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(Redirected from Woodstock festival)
The 'Woodstock Music and Art Fair' was a historic event held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 km²) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18 1969. Bethel (Sullivan County) is 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, NY, which is in adjoining Ulster County.
To many, the festival exemplified the counterculture of the 1960s and the "hippie era." Thirty-two of the best-known musicians of this time period appeared during the sometimes rainy weekend. Though attempts have been made over the years to recreate the festival, the original Woodstock Festival of 1969 has proven to be unique and legendary. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in music history and was listed on Rolling Stone's ''50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll''.[1]
The event was captured in a successful 1970 movie, ''Woodstock,'' and Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which memorialized the event, became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Woodstock has been idealized in the American popular culture as one of peak events of the hippie movement — a festival where nearly 500,000 "flower children" came together to celebrate. At the time, it held the record for the largest music audience in the world until the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen in 1973 held 100,000 more people. Hippie activist Abbie Hoffman crystallized this view of the event in his book, ''Woodstock Nation,'' written shortly afterwards.
Although the festival was remarkably peaceful given the number of people and conditions involved, there were three fatalities: one from a drug overdose; another due to an occupied sleeping bag accidentally being run over by a tractor in a nearby hayfield; and a third when a festival participant fell off a scaffold. There were also three miscarriages and two births recorded at the event. Oral testimony in the film supports the overdose and run-over deaths and at least one birth, along with many colossal logistical headaches. Furthermore, because Woodstock was not intended for such a large crowd, there were not enough resources such as portable toilets and first-aid tents.
Woodstock began as a profit-making venture; it only became a free festival after it became obvious that the concert was drawing hundreds of thousands more people than the organizers had prepared for, and that the fence had been torn down by eager, unticketed arrivals. Tickets for the event cost US$18 in advance (approximately US$100 today adjusted for inflation) and $24 at the gate for all three days. Ticket sales were limited to record stores in the greater New York City area, or by mail via a Post Office Box at the Radio City Station Post Office located in Midtown Manhattan.
Yet, in tune with the idealistic hopes of the 1960s, Woodstock satisfied most attendees. Especially memorable were the sense of social harmony, the quality of music, and the overwhelming mass of people, many sporting bohemian dress, behavior, and attitudes.[1][2]'''
Sound for the concert was engineered by Bill Hanley, whose innovations in the sound industry have earned him the prestigious Parnelli Award."It worked very well," he says of the event. "I built special speaker columns on the hills and had 16 loudspeaker arrays in a square platform going up to the hill on 70-foot towers. We set it up for 150,000 to 200,000 people.
"Of course, 500,000 showed up."
ALTEC designed 4 - 15 marine ply cabinets that weighed in at half a ton a piece, stood 6 feet straight up, almost 4 feet deep & a yard wide. Each of these woofers carried four 15-inch JBL LANSING D140 loudspeakers. The tweeters consisted of 4 x 2-Cell & 2 x 10-Cell Altec Horns. For many years this system was collectively referred to as the WOODSTOCK BINS.
★ Richie Havens (opened the festival - performed 7 encores)
★ # High Flyin' Bird
★ # I Can't Make It Anymore
★ # With A Little Help from My Friends
★ # Strawberry Fields Forever
★ # Hey Jude
★ # I Had A Woman
★ # Handsome Johnny
★ # Freedom/Motherless Child
★ Swami Satchidananda - gave the invocation for the festival
★ Country Joe McDonald, played separate set from his band, The Fish
★ # I Find Myself Missing You
★ # Rockin All Around The World
★ # Flyin' High All Over the World
★ # Seen A Rocket Flyin'
★ # The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
★ John Sebastian
★ # How Have You Been
★ # Rainbows Over Your Blues
★ # I Had A Dream
★ # Darlin' Be Home Soon
★ # Younger Generation
★ Sweetwater
★ # What's Wrong
★ # Motherless Child
★ # Look Out
★ # For Pete's Sake
★ # Day Song
★ # Crystal Spider
★ # Two Worlds
★ # Why Oh Why
★ Incredible String Band
★ # Invocation
★ # The Letter
★ # This Moment
★ # When You Find Out Who You Are
★ Bert Sommer
★ # Jennifer
★ # The Road To Travel
★ # I Wondered Where You Be
★ # She's Gone
★ # Things Are Going my Way
★ # And When It's Over
★ # Jeanette
★ # America
★ # A Note That Read
★ # Smile
★ Tim Hardin, an hour-long set
★ # If I Were A Carpenter
★ # Misty Roses
★ Ravi Shankar, with a 5-song set, played through the rain
★ # Raga Puriya-Dhanashri/Gat In Sawarital
★ # Tabla Solo In Jhaptal
★ # Raga Manj Kmahaj
★ # Iap Jor
★ # Dhun In Kaharwa Tal
★ Melanie
★ # Tuning My Guitar
★ # Beautiful People
★ Arlo Guthrie--order of set list unknown
★ # Coming Into Los Angeles
★ # Walking Down the Line
★ # Story about Moses and the Brownies
★ # Amazing Grace (which closed set)
★ Joan Baez
★ # Story about how the Federal Marshalls came to take David Harris into custody.
★ # Joe Hill
★ # Sweet Sir Galahad
★ # Drugstore Truck Driving Man
★ # Sweet Sunny South
★ # Warm and Tender Love
★ # Swing Low Sweet Chariot
★ # We Shall Overcome
''Baez Source:'' Arthur Levy, annotator of the expanded editions of the 12 Joan Baez CDs on Vanguard
The day opened at 12:15 pm, and featured some of the event's biggest psychedelic and guitar rock headliners.
