Woodstock, a three-day pageant that began on Friday, August 15, 1969, wasn’t the one memorable pageant of its time, nevertheless it stays the touchstone. The mythology holds that Woodstock modified lives and reworked the world – and what promoter wouldn’t need to declare that?
Billed as “An Aquarian Experience: Three Days Of Peace And Music,” the epic occasion that may later be identified merely as Woodstock turn into synonymous with the counterculture motion of the 60s.
Among the many 32 bands and musicians who performed the pageant had been Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Tim Hardin, Grateful Useless, Canned Warmth, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, whose legendary efficiency was lastly launched, 50 years later, as a part of the occasion’s anniversary celebrations, as Reside At Woodstock, by way of Craft Recordings.
How did we get to Woodstock?
David Crosby mentioned that describing Woodstock as “the big bang” was apt: each pageant organizer since has secretly wished to emulate its in style attraction. However it was the jazz festivals at Newport, within the 50s, that gave the music festivals of the 60s their inspiration. Even in England there have been small-scale open-air occasions which may simply have handed for festivals – and these, too, had been organized by jazz fanatics. The dimensions and scale of festivals has, nonetheless, at all times been decided by know-how, notably the PA system that enables the viewers to have the ability to hear the performers at a suitable quantity.
The primary actual American rock pageant was held at Mount Tamalpais, in California, on the weekend of June 10-11, 1967. Billed because the “Fantasy Faire And Magic Mountain Music Festival,” it had an eclectic mixture of performers starting from Jefferson Airplane, The Doorways, Nation Joe And The Fish and The Byrds, to Dionne Warwick and Smokey Robinson. Greater than 15,000 individuals confirmed up for what was a non-profit occasion which price simply $2 to get in, with all income going to a close-by child-care middle.
Whereas the Fantasy Faire was first, Monterey Worldwide Pop Competition is the one that everybody remembers. Its line-up reads like a Who’s Who in rock and pop music of the period: Otis Redding obtained his first publicity to a rock viewers, whereas others on the invoice included The Mamas And The Papas, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, and Ravi Shankar. One of many earliest festivals to be captured on movie, the footage did a lot to reinforce Monterey Pop’s status and fantasy.
Hearken to the Summer season Of ’69 playlist on Spotify.
1969: the yr of the music pageant
It could possibly be argued that 1969 was the yr of the music pageant. Throughout North America and Britain, large-scale occasions appeared to be occurring nearly each weekend in the summertime of ’69, together with at Isle Of Wight, tucked away off England’s south coast. The earliest pageant that summer season, nonetheless, was in Canada: Aldergrove Seashore Rock Competition, which came about throughout Might 17-19, 1969, and, bizarrely, starred the New Vaudeville Band and Guitar Shorty. In Britain, the primary Hyde Park present of the yr starred Blind Religion, with Richie Havens opening proceedings in entrance of 120,000 individuals.
Constructing on its earlier successes, Newport ’69 was greater than its predecessor, this time going down at Northridge, on the Devonshire Downs Racetrack. Over 150,000 individuals confirmed as much as witness one other a kind of eclectic 60s line-ups with Hendrix receiving high billing on the three-day pageant, held over the weekend of June 20-22. Different artists on the invoice included Albert King, Joe Cocker, Spirit, Albert Collins, Love, Steppenwolf, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Flock, Johnny Winter, The Byrds, The Rascals, and Three Canine Night time, although the occasion was marred by gangs that crashed the gates by the 1000’s, throwing sticks, bottles and rocks on the police. On the identical weekend, in Toronto, a pageant for 50,000 individuals featured Canadian-American teams The Band and Steppenwolf, plus Chuck Berry.
The next weekend, Denver obtained in on the act and performed host to 50,000 followers who gathered to look at Poco, CCR, Joe Cocker, and the final gig by The Jimi Hendrix Expertise; gate crashers lobbed firecrackers, bottles and particles on the police, and the police threw tear fuel in return. The identical weekend, at a recreation floor in England, Bathtub Competition Of Blues And Progressive Music was held. High of the invoice had been Fleetwood Mac, supported by John Mayall. Ten Years After, Led Zeppelin, The Good, and Keef Hartley additionally appeared.
