Castlemorton Common rave, 1992
By Alan ‘Tash’ Lodge
This snapshot of gurning ravers was taken at the largest illegal rave in UK history. Alan “Tash” Lodge had been attending free festivals since the 70s. On a sunny bank holiday weekend in May 1992, he joined about 30,000 partiers gathered beneath the Malvern Hills. It was meant to be a small event for new age travellers, but the news had spread. A crackdown followed, resulting in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which famously targeted events with music “predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”. GS