★ Quill, forty minute set of four songs
★ # They Live the Life
★ # BBY
★ # Waitin' For You
★ # Jam
★ Keef Hartley Band
★ # Spanish Fly
★ # Believe In You
★ # Rock Me Baby
★ # Medley
★ # Leavin' Trunk
★ # Sinnin' For You
★ Santana
★ # Waiting
★ # You Just Don't Care
★ # Savior
★ # Jingo
★ # Persuasion
★ # Soul Sacrifice
★ # Fried Neckbones
★ Canned Heat
★ # A Change Is Gonna Come/Leaving This Town
★ # Going Up The Country
★ # Let's Work Together
★ # Woodstock Boogie
★ Mountain, hour-long set including Jack Bruce's "Theme For An Imaginary Western"
★ # Blood of the Sun
★ # Stormy Monday
★ # Long Red
★ # Who Am I But You And The Sun
★ # Beside The Sea
★ # For Yasgur's Farm (then untitled)
★ # You and Me
★ # Theme For An Imaginary Western
★ # Waiting To Take You Away
★ # Dreams of Milk and Honey
★ # Blind Man
★ # Blue Suede Shoes
★ # Southbound Train
★ Janis Joplin (Performed 2 encores; Piece of My Heart and Ball & Chain
★ # Raise Your Hand
★ # As Good As You've Been To This World
★ # To Love Somebody
★ # Summertime
★ # Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
★ # Kosmic Blues
★ # Can't Turn you Loose
★ # Work Me Lord
★ # Piece of My Heart
★ # Ball & Chain
★ Sly & the Family Stone started at 1:30 am (3 encores. Actually played just before The Who)
★ # M’Lady
★ # Sing A Simple Song
★ # You Can Make It If You Try
★ # Everyday People
★ # Dance To The Music
★ # I Want To Take You Higher
★ # Love City
★ # Stand!
★ Grateful Dead
★ # St. Stephen
★ # Mama Tried
★ # Dark Star/High Time
★ # Turn On Your Love Light
Grateful Dead's performance was plagued by technical problems, including a faulty electrical ground (which their roadie insisted on being fixed prior to the band's performance) and members Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir reported getting shocked every time they touched their guitars. While bootleg footage and audio of this performance exists, the Dead called it their worst performance ever and they were left out of the movie. At one point, Jerry Garcia appears in the film holding a joint, saying, "Marijuana. Exhibit A."
★ Creedence Clearwater Revival
★ # Born on the Bayou
★ # Green River
★ # Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)
★ # Commotion
★ # Bootleg
★ # Bad Moon Rising
★ # Proud Mary
★ # I Put A Spell On You
★ # Night Time is the Right Time
★ # Keep On Chooglin'
★ # Suzy Q
★ The Who began at 3 AM, kicking off a 24-song set including ''Tommy''
★ # Heaven and Hell
★ # I Can't Explain
★ # It's a Boy
★ # 1921
★ # Amazing Journey
★ # Sparks
★ # Eyesight to the Blind
★ # Christmas
★ # Tommy Can You Hear Me?
★ # Acid Queen
★ # Pinball Wizard
★ # Abbie Hoffman Incident (see section below)
★ # Fiddle About
★ # There's a Doctor
★ # Go to the Mirror
★ # Smash the Mirror
★ # I'm Free
★ # Tommy's Holiday Camp
★ # We're Not Gonna Take It
★ # See Me, Feel Me
★ # Summertime Blues
★ # Shakin' All Over
★ # My Generation
★ # Naked Eye
★ Jefferson Airplane began at 8 a.m. with an eight-song set, capping off the overnight marathon.
★ # Volunteers
★ # Somebody To Love
★ # The Other Side of This Life
★ # Plastic Fantastic Lover
★ # Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon
★ # Eskimo Blue Day
★ # Uncle Sam's Blues
★ # White Rabbit
Joe Cocker was the first act on the last officially booked day (Sunday); he opened up the day's events at 2 PM.
★ Joe Cocker
★ # Delta Lady
★ # Some Things Goin' On
★ # Let's Go Get Stoned
★ # I Shall Be Released
★ # With a Little Help from My Friends
★ After Joe Cocker's set, a storm disrupted the events for several hours.
★ Country Joe and the Fish resumed the concert around 6 p.m.
★ # Rock and Soul Music
★ # Thing Called Love
★ # Love Machine
★ # The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
★ Ten Years After
★ # Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
★ # I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes
★ # I May Be Wrong, But I Won't Be Wrong Always
★ # Hear Me Calling
★ # I'm Going Home
★ The Band - Set list confirmed via Levon Helm's book "This Wheel's On Fire"
★ # Chest Fever
★ # Tears of Rage
★ # We Can Talk
★ # Don't You Tell Henry
★ # Don't Do It
★ # Ain't No More Cane
★ # Long Black Veil
★ # This Wheel's On Fire
★ # I Shall Be Released
★ # The Weight
★ # Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
★ Blood, Sweat & Tears ushered in the midnight hour with five songs.
★ # More and More
★ # I Love You Baby More Than You Ever Know
★ # Spinning Wheel
★ # I Stand Accused
★ # Something Coming On
★ Johnny Winter featuring Edgar Winter, his brother, on two songs.
★ # Mama, Talk to Your Daughter
★ # To Tell the Truth
★ # Johnny B. Goode
★ # Six Feet In the Ground
★ # Leland Mississippi Blues/Rock Me Baby
★ # Mean Mistreater
★ # I Can't Stand It (With Edgar Winter)
★ # Tobacco Road (With Edgar Winter)
★ # Mean Town Blues
★ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young began around 3 a.m. with separate acoustic and electric sets.
