Tribal Gathering: the rave that grew into the UK's first legal all-nighter
Started in a field near Warminster in 1993 and ended up giving Kraftwerk their first UK show in five years.
A field in Wiltshire, 1993
The first Tribal Gathering ran on Friday 30 April 1993 at Lower Pertwood Farm near Warminster, Wiltshire, drawing 25,000 people to a bill that included Laurent Garnier, Carl Cox and Aphex Twin. It was founded by Paul Shurey and Rob Vega, with Roger Spurrell - a former Bath rugby captain - among the original Universe promoters behind it, and Ian Jenkinson joining as a partner in March 1994.
Over the next few years the event moved away from being simply a rave and became, in the description that stuck to it afterwards, a fully realised electronic music festival combining DJs with live acts.
The first legal all-nighter, and Luton Hoo
May 1995, at Otmoor Park in Beckley, Oxfordshire, is credited as the first legal all-night event held in the UK, headlined by The Prodigy, Orbital and Moby. A year later, June 1996 at Luton Hoo in Bedfordshire drew 30,000 people for a bill including Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers and Leftfield - coverage at the time called it the greatest electronic music festival yet held in the country.
Kraftwerk headlined the 1997 event at Luton Hoo, their first UK appearance since 1992 - a booking that says plainly how far the festival's reach had grown from a 25,000-capacity field party four years earlier.
After 1997
The Tribal Gathering name was bought by David Vincent in 1999, and the event relocated to Manchester's Sankeys Soap before moving to Southport Pontins for weekenders in 2002 and 2003, ending with warehouse parties in 2004. A planned 2005 benefit event at Luton Hoo, raising money for victims of the Darfur war, was cancelled following the 7 July London terrorist attacks.