The primary weekend in July 1969, Atlanta Pop Competition attracted 140,000 and handed off with no violence or bother as the group watched CCR, Led Zeppelin, Blood, Sweat And Tears, and Ten Wheel Drive amongst a packed two-day invoice. On Saturday, July 5, in London, The Rolling Stones staged their now well-known free Hyde Park live performance for a crowd estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000 individuals.
Two weeks later, at Newport Folks Competition, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor met for the primary time as they carried out on a invoice that included Richie Havens. The following weekend, Seattle Pop Competition was a three-day affair at which The Doorways, Led Zeppelin, and Bo Diddley, amongst others, carried out for 70,000 individuals.
Through the first weekend in August, Atlantic Metropolis was the scene for the primary New York-area pageant when 110,000 followers turned as much as see Procol Harum, Little Richard, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, and, nearly inevitably, Creedence Clearwater Revival. Per week later, at a horse-racing course at Plumpton, Sussex, within the UK, the Nationwide Jazz And Blues Competition was an nearly completely rock-orientated line-up. On the Friday night time, Pink Floyd topped the invoice, Saturday boasted The Who, Sure, and Hen Shack, whereas Sunday featured The Good, Keef Hartley, Pentangle, and Household.
After which we obtained to Woodstock…
When the thought of a rock pageant was first mooted by Woodstock’s organizers, they thought it might entice 50,000 individuals. Woodstock Ventures, the corporate arrange by the 4 guys that conceived of the pageant, leased some land in upstate New York at Wallkill: the 300-acre Mills Industrial Park provided nice entry to the freeways, and, most significantly, water and electrical energy was already on the location.
The 4 originators of the pageant had began out with the thought of referencing the zodiac for his or her “Aquarian Exposition,” and commenced operating adverts for the occasion within the press. Additionally they schmoozed the writers from Rolling Stone and The Village Voice to intensify their hip credentials.
The issue was: the Wallkill residents weren’t eager on the thought of hippies taking up their city. To their delight, at a gathering on July 15, 1969, the Wallkill Zoning Board Of Appeals banned Woodstock Competition from going down of their city. It was a catastrophe… or was it?
Discovering the location
Elliot Tiber, the proprietor of a neighborhood White Lake resort, learn the information and noticed a chance to save lots of his struggling lodge complicated. He knew he had one thing very important for the enterprise’s success: a allow to run a music pageant from the city of Bethel. Tiber obtained Michael Lang, one of many Woodstock organizers, on the cellphone and, the subsequent day, the rock entrepreneur was in his automotive, on his strategy to White Lake. When he arrived his first response was disappointment: the boggy, 15-acre website was removed from sufficiently big.
That is the place Max Yasgur makes his triumphant entry – or, extra to the purpose, Tiber suggests they go and see the dairy farmer who owned a plot of land of round 600 acres that may be excellent for the pageant. Initially, Yasgur had been skeptical – he was used to his good friend’s failing pageant schemes – however ultimately he agreed to fulfill Lang, who drove over to the now-famous sloping website that was nearly excellent for an enormous live performance.
A deal was shortly carried out. There was the difficulty of placating the Bethel residents, who broadly shared the identical views as these in Wallkill. Central to this was the Woodstock Ventures place of by no means saying there can be greater than 50,000 individuals displaying up for the weekend – regardless of their certainty that there can be. Yasgur, in fact, towed the get together line, as he wished to get the $75,000 rental payment, whereas Elliot Tiber simply wished to fill the 80 rooms of his resort. An indication on Yasgur’s dairy farm pleaded with music followers: “Don’t bother Max’s cows. Let them moo in peace.”