★
★ Acoustic Set
★ #
★ # Blackbird
★ # Helplessly Hoping
★ # Guinnevere
★ # Marrakesh Express
★ # 4 + 20
★ # Mr. Soul
★ # Wonderin'
★ # You Don't Have To Cry
★
★ Electric Set
★ # Pre-Road Downs
★ # Long Time Gone
★ # Bluebird
★ # Sea of Madness
★ # Wooden Ships
★ # Find the Cost of Freedom
★ # 49 Bye-Byes
★ Paul Butterfield Blues Band
★ # Everything's Gonna Be Alright
★ # Driftin'
★ # Born Under A Bad Sign
★ # Morning Sunrise
★ # Love March
★ Sha-Na-Na
★ # Na Na Theme
★ # Yakety Yak
★ # Teen Angel
★ # Jailhouse Rock
★ # Wipe Out
★ # (Who Wrote) The Book of Love
★ # Duke of Earl
★ # At the Hop
★ # Na Na Theme
★ Jimi Hendrix. The full list of Hendrix's Woodstock performance:
★ # Fire
★ # Message to Love
★ # Hear My Train A Comin'
★ # Spanish Castle Magic
★ # Red House
★ # Mastermind
★ # Lover Man
★ # Foxy Lady
★ # Jam Back At The House
★ # Izabella
★ # Gypsy Woman
★ # Voodoo Child (Slight Return)/Stepping Stone
★ # Star Spangled Banner
★ # Purple Haze
★ # Woodstock Improvisation/Villanova Junction
★ # Hey Joe
★ The Jeff Beck Group was scheduled to perform at Woodstock, but failed to make an appearance due to the band's break-up the week before.
★ Iron Butterfly was stuck at an airport, and their manager demanded helicopters and special arrangements just for them. They were wired back and told, as impolitely as Western Union would allow, "to get lost", but in other 'words'.
★ Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills & Nash, but refused to be filmed; by his own report, Young felt the filming was distracting both performers and audience from the music. Young's "Sea of Madness," heard on the album, was actually recorded a month after the festival at the Fillmore East dance hall.
★ Joni Mitchell was slated to perform but her agent informed her that it was more important that she appear on "The Dick Cavett Show" on Monday, with its national audience, rather than "sit around in a field with 500 people." Ironically, David Crosby & Stephen Stills as well as Jefferson Airplane (who all performed at the festival) also made it to the show. She wrote and recorded the song "Woodstock" that was also a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
★ Canadian band Lighthouse was originally scheduled to play at Woodstock, but in the end they decided not to, fearing that it would be a bad scene. Later, several members of the group would say that they regretted the decision.
★ The promoters contacted John Lennon, requesting The Beatles to perform. Lennon said that he couldn't get the Beatles, but offered to play with his Plastic Ono Band. The promoters turned him down.
★ The Doors were considered as a potential performing band, but cancelled at the last moment. Contrary to popular belief, this occurrence was not related in some fashion to lead singer Jim Morrison's arrest for indecent exposure while performing earlier that year; the cancellation was most likely due to Morrison's known and vocal distaste for performing in large outdoor venues.[3] There also was a widely spread legend that Morrison, in a fit of paranoia, was fearful that someone would take a shot at him while he was onstage. Drummer John Densmore attended and can be seen on the side of the stage during Joe Cocker's set.
★ Led Zeppelin were asked to perform, their manager Peter Grant stating, "We were asked to do Woodstock and Atlantic were very keen, and so was our US promoter, Frank Barcelona. I said no because at Woodstock we'd have just been another band on the bill." "Led Zeppelin: The Concert Files", Lewis & Pallett, 1997, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0.7119.5307.4
★ Jethro Tull refused to perform, claiming that it wouldn't be a big deal.
★ The Moody Blues declined to perform, because they were booked for another event in Paris at the same time and decided to play there instead of Woodstock, a decision they later regretted. They were promoted as being a performer on the third day on early posters that listed the site as Wallkill.
★ Tommy James and the Shondells declined an invitation. Lead singer Tommy James stated later, "We could have just kicked ourselves. We were in Hawaii, and my secretary called and said, 'Yeah, listen, there's this pig farmer in upstate New York that wants you to play in his field.' That's how it was put to me. So we passed, and we realized what we'd missed a couple of days later."
★ The Clarence White-era Byrds were given an opportunity to play, but refused to do so after a melee during their performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival earlier that summer.
★ Paul Revere & The Raiders declined to perform.
★ Bob Dylan was in negotiations to play, but pulled out when his son became ill. He also was unhappy about the number of hippies piling up outside his house near the originally planned site.[4] He would go on to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later. At the June 30, 2007 concert at Bethel Woods, the original site of the Woodstock festival, Dylan joked (just before he performed 'All Along the Watchtower' - a song associated with Jimi Hendrix): "It's nice to be back here. Last time we played here, it was six in the morning. And it was a-raining. And there was mud in the field."[5]
★ Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention Quote: "A lot of mud at Woodstock. We were invited to play there, we turned it down" - FZ. Citation: "Class of the 20th Century," U.S. network television special in serial format, circa 1995.
★ Free were asked to perform and declined.
★ Spirit were asked to perform but declined and went on a promotional tour.
