Royal Albert Hall to revisit Summer of Love

London’s Royal Albert Hall has become the latest venue to announce a series of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the summer when the world turned on, tuned in and dropped out.

Summer of Love: Revisited, running from May to July, will explore the 5,272-cap. venue’s pivotal role in the 1960s counterculture, during which time it hosted Allen Ginsberg’s International Poetry Incarnation, regarded as the first British ‘happening’; underground art event Alchemical Wedding, featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono; the Gorgeous Girls Gala, dubbed the ‘world’s first mini-skirt ball’; and shows by Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, The Move, The Nice, Soft Machine and Deep Purple.

The event series, programmed by Royal Albert Hall’s Sara Jane Power, includes shows by underground veterans Soft Machine, Julie Felix and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, screenings of Pink Floyd: London ’66–’67, Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London, Yoko Ono’s Bottoms and Wholly Communion (which documents the International Poetry Incarnation) and listening parties with The Zombies, Billy Bragg and Laura Mvula.

To celebrate the launch of Revisited and get audiences “in the mood”, Power has also curated a Spotify playlist to get audiences:

Other events marking the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love include Serbia’s Exit Festival, Liverpool’s 50 Summers of Love and an ill-fated festival in the city where it all began: San Francisco.

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