They simply wanted a brand new poster to get followers to come back. Graphic artist Arnold Skolnik created the now-famous poster: as emblematic of the 60s as any picture, and made extra so by the copywriter that got here up with the now-famous line: “three days of peace and music.”
Oh, after which they booked the acts…
Woodstock Competition: The Bands
Day One: Friday, August 15
Richie Havens
At 5pm on Friday, August 15, Richie Havens launched Woodstock Competition with a 45-minute set that opened with “From The Prison.” He additionally performed “High Flying Bird” and carried out covers of three Beatles songs: “With A Little Help From My Friends,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “Hey Jude.” “Woodstock was not about sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll. It was about spirituality, about love, about sharing, about helping each other, living in peace and harmony,” mentioned Havens.
Swami Satchidananda
Havens was adopted by an unscheduled 10-minute blessing by yoga guru Sri Swami Satchidananda, whose followers included jazz musician Alice Coltrane.
Sweetwater
Psychedelic rock band Sweetwater, from Los Angeles, had been resulting from open Woodstock however had been caught in site visitors and ultimately needed to be flown to the pageant by helicopter. Their delayed 30-minute set included a model of “Motherless Child.”
Bert Sommer
Bert Sommer’s efficiency of Simon And Garfunkel’s “America” earned a standing ovation from the group. The New York people singer later wrote the music “We’re All Playing In The Same Band” in regards to the Woodstock expertise.
Tim Hardin
Folks singer Tim Hardin fitted 10 songs right into a 25-minute set that completed at 9.45pm on the Friday. Among the many songs he carried out had been “If I Were A Carpenter” and “Reason To Believe,” the latter of which was later successful for Carpenters.
Ravi Shankar
By the point the well-known Bengal Indian Sitar maestro got here on stage, at 10pm, the rain was falling closely at Woodstock. Shankar entertained the group with a three-song set that included the instrumental “Tabla Solo In Jhaptal.”
Melanie Safka
One in every of solely three girls who carried out at Woodstock, Melanie Safka, who turned 72 in 2019, performed lots of her personal positive compositions, together with “Beautiful People.” She additionally lined Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.”
Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Guthrie’s memorable Woodstock efficiency, which featured a model of “Amazing Grace,” was additionally famous for its storytelling components, together with a wild, jokey story about Moses and his disciples consuming acid brownies.
Joan Baez
The well-known people singer closed a chaotic first day of Woodstock with a set that truly came about within the early hours of Saturday morning, throughout a torrential downpour (it has lately been given a digital reissue by Craft Data). She was six months pregnant on the time. After taking part in “I Shall Be Released” and a beautiful model of the Gram Parsons traditional “Hickory Wind,” her serene playlist ended with the standard “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and the civil-rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.” Day certainly one of Woodstock wrapped up at round 2am.
Day Two: Saturday, August 16
Quill
Quill, based by two singer-songwriters and brothers from the Boston space, Jon and Dan Cole, gained nationwide consideration with their set, which formally opened day two of the pageant at 12.15pm.
Nation Joe McDonald
The gang at Woodstock was half 1,000,000 robust by the point Nation Joe McDonald began his 30-minute set; they gleefully rose to their ft and joined in anti-war chants with the singer.
Santana
Santana – the band led by guitarist and songwriter Carlos Santana – had been the one group to play Woodstock with out a document behind them. Their 45-minute set, together with an excellent model of “Soul Sacrifice,” made them in a single day stars. Their efficiency was thought of one of many highlights of each the pageant and the 1970 documentary movie Woodstock, which was directed by Michael Wadleigh and included Martin Scorsese as an editor. Woodstock gained an Oscar for finest documentary movie.
John B Sebastian
After John B Sebastian’s band, The Lovin’ Spoonful, broke up, he went solo and performed a five-song set at Woodstock that included “Rainbows All Over Your Blues.” “Just love everybody all around ya and clean up a little garbage on your way out and everything gonna be alright,” Sebastian instructed the group.