As the only reporter at Woodstock for the first 36 hours or so, Barnard Law Collier of the ''New York Times'' was almost continually pressed by his editors in New York to make the story about the immense traffic jams, the less-than-sanitary conditions, the rampant drug use, the lack of "proper policing," and the presumed dangerousness of so many young people congregating. Collier recalls: "Every major Times editor up to and including executive editor James Reston insisted that the tenor of the story must be a social catastrophe in the making. It was difficult to persuade them that the relative lack of serious mischief and the fascinating cooperation, caring and politeness among so many people was the significant point. I had to resort to refusing to write the story unless it reflected to a great extent my on-the-scene conviction that 'peace' and 'love' was the actual emphasis, not the preconceived opinions of Manhattan-bound editors. After many acrimonious telephone exchanges, the editors agreed to publish the story as I saw it, and although the nuts-and-bolts matters of gridlock and minor lawbreaking were put close to the lead of the stories, the real flavor of the gathering was permitted to get across. After the first day's Times story appeared on Page 1, the event was widely recognized for the amazing and beautiful accident it was."
Abbie Hoffman interrupted The Who's performance during Woodstock 1969 to attempt a protest speech against the jailing of John Sinclair of the White Panther Party. He grabbed a microphone and yelled, "I think this is a pile of shit! While John Sinclair rots in prison..." The Who's guitarist, Pete Townshend, cut Hoffman off in mid-sentence, saying, "Back off! Back off my fucking stage!" He then struck Hoffman with his guitar, sending the interloper tumbling offstage, to the roaring approval of the crowd. Townshend later said he actually agreed with Hoffman on Sinclair's imprisonment, though he made the point that he would have knocked him offstage regardless of his message.
According to Hoffman, in his autobiography, the incident played out like this: "If you ever heard about me in connection with the festival it was not for playing Florence Nightingale to the flower children. What you heard was the following: 'Oh, him, yeah, didn't he grab the microphone, try to make a speech when Peter Townshend cracked him over the head with his guitar?' I've seen countless references to the incident, even a mammoth mural of the scene. What I've failed to find was a single photo of the incident. Why? Because it didn't really happen."
A fifteen-second sound bite of the incident can be heard on The Who compilation set entitled
Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (Disc 2).
A documentary film, ''Woodstock'', directed by Michael Wadleigh and edited by Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese, was released in 1970. It received the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The film has been deemed culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress. In 1994, the "director's cut" was released; it included performances by Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin, who were not in the original version of the film.
In 1997, the site of the concert and 1,400 surrounding acres was purchased by Alan Gerry for the purpose of creating the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. It opened on July 1, 2006 with a performance of the New York Philharmonic. On August 13, 2006, Crosby Stills Nash & Young performed to 16,000 fans at the new Center — exactly 37 years after their historic performance at Woodstock. A new interpretive center dedicated to the Woodstock Festival and its meaning is scheduled to open in the summer of 2007.
In August 2007, the 103-acre parcel that contains Max Yasgur's former homestead was placed on the market for $8 million by its current owners, Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson. [1] The home, barn, fieldhouse, and acreage, which are listed by Joshpe Real Estate of New York City, have been the site of frequent Woodstock reunions.[2]
A plaque has been placed commemorating the festival. The field and the stage area remain preserved and well kept in their rural upstate New York setting. On the field are the remnants of a neon flower and bass from the original concert. In the middle of the field, there is a totem pole with wood carvings of Jimi Hendrix on the bottom, Janis Joplin in the middle, and Jerry Garcia on top. A concert hall has been erected up the hill, and the fields of the old Yasgur farm are still visited by people of all generations.
There are currently groups of people on the social networking websites like "Myspace" and "Facebook," that support the idea of planning a "Woodstock 2009." This future festival, if carried out, would celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original event. The main problem is that another festival would only be possible if permission was given by Woodstock Ventures Ltd. to use the name "Woodstock," which is copyrighted.
★ Jimi Hendrix's high E-string broke when he was playing Red House and he played the rest of the song with five strings.
★ John Sebastian wasn't originally scheduled to perform. He was enlisted to perform when several of the acts were late in arriving due to the traffic going to the festival.
★ Richie Havens's song "Freedom" was totally improvised. He was called back for so many encores that he ran out of songs to sing, so he just picked up his guitar and started singing "Freedom." The song includes lyrics from the Negro spiritual, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child."
★ Country Joe McDonald wasn't scheduled to perform the first day. He was forced into it because many of the acts that were scheduled to perform that day hadn't arrived yet. He also performed on Day Three with the rest of The Fish.
★ Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young almost didn't perform at the festival. The helicopter that Graham Nash and the group's drummer Dallas Taylor were on was less than 25 feet off the ground when the tail rotor failed and it began to spin. The helicopter almost crashed and Nash and Taylor were almost killed.
★ Michael Lang once said that his original idea was to have Roy Rogers close the festival by singing "Happy Trails."
★ The character named "Woodstock" from Peanuts was named after the festival (Woodstock's appearance was also modeled after the bird in the Festival logo).
★ Warren Buffet refers to his annual shareholder's meeting for Berkshire Hathaway as "Woodstock for Capitalists."
★ An anarchist group called Up Against The Wall Motherfuckers cut the fences at Woodstock, allowing hundreds to enter for free.
{{FootnotesSmall|resize=
★ Woodstock '79 (1979)
★ Woodstock '89 (1989)
★ Woodstock '94 (1994)
★ Woodstock '99 (1999)
★ Przystanek Woodstock
★ 1969 Woodstock Festival & Concert
★ "Woodstock: A New Nation", Book excerpt from "Aquarius Rising" by Robert Santelli
★
★ Woodstock Museum
The 'Woodstock Music and Art Fair' was a historic event held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 km²) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18 1969. Bethel (Sullivan County) is 43 miles southwest of the town of Woodstock, NY, which is in adjoining Ulster County.
