No different music competition fairly encapsulates the idealism of the 60s like Woodstock. This exceptional occasion, held at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm, close to White Lake in Bethel, upstate New York, is broadly thought to be the defining second of the late 60s counterculture. As such, the most effective Woodstock performances don’t simply mark excessive factors among the many “three days of peace and music” the competition sought to offer, they stand as a few of the most iconic musical moments written into historical past.
Woodstock Pageant was up towards it from the outset. Finally sprawling over a lot of 4 days (August 15-18 1969), it was blighted by relentless rain, unhealthy medication, and on-site amenities to provide trendy festivalgoers the concern. But, regardless of its flaws, Woodstock pulled via. It’s now rightly thought to be a pivotal occasion in rock’n’roll historical past whose most lasting legacy is its groundbreaking music.
Listed here are 15 of the most effective Woodstock performances. Assume we’ve missed any? Tell us within the feedback part.
15: Joan Baez
In concept, Joan Baez was the headlining act on Woodstock’s first evening. Nonetheless, because of the interminable delays and seat-of-the-pants group that characterised your entire occasion, the folks star didn’t make it on stage till the early hours of Saturday morning. Consequently, she greeted the group with a mild “good morning” and opened her set with “Oh Happy Day.” Dedicating songs to her imprisoned, draft-resisting husband, David Harris, she carried out rousing variations of “Joe Hill” and Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released,” and completed on a excessive, main the group in a becoming singalong of the civil-rights anthem, ‘We Shall Overcome’. (After 50 years, her full efficiency has been launched digitally for the primary time.)
14: Crosby, Stills, Nash And Younger
You can argue this could simply learn “Crosby, Stills And Nash”, as Neil Younger solely carried out two songs and flatly refused to be filmed for Michael Wadleigh’s Woodstock documentary. Nonetheless, whereas nerves prevailed, and the celebrity outfit have been solely enjoying their second gig (“We’re scared s__tless”, Stills broadcasts at one level), they nonetheless delivered an impressed set, splitting their present into acoustic and electrical sections which included classics similar to “Guinnevere’, “Marrakesh Express” and “Mr. Soul.”
13: Canned Warmth
Whereas the rain lastly stopped for some time on Saturday afternoon, the creativity additionally threatened to dry up onstage, with forgettable afternoon units from blues-rocker Keef Hartley and eccentric folks outfit The Unbelievable String Band. Up subsequent, nevertheless, have been Canned Warmth, whose heavyweight blues-rock was simply the ticket to revive flagging spirits. Enjoying for round an hour, the Californian stalwarts bought the competition again on monitor, with “On The Road Again,” “Going Up The Country” and the rollicking, 26-minute “Woodstock Boogie” all receiving a suitably enthusiastic response.
12: Ten Years After
Alvin Lee’s gifted UK blues-rockers Ten Years After have been already making waves within the US, having delivered feisty units on the Newport Jazz Pageant and the Seattle Pop Pageant throughout the summer time of 1969. With excessive factors together with a incredible efficiency of Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Help Me” and a full-tilt rendition of “I’m Going Home,” their fierce Woodstock set catapulted them into the mainstream courtesy of “I’m Going Home,” which featured in Michael Wadleigh’s much-acclaimed 1970 documentary.
11: Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was meant to shut the Saturday evening at Woodstock, however, like Joan Baez, they ended up performing the next morning, lastly taking to the stage at round 8:00 am on Sunday. By the use of an introduction, singer Grace Slick mentioned, “All right, friends, you have seen the heavy groups, now you’ll see morning maniac music.” However regardless of the lateness/earliness of the hour, the San Franciscans duly delivered one Woodstock’s finest units, together with landmark hits “Somebody To Love,” “Volunteers” and their psych-rock basic “White Rabbit.”
10: Richie Havens
Chaotic from the outset, Woodstock was meant to kick off at 3:00 pm on Friday, August 15. Nonetheless, competition openers Sweetwater was nonetheless caught in site visitors long gone their scheduled slot, so, at simply after 5:00 pm, competition MC Chip Monck thrust singer-songwriter Richie Havens onstage to open the proceedings with what grew to become a legendary efficiency lasting properly over two hours. Clad in a powerful orange gown, the Brooklyn-born folkie struck up “From The Prison” and went on to captivate the group, spontaneously improvising considered one of his best songs, “Freedom’, on the spot. The following Woodstock film helped Havens attain a worldwide viewers and, when he died in 2013, his ashes have been scattered from the air over the competition website.
9: Nation Joe And The Fish
Nation Joe McDonald performed twice at Woodstock: firstly, on the Saturday as an impromptu solo act, then on Sunday along with his band Nation Joe And The Fish. Nonetheless, it was the solo efficiency that also resonates to today. Earlier than his last tune, he engaged the viewers in what he and his band referred to as the “Fish Cheer”: a chant that may usually spell out “F-I-S-H.” This time round, nevertheless, McDonald switched it to, “Gimme an ‘F’, gimme a ‘U’, gimme a ‘C’, gimme a ‘K’… what’s that spell?” “F__k!” the viewers roared in unison. Following up, McDonald led the group in a 400,000-person singalong for his most well-known tune, the anti-war anthem “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag,” happening in historical past earlier than he even left the stage.