Keef Hartley Band
Keith “Keef” Hartley, who was born within the UK city of Preston, changed Ringo Starr because the drummer for Liverpool band The Hurricanes after Starr joined The Beatles. Hartley then began his personal band. Their 45-minute Woodstock set included “Too Much Thinking.”
The Unimaginable String Band
The Unimaginable String Band had chosen to not play Woodstock on the Friday, due to the heavy rain, happening stage a day later, at 6pm. Their 30-minute acoustic set included “When You Find Out Who You Are.”
Canned Warmth
Canned Warmth closed their blistering hour-long set with a robust rendition of “On The Road Again,” with Alan Wilson’s dreamy singing and harmonica taking part in seeming to seize a temper of free-spirited optimism that delighted the group.
Mountain
A sultry model of T-Bone Walker’s blues traditional “Stormy Monday” was one of many highlights of Mountain’s set. The band got here on at 9pm, after a half-hour break from music, and the laborious rockers from Lengthy Island, New York – who included vocalist and guitarist Leslie West – performed a well-received hour-long set.
Grateful Useless
Grateful Useless’s 90-minute Woodstock efficiency was lower quick at 5 minutes previous midnight after the stage amps overloaded throughout “Turn On Your Love Light.” “We played really awful at Woodstock. We were colossally horrible at Woodstock,” singer Jerry Garcia mentioned in an interview for This Is Jerry: The Film. “We were playing at night. They had these huge bright white lights on these towers 300 feet away, and you could not see anyone in the audience. The stage was made of metal and there were people behind my amplifiers, huge crowds shouting, “The stage is collapsing, the stage is collapsing.” It’s raining so there are bolts of electrical energy bouncing on the stage and looping on to my guitar. Plus, we had been excessive and felt like bugs below a microscope. It was simply horrible. For us, it was a nightmare, everybody else cherished it and had a good time however we couldn’t wait to get out of there.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Amid all of the historic performances at Woodstock, CCR’s look generally will get missed due to their absence from the documentary movie and soundtrack. Their set has, nonetheless, been lately launched in full, by Craft Data, revealing that it was one of many highlights of the weekend. CCR had been one of many few Woodstock acts who had already established themselves on the charts, because of the breakout success of their hit singles “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” and “Green River.” With their signature sound of raucous swamp-rock, the group lower by way of the wave of psychedelic rock and delighted the viewers members who had been nonetheless awake when their set completed at 1.20am.
Janis Joplin
Fourteen months earlier than her tragic loss of life, on the age of 27, Janis Joplin performed a storming hour-long Woodstock set – with an ensemble of musicians referred to as The Kozmic Blues Band – that included variations of “To Love Somebody” and “Piece of My Heart.”
Sly And The Household Stone
Provided that it was already 3.30am when Sly And The Household Stone began their Woodstock efficiency, the band carried out with admirable power, together with spirited variations of “You Can Make It If You Try” and “Dance To The Music.”
The Who
In response to Roger Daltrey, writing in his memoir, Thanks A Lot Mr Kibblewhite, Woodstock was a troublesome gig for The Who. “The whole place was chaos. We were due on in the evening but by four the next morning we were still hanging around backstage in a muddy field waiting. And waiting some more.” Daltrey mentioned there was no meals backstage and all of the drinks had been laced with LSD… “Even the ice cubes had been done,” he added. The band performed 25 songs in a frenzied set that included a shortened model of “My Generation.”
Jefferson Airplane
By the point Jefferson Airplane obtained on stage – because the closing act of day two – it was already 8am on the Sunday morning and singer Grace Slick instructed the group to anticipate “morning maniac music.” The band performed for one hour and 40 minutes and did a positive model of “White Rabbit.” Years later, lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen recalled his Woodstock expertise: “We went on, like, 18 hours late, something ridiculous. My wife was there but I had this girlfriend who had also shown up, so I was really concerned with keeping the two of them as far apart as possible. My ex-wife used to claim that one of the reasons I played so long was that I was afraid to face her when I came offstage, and there could have been some truth to this.”