To many, the festival exemplified the counterculture of the 1960s and the "hippie era." Thirty-two of the best-known musicians of this time period appeared during the sometimes rainy weekend. Though attempts have been made over the years to recreate the festival, the original Woodstock Festival of 1969 has proven to be unique and legendary. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in music history and was listed on Rolling Stone's ''50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll''.[1]
The event was captured in a successful 1970 movie, ''Woodstock,'' and Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which memorialized the event, became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Introduction
Woodstock has been idealized in the American popular culture as one of peak events of the hippie movement — a festival where nearly 500,000 "flower children" came together to celebrate. At the time, it held the record for the largest music audience in the world until the Summer Jam at Watkins Glen in 1973 held 100,000 more people. Hippie activist Abbie Hoffman crystallized this view of the event in his book, ''Woodstock Nation,'' written shortly afterwards.
Although the festival was remarkably peaceful given the number of people and conditions involved, there were three fatalities: one from a drug overdose; another due to an occupied sleeping bag accidentally being run over by a tractor in a nearby hayfield; and a third when a festival participant fell off a scaffold. There were also three miscarriages and two births recorded at the event. Oral testimony in the film supports the overdose and run-over deaths and at least one birth, along with many colossal logistical headaches. Furthermore, because Woodstock was not intended for such a large crowd, there were not enough resources such as portable toilets and first-aid tents.
Woodstock began as a profit-making venture; it only became a free festival after it became obvious that the concert was drawing hundreds of thousands more people than the organizers had prepared for, and that the fence had been torn down by eager, unticketed arrivals. Tickets for the event cost US$18 in advance (approximately US$100 today adjusted for inflation) and $24 at the gate for all three days. Ticket sales were limited to record stores in the greater New York City area, or by mail via a Post Office Box at the Radio City Station Post Office located in Midtown Manhattan.
Yet, in tune with the idealistic hopes of the 1960s, Woodstock satisfied most attendees. Especially memorable were the sense of social harmony, the quality of music, and the overwhelming mass of people, many sporting bohemian dress, behavior, and attitudes.[1][2]'''
Sound for the concert was engineered by Bill Hanley, whose innovations in the sound industry have earned him the prestigious Parnelli Award."It worked very well," he says of the event. "I built special speaker columns on the hills and had 16 loudspeaker arrays in a square platform going up to the hill on 70-foot towers. We set it up for 150,000 to 200,000 people.
"Of course, 500,000 showed up."
ALTEC designed 4 - 15 marine ply cabinets that weighed in at half a ton a piece, stood 6 feet straight up, almost 4 feet deep & a yard wide. Each of these woofers carried four 15-inch JBL LANSING D140 loudspeakers. The tweeters consisted of 4 x 2-Cell & 2 x 10-Cell Altec Horns. For many years this system was collectively referred to as the WOODSTOCK BINS.
Performing artists and sequence of events
A stamp commemorating the original concert
Friday, August 15
★ Richie Havens (opened the festival - performed 7 encores)
★ # High Flyin' Bird
★ # I Can't Make It Anymore
★ # With A Little Help from My Friends
★ # Strawberry Fields Forever
★ # Hey Jude
★ # I Had A Woman
★ # Handsome Johnny
★ # Freedom/Motherless Child
★ Swami Satchidananda - gave the invocation for the festival
★ Country Joe McDonald, played separate set from his band, The Fish
★ # I Find Myself Missing You
★ # Rockin All Around The World
★ # Flyin' High All Over the World
★ # Seen A Rocket Flyin'
★ # The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
★ John Sebastian
★ # How Have You Been
★ # Rainbows Over Your Blues
★ # I Had A Dream
★ # Darlin' Be Home Soon
★ # Younger Generation
★ Sweetwater
★ # What's Wrong
★ # Motherless Child
★ # Look Out
★ # For Pete's Sake
★ # Day Song
★ # Crystal Spider
★ # Two Worlds
★ # Why Oh Why
★ Incredible String Band
★ # Invocation
★ # The Letter
★ # This Moment
★ # When You Find Out Who You Are
★ Bert Sommer
★ # Jennifer
★ # The Road To Travel
★ # I Wondered Where You Be
★ # She's Gone
★ # Things Are Going my Way
★ # And When It's Over
★ # Jeanette
★ # America
★ # A Note That Read
★ # Smile
★ Tim Hardin, an hour-long set
★ # If I Were A Carpenter
★ # Misty Roses
★ Ravi Shankar, with a 5-song set, played through the rain
★ # Raga Puriya-Dhanashri/Gat In Sawarital
★ # Tabla Solo In Jhaptal
★ # Raga Manj Kmahaj
★ # Iap Jor
★ # Dhun In Kaharwa Tal
★ Melanie
★ # Tuning My Guitar
★ # Beautiful People
★ Arlo Guthrie--order of set list unknown
★ # Coming Into Los Angeles
★ # Walking Down the Line
★ # Story about Moses and the Brownies
★ # Amazing Grace (which closed set)
★ Joan Baez
★ # Story about how the Federal Marshalls came to take David Harris into custody.
★ # Joe Hill
★ # Sweet Sir Galahad
★ # Drugstore Truck Driving Man
★ # Sweet Sunny South
★ # Warm and Tender Love
★ # Swing Low Sweet Chariot
★ # We Shall Overcome
''Baez Source:'' Arthur Levy, annotator of the expanded editions of the 12 Joan Baez CDs on Vanguard
Saturday, August 16
The day opened at 12:15 pm, and featured some of the event's biggest psychedelic and guitar rock headliners.
