The hottest party of 1968, an invitation-only TV broadcast from Paris featuring performances by the likes of The Who, Small Faces, Pink Floyd, The Troggs, Booker T & The MGs, Marie Laforet, Fleetwood Mac, The Equals, Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc. (Faroutmagazine)
Many of the artists performing were captured in an equally undefined mode, with The Who lip-syncing tracks such as ‘I’m A Boy’, ‘Magic Bus’ and ‘I Can See For Miles’ while doing their best to ignore that they hadn’t had a hit in a whole year. Months later, they released their rock opera, Tommy, cementing their legacy.
A very young Joe cocker performed his beatles' cover With A Little Help From My Friend.
Small Faces, meanwhile, didn’t even plug in their instruments. They would part ways less than a month later. Pink Floyd also struggled to find their feet, having recently bid farewell to vocalist and songwriter Syd Barrett. By 1969, they were back in the game, recording their fourth album Ummagumma. Clearly, the Surprise Partie was something of a watershed moment.
The broadcast also features performances by The Equals and a protean Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer on lead vocals. Spencer would leave the group two years down the line and join the religious Christian cult, the Children of God. This being French TV, there are also performances by classic ’60s garage outfit Les Variations, Françoise Hardy and Jacques Dutronc.