8: The Band
Native Catskills residents The Band have been seemingly the primary group provided a slot at Woodstock, however because of Albert Grossman, supervisor of their main employer, Bob Dylan, few outdoors of the festivalgoers heard the proof till 5 songs from their Sunday-night set have been lastly included on the 2009 field set Woodstock: Forty Years On. That’s an ideal disgrace, for the pioneering Americana legends delivered considered one of Woodstock’s most chic performances, airing tracks from their epochal debut album, Music From Large Pink, amongst them classics similar to “Tears Of Rage,” “This Wheel’s On Fire” and their signature hit, “The Weight.”
7: Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker’s star was already within the ascendency after his magnificent, soul-flavored model of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends” topped the UK charts in November 1968 and his album of the identical identify cracked the High 40 of the Billboard 200. His widely-celebrated Woodstock look, nevertheless, made him a family identify. Accompanied by his group, The Grease Band, the Sheffield soul belter needed to be helicoptered into the location because of the big crowds, however his heartfelt set (together with “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” Dylan’s “Just Like A Woman” and the inevitable Beatles tune) lifted the throng, regardless of the rainstorm that adopted their efficiency.
6: Sly And The Household Stone
Although it ran horrendously delayed, Woodstock’s Saturday line-up was the stuff of legend, involving Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, and The Who. Sandwiched between Joplin and Pete Townshend’s troops, Sly And The Household Stone finally took to the stage at 3.30 am on Sunday morning. Regardless of the pouring rain, their celebratory funk was a revelation and their hit-stuffed set (“Everyday People,” “Dance To The Music,” “I Want To Take You Higher”) gave the beleaguered crowd the shot of power they so desperately wanted.
5: Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s fierce, professionally-executed efficiency at Woodstock was thrown into even sharper aid as they adopted on from Grateful Useless, whose rambling, 90-minute set was blighted by electrical shocks and all method of apparatus and PA-related issues. CCR chief John Fogerty was not amused by the competition’s haphazard group (he insisted they be omitted from Michael Wadleigh’s documentary), but his band nonetheless rampaged via a blistering set together with signature hits “Proud Mary,” “Born On The Bayou” and “Bad Moon Rising,” as their not too long ago launched Stay At Woodstock album reveals.
4: Santana
If timing is every part in rock’n’roll, then Carlos Santana’s look at Woodstock couldn’t have been extra excellent. When he took to the stage at Yasgur’s Farm on the Saturday afternoon, the precocious younger guitarist was nonetheless a relative unknown, however his spellbinding slot turned him into an in a single day success, along with his debut album, Santana, subsequently peaking at No.4 within the US. His band’s nimble Latin-rock fusion prompted a sensation at Woodstock, with Santana’s phenomenal guitar enjoying and Michael Shrieve’s drum solo throughout the colossal ‘Soul Sacrifice’ offering one of many competition’s legend-enshrining moments.
3: Janis Joplin
One of many unfettered highlights of her tragically brief profession, Janis Joplin’s Woodstock slot reminded the world of her really distinctive expertise. Although taking to the stage 10 hours delayed (at round 2:00 am on Sunday morning), Joplin carried out a selection set, full with brass part, which got here off extra like a Stax soul revue. Highlights included “Summertime’, “Piece Of My Heart,” “Kozmic Blues” and the inevitable “Ball And Chain,” however actually the entire thing was an absolute tour de drive that performed like a trailer for her then-imminent I Bought Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Once more, Mama! album.
2: The Who
Woodstock could have been billed as “three days of peace and music”, however The Who have been something however mellow once they took to the stage at a delirium-inducing 5:00 am on Sunday morning. Tanked up and intense, the UK rock icons screamed via a scorching, hour-long set which included hits and deep cuts (“I Can’t Explain,” “My Generation,” “Heaven And Hell”), and a truncated model of their rock opera Tommy. The music comes first, however their efficiency can also be well-known for Pete Townshend yelling at Abbie Hoffman, “F__ off! F__k off my f__king stage!” after the pro-LSD political activist foolishly tried to gatecrash the band’s set.
1: Jimi Hendrix
Although meant to run throughout three days, Woodstock’s disorganization meant it sprawled into the morning of Monday, August 18, 1969, with Blood, Sweat And Tears, Crosby, Stills Nash And Younger, The Butterfield Blues Band, and extra plowing on properly after midnight. Enormous chunks of the group had already drifted away, however after Sha Na Na’s novelty doo-wop set, headliner Jimi Hendrix lastly shuffled onstage to play for the 30,000 souls that remained after 8:00 am. In reality, his free, two-hour set along with his short-lived Gypsy Solar And Rainbows ensemble fell a way wanting his best stay efficiency, but it arguably stays his most iconic. That’s primarily due to his extraordinary rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”: a widely-acclaimed interpretation which, for a lot of, mirrored the turmoil and social change witnessed by this most idealistic of many years.
On the lookout for extra? Uncover the total story behind Woodstock, the bands that performed, and the competition’s lasting influence.