★ Quill, forty minute set of four songs
★ # They Live the Life
★ # BBY
★ # Waitin' For You
★ # Jam
★ Keef Hartley Band
★ # Spanish Fly
★ # Believe In You
★ # Rock Me Baby
★ # Medley
★ # Leavin' Trunk
★ # Sinnin' For You
★ Santana
★ # Waiting
★ # You Just Don't Care
★ # Savior
★ # Jingo
★ # Persuasion
★ # Soul Sacrifice
★ # Fried Neckbones
★ Canned Heat
★ # A Change Is Gonna Come/Leaving This Town
★ # Going Up The Country
★ # Let's Work Together
★ # Woodstock Boogie
★ Mountain, hour-long set including Jack Bruce's "Theme For An Imaginary Western"
★ # Blood of the Sun
★ # Stormy Monday
★ # Long Red
★ # Who Am I But You And The Sun
★ # Beside The Sea
★ # For Yasgur's Farm (then untitled)
★ # You and Me
★ # Theme For An Imaginary Western
★ # Waiting To Take You Away
★ # Dreams of Milk and Honey
★ # Blind Man
★ # Blue Suede Shoes
★ # Southbound Train
★ Janis Joplin (Performed 2 encores; Piece of My Heart and Ball & Chain
★ # Raise Your Hand
★ # As Good As You've Been To This World
★ # To Love Somebody
★ # Summertime
★ # Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
★ # Kosmic Blues
★ # Can't Turn you Loose
★ # Work Me Lord
★ # Piece of My Heart
★ # Ball & Chain
★ Sly & the Family Stone started at 1:30 am (3 encores. Actually played just before The Who)
★ # M’Lady
★ # Sing A Simple Song
★ # You Can Make It If You Try
★ # Everyday People
★ # Dance To The Music
★ # I Want To Take You Higher
★ # Love City
★ # Stand!
★ Grateful Dead
★ # St. Stephen
★ # Mama Tried
★ # Dark Star/High Time
★ # Turn On Your Love Light
Grateful Dead's performance was plagued by technical problems, including a faulty electrical ground (which their roadie insisted on being fixed prior to the band's performance) and members Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir reported getting shocked every time they touched their guitars. While bootleg footage and audio of this performance exists, the Dead called it their worst performance ever and they were left out of the movie. At one point, Jerry Garcia appears in the film holding a joint, saying, "Marijuana. Exhibit A."
★ Creedence Clearwater Revival
★ # Born on the Bayou
★ # Green River
★ # Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)
★ # Commotion
★ # Bootleg
★ # Bad Moon Rising
★ # Proud Mary
★ # I Put A Spell On You
★ # Night Time is the Right Time
★ # Keep On Chooglin'
★ # Suzy Q
★ The Who began at 3 AM, kicking off a 24-song set including ''Tommy''
★ # Heaven and Hell
★ # I Can't Explain
★ # It's a Boy
★ # 1921
★ # Amazing Journey
★ # Sparks
★ # Eyesight to the Blind
★ # Christmas
★ # Tommy Can You Hear Me?
★ # Acid Queen
★ # Pinball Wizard
★ # Abbie Hoffman Incident (see section below)
★ # Fiddle About
★ # There's a Doctor
★ # Go to the Mirror
★ # Smash the Mirror
★ # I'm Free
★ # Tommy's Holiday Camp
★ # We're Not Gonna Take It
★ # See Me, Feel Me
★ # Summertime Blues
★ # Shakin' All Over
★ # My Generation
★ # Naked Eye
★ Jefferson Airplane began at 8 a.m. with an eight-song set, capping off the overnight marathon.
★ # Volunteers
★ # Somebody To Love
★ # The Other Side of This Life
★ # Plastic Fantastic Lover
★ # Won't You Try/Saturday Afternoon
★ # Eskimo Blue Day
★ # Uncle Sam's Blues
★ # White Rabbit
The Original Woodstock Poster with the Wallkill, New York location
Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18
Joe Cocker was the first act on the last officially booked day (Sunday); he opened up the day's events at 2 PM.
★ Joe Cocker
★ # Delta Lady
★ # Some Things Goin' On
★ # Let's Go Get Stoned
★ # I Shall Be Released
★ # With a Little Help from My Friends
★ After Joe Cocker's set, a storm disrupted the events for several hours.
★ Country Joe and the Fish resumed the concert around 6 p.m.
★ # Rock and Soul Music
★ # Thing Called Love
★ # Love Machine
★ # The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
★ Ten Years After
★ # Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
★ # I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes
★ # I May Be Wrong, But I Won't Be Wrong Always
★ # Hear Me Calling
★ # I'm Going Home
★ The Band - Set list confirmed via Levon Helm's book "This Wheel's On Fire"
★ # Chest Fever
★ # Tears of Rage
★ # We Can Talk
★ # Don't You Tell Henry
★ # Don't Do It
★ # Ain't No More Cane
★ # Long Black Veil
★ # This Wheel's On Fire
★ # I Shall Be Released
★ # The Weight
★ # Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
★ Blood, Sweat & Tears ushered in the midnight hour with five songs.
★ # More and More
★ # I Love You Baby More Than You Ever Know
★ # Spinning Wheel
★ # I Stand Accused
★ # Something Coming On
★ Johnny Winter featuring Edgar Winter, his brother, on two songs.
★ # Mama, Talk to Your Daughter
★ # To Tell the Truth
★ # Johnny B. Goode
★ # Six Feet In the Ground
★ # Leland Mississippi Blues/Rock Me Baby
★ # Mean Mistreater
★ # I Can't Stand It (With Edgar Winter)
★ # Tobacco Road (With Edgar Winter)
★ # Mean Town Blues
★ Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young began around 3 a.m. with separate acoustic and electric sets.
