Come ben si sa, il primo Rock in Opposition Festival si tenne a Londra il 12 marzo 1978, una lunga domenica 'internazionalista' con concerti da pomeriggio a sera presso il New London Theatre in Drury Lane. Erano gli ultimi mesi di attività di Henry Cow e Chris Cutler ricorda: "In March we organised and played at the first Rock in Opposition Festival in London, inviting four European groups: Univers Zero (Belgium), Etron Fou Leloublan (France), Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden) and Stormy Six (Italy) to play at it. We had already known them all for along time, and had worked with each of them individually before. It seemed ridiculous to us that they were unknown outside their own countries and that their records were not distributed or reviewed anywhere but in local outlets (not being American or English meant not being for the English speaking world). This festival was intended as a graphic counter to British rock chauvinism - and as a move toward recognising a de facto international community of experimental musicians. It ended up grounding a temporary organisation whose aim was to represent and promote its members on a European scale, an organisation which, although short-lived, did help to identify and cohere a general tendency in music. Once done, it could never be undone."
Se il poster del festival è divenuto nel tempo icona cara e nota, il libretto originale con 'manifesto' e note informative scritte a mano dallo stesso Cutler si è visto molto molto meno. Riappare oggi in scansione nel blog Kohntarkosz:
