polytantric, an offshoot of the

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, took the lead in organising the stage and pyramid roof, PA, and bands.

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offered valuable experience in use of setting up of the pyramid, a free alternative space, a legendary stage, which had originally made its debut with Sphinx at the

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Greenham, Sizewell, Stonehenge, Hyde Park. Brixton. From festival to campaign gigs to legalise it to peace protest to benefit, the pyramid epitomised the ambitions of a radical and vibrant alternative popular youth counter culture. In the winter huge blocks of

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s were hung inside the pyramid to purify the energies. Stonehenge begun to grow rapidly: in 1980, 12,000 people had attended, but by '82 there were 35,000. However, coordination between

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, the

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, and the Polytantric Circle seemed to be breaking down. In 1983 it was decided to move the stage to the field closer to the woods and further away from the Stones.

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and Big Steve the polytantric stage manager wandered across the fields past the mounds clutching a

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; it twitched downwards in a circle of daisies, the spot that was to become the site for the stage for the pyramid stage at the Stonehenge free festival. Six days and six nights of live music followed. In 1985 celebrations at Stonehenge were banned by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

courts. This ban was lifted in 1999, and the campaign for a new free festival summer solstice celebration continues. The group published "The Polytantric Newsletter" and were the first to organise what became The Stonehenge Campaign.Campaign details - IT 1986

References

External links

Polytantric Newsletter 17 - 1986 reproduced in IT
{{Stonehenge Music festivals in Wiltshire Counterculture festivals activists Stonehenge