★
★ Acoustic Set
★ #
★ # Blackbird
★ # Helplessly Hoping
★ # Guinnevere
★ # Marrakesh Express
★ # 4 + 20
★ # Mr. Soul
★ # Wonderin'
★ # You Don't Have To Cry
★
★ Electric Set
★ # Pre-Road Downs
★ # Long Time Gone
★ # Bluebird
★ # Sea of Madness
★ # Wooden Ships
★ # Find the Cost of Freedom
★ # 49 Bye-Byes
★ Paul Butterfield Blues Band
★ # Everything's Gonna Be Alright
★ # Driftin'
★ # Born Under A Bad Sign
★ # Morning Sunrise
★ # Love March
★ Sha-Na-Na
★ # Na Na Theme
★ # Yakety Yak
★ # Teen Angel
★ # Jailhouse Rock
★ # Wipe Out
★ # (Who Wrote) The Book of Love
★ # Duke of Earl
★ # At the Hop
★ # Na Na Theme
★ Jimi Hendrix. The full list of Hendrix's Woodstock performance:
★ # Fire
★ # Message to Love
★ # Hear My Train A Comin'
★ # Spanish Castle Magic
★ # Red House
★ # Mastermind
★ # Lover Man
★ # Foxy Lady
★ # Jam Back At The House
★ # Izabella
★ # Gypsy Woman
★ # Voodoo Child (Slight Return)/Stepping Stone
★ # Star Spangled Banner
★ # Purple Haze
★ # Woodstock Improvisation/Villanova Junction
★ # Hey Joe
Cancelled appearances
★ The Jeff Beck Group was scheduled to perform at Woodstock, but failed to make an appearance due to the band's break-up the week before.
★ Iron Butterfly was stuck at an airport, and their manager demanded helicopters and special arrangements just for them. They were wired back and told, as impolitely as Western Union would allow, "to get lost", but in other 'words'.
★ Neil Young joined Crosby, Stills & Nash, but refused to be filmed; by his own report, Young felt the filming was distracting both performers and audience from the music. Young's "Sea of Madness," heard on the album, was actually recorded a month after the festival at the Fillmore East dance hall.
★ Joni Mitchell was slated to perform but her agent informed her that it was more important that she appear on "The Dick Cavett Show" on Monday, with its national audience, rather than "sit around in a field with 500 people." Ironically, David Crosby & Stephen Stills as well as Jefferson Airplane (who all performed at the festival) also made it to the show. She wrote and recorded the song "Woodstock" that was also a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
★ Canadian band Lighthouse was originally scheduled to play at Woodstock, but in the end they decided not to, fearing that it would be a bad scene. Later, several members of the group would say that they regretted the decision.
Refused invitations
★ The promoters contacted John Lennon, requesting The Beatles to perform. Lennon said that he couldn't get the Beatles, but offered to play with his Plastic Ono Band. The promoters turned him down.
★ The Doors were considered as a potential performing band, but cancelled at the last moment. Contrary to popular belief, this occurrence was not related in some fashion to lead singer Jim Morrison's arrest for indecent exposure while performing earlier that year; the cancellation was most likely due to Morrison's known and vocal distaste for performing in large outdoor venues.[3] There also was a widely spread legend that Morrison, in a fit of paranoia, was fearful that someone would take a shot at him while he was onstage. Drummer John Densmore attended and can be seen on the side of the stage during Joe Cocker's set.
★ Led Zeppelin were asked to perform, their manager Peter Grant stating, "We were asked to do Woodstock and Atlantic were very keen, and so was our US promoter, Frank Barcelona. I said no because at Woodstock we'd have just been another band on the bill." "Led Zeppelin: The Concert Files", Lewis & Pallett, 1997, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0.7119.5307.4
★ Jethro Tull refused to perform, claiming that it wouldn't be a big deal.
★ The Moody Blues declined to perform, because they were booked for another event in Paris at the same time and decided to play there instead of Woodstock, a decision they later regretted. They were promoted as being a performer on the third day on early posters that listed the site as Wallkill.
★ Tommy James and the Shondells declined an invitation. Lead singer Tommy James stated later, "We could have just kicked ourselves. We were in Hawaii, and my secretary called and said, 'Yeah, listen, there's this pig farmer in upstate New York that wants you to play in his field.' That's how it was put to me. So we passed, and we realized what we'd missed a couple of days later."
★ The Clarence White-era Byrds were given an opportunity to play, but refused to do so after a melee during their performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival earlier that summer.
★ Paul Revere & The Raiders declined to perform.
★ Bob Dylan was in negotiations to play, but pulled out when his son became ill. He also was unhappy about the number of hippies piling up outside his house near the originally planned site.[4] He would go on to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later. At the June 30, 2007 concert at Bethel Woods, the original site of the Woodstock festival, Dylan joked (just before he performed 'All Along the Watchtower' - a song associated with Jimi Hendrix): "It's nice to be back here. Last time we played here, it was six in the morning. And it was a-raining. And there was mud in the field."[5]
★ Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention Quote: "A lot of mud at Woodstock. We were invited to play there, we turned it down" - FZ. Citation: "Class of the 20th Century," U.S. network television special in serial format, circa 1995.
★ Free were asked to perform and declined.
★ Spirit were asked to perform but declined and went on a promotional tour.
Media coverage and The New York Times
As the only reporter at Woodstock for the first 36 hours or so, Barnard Law Collier of the ''New York Times'' was almost continually pressed by his editors in New York to make the story about the immense traffic jams, the less-than-sanitary conditions, the rampant drug use, the lack of "proper policing," and the presumed dangerousness of so many young people congregating. Collier recalls: "Every major Times editor up to and including executive editor James Reston insisted that the tenor of the story must be a social catastrophe in the making. It was difficult to persuade them that the relative lack of serious mischief and the fascinating cooperation, caring and politeness among so many people was the significant point. I had to resort to refusing to write the story unless it reflected to a great extent my on-the-scene conviction that 'peace' and 'love' was the actual emphasis, not the preconceived opinions of Manhattan-bound editors. After many acrimonious telephone exchanges, the editors agreed to publish the story as I saw it, and although the nuts-and-bolts matters of gridlock and minor lawbreaking were put close to the lead of the stories, the real flavor of the gathering was permitted to get across. After the first day's Times story appeared on Page 1, the event was widely recognized for the amazing and beautiful accident it was."
The Abbie Hoffman incident
Abbie Hoffman interrupted The Who's performance during Woodstock 1969 to attempt a protest speech against the jailing of John Sinclair of the White Panther Party. He grabbed a microphone and yelled, "I think this is a pile of shit! While John Sinclair rots in prison..." The Who's guitarist, Pete Townshend, cut Hoffman off in mid-sentence, saying, "Back off! Back off my fucking stage!" He then struck Hoffman with his guitar, sending the interloper tumbling offstage, to the roaring approval of the crowd. Townshend later said he actually agreed with Hoffman on Sinclair's imprisonment, though he made the point that he would have knocked him offstage regardless of his message.
According to Hoffman, in his autobiography, the incident played out like this: "If you ever heard about me in connection with the festival it was not for playing Florence Nightingale to the flower children. What you heard was the following: 'Oh, him, yeah, didn't he grab the microphone, try to make a speech when Peter Townshend cracked him over the head with his guitar?' I've seen countless references to the incident, even a mammoth mural of the scene. What I've failed to find was a single photo of the incident. Why? Because it didn't really happen."
A fifteen-second sound bite of the incident can be heard on The Who compilation set entitled
Thirty Years of Maximum R&B (Disc 2).
The film
A documentary film, ''Woodstock'', directed by Michael Wadleigh and edited by Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese, was released in 1970. It received the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The film has been deemed culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress. In 1994, the "director's cut" was released; it included performances by Jefferson Airplane and Janis Joplin, who were not in the original version of the film.
Woodstock today
A man points to where the original stage stood in 1969.
In 1997, the site of the concert and 1,400 surrounding acres was purchased by Alan Gerry for the purpose of creating the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. It opened on July 1, 2006 with a performance of the New York Philharmonic. On August 13, 2006, Crosby Stills Nash & Young performed to 16,000 fans at the new Center — exactly 37 years after their historic performance at Woodstock. A new interpretive center dedicated to the Woodstock Festival and its meaning is scheduled to open in the summer of 2007.
In August 2007, the 103-acre parcel that contains Max Yasgur's former homestead was placed on the market for $8 million by its current owners, Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson. [1] The home, barn, fieldhouse, and acreage, which are listed by Joshpe Real Estate of New York City, have been the site of frequent Woodstock reunions.[2]
Woodstock Plaque
A plaque has been placed commemorating the festival. The field and the stage area remain preserved and well kept in their rural upstate New York setting. On the field are the remnants of a neon flower and bass from the original concert. In the middle of the field, there is a totem pole with wood carvings of Jimi Hendrix on the bottom, Janis Joplin in the middle, and Jerry Garcia on top. A concert hall has been erected up the hill, and the fields of the old Yasgur farm are still visited by people of all generations.
There are currently groups of people on the social networking websites like "Myspace" and "Facebook," that support the idea of planning a "Woodstock 2009." This future festival, if carried out, would celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original event. The main problem is that another festival would only be possible if permission was given by Woodstock Ventures Ltd. to use the name "Woodstock," which is copyrighted.
The Woodstock stage area facing sloping field at Bethel Woods.
Trivia
★ Jimi Hendrix's high E-string broke when he was playing Red House and he played the rest of the song with five strings.
★ John Sebastian wasn't originally scheduled to perform. He was enlisted to perform when several of the acts were late in arriving due to the traffic going to the festival.
★ Richie Havens's song "Freedom" was totally improvised. He was called back for so many encores that he ran out of songs to sing, so he just picked up his guitar and started singing "Freedom." The song includes lyrics from the Negro spiritual, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child."
★ Country Joe McDonald wasn't scheduled to perform the first day. He was forced into it because many of the acts that were scheduled to perform that day hadn't arrived yet. He also performed on Day Three with the rest of The Fish.
★ Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young almost didn't perform at the festival. The helicopter that Graham Nash and the group's drummer Dallas Taylor were on was less than 25 feet off the ground when the tail rotor failed and it began to spin. The helicopter almost crashed and Nash and Taylor were almost killed.
★ Michael Lang once said that his original idea was to have Roy Rogers close the festival by singing "Happy Trails."
★ The character named "Woodstock" from Peanuts was named after the festival (Woodstock's appearance was also modeled after the bird in the Festival logo).
★ Warren Buffet refers to his annual shareholder's meeting for Berkshire Hathaway as "Woodstock for Capitalists."
★ An anarchist group called Up Against The Wall Motherfuckers cut the fences at Woodstock, allowing hundreds to enter for free.
References
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See also
★ Woodstock '79 (1979)
★ Woodstock '89 (1989)
★ Woodstock '94 (1994)
★ Woodstock '99 (1999)
★ Przystanek Woodstock
External links
★ 1969 Woodstock Festival & Concert
★ "Woodstock: A New Nation", Book excerpt from "Aquarius Rising" by Robert Santelli
★
★ Woodstock Museum
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