Day Three: Sunday, August 17
The Grease Band
The third day of Woodstock formally began with two instrumentals – “Rockhouse” and “Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring” – from Joe Cocker’s backing band. The band’s identify was taken from a remark by Blue Observe Data’ jazz organ nice Jimmy Smith, who praised music with actual soul as having “a lot of grease.” Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough later went on to play with Paul McCartney And Wings.
Joe Cocker
English singer Joe Cocker went on stage at 2pm and mentioned he was happy with an early slot. “We were kind of lucky because we got on stage real early,” he instructed The Guardian in 2013. “It took about half the set just to get through to everybody, to that kind of consciousness. You’re in a sea of humanity and people aren’t necessarily looking to entertain you. We did “Let’s Go Get Stoned” by Ray Charles, which form of turned all people round a bit, and we got here off wanting fairly good that day. A variety of different artists didn’t take pleasure in themselves in any respect.” After Cocker’s set, which additionally included a career-defining model of “With A Little Help From My Friends,” a thunderstorm disrupted the music for 40 minutes.
Nation Joe And The Fish
Nation Joe And The Fish had been an American psychedelic rock band based mostly round Nation Joe McDonald and Barry “The Fish” Melton. They took the Woodstock crowd by storm with their memorable viewers participation chant, aka “The Fish Cheer”: “Give me an F! Give me a U! Give me a C! Give me a K! What’s that spell?!”
“We didn’t even know if we’d be able to do Woodstock because, quite frankly, the money wasn’t that good,” recalled Melton. ”However, because it started taking form as an occasion, we felt that regardless of the financial provide, we’d be there. Folks give Woodstock extra significance in some respects than it had on the time – as a result of it was solely certainly one of two festivals of that period that obtained recorded on movie. The opposite was the Monterey Pop Competition, and we performed that additionally. All through that interval of 1967-70, the pop pageant emerged because the place, as an occasion of its time.”
Ten Years After
British band Ten Years After additionally had a breakthrough by showing at Woodstock. Their rendition of “I’m Going Home,” that includes Alvin Lee as lead singer, was featured in each the next movie and soundtrack album. Additionally they carried out “Good Morning, School Girl,” the blues music written by Sonny Boy Williamson I.
The Band
The Band – Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, and Garth Hudson – performed an 11-song set that featured gems similar to “The Weight,” from their 1968 debut album, Music From Large Pink. They completed their set at 10.50pm. “The crowd was real tired and a little unhealthy by the time we played,” recalled Helm.
Johnny Winter
Texas blues-rock singer and guitarist Johnny Winter got here on at midnight, after extra rain delays. He introduced his multi-instrumentalist brother Edgar Winter on to carry out three of his personal compositions. The set closed with a rousing model of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B Goode.”
Blood, Sweat And Tears
Blood, Sweat And Tears had been an eclectic band whose influences ranged from The Rolling Stones to Billie Vacation. Their 10-set music included a model of the jazz traditional “God Bless the Child.”
Crosby, Stills, Nash And Younger
Crosby, Stills, Nash And Younger took the stage from 3am until 4am on the Monday morning and ended up taking part in separate acoustic and electrical units. Neil Younger skipped a lot of the acoustic set and was reportedly deeply sad about being filmed throughout the efficiency. Their efficiency ended with an acoustic encore that featured a model of the protest music “Find The Cost Of Freedom.”
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Blues star Paul Butterfield went on at 6am and his 45-minute set was stuffed with delights, together with his virtuoso harmonica-playing on the songs “Driftin’” and “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.”
Sha Na Na
Sha Na Na, who had been shaped at Columbia College in 1969, lastly obtained on stage at 7.30am. Jimi Hendrix had instructed that they be added to the pageant line-up. “We were indebted to Jimi for getting us the gig, and then for making sure we got to go on stage. We got paid $350 and that check bounced, and we got a dollar to be in the movie,” mentioned singer “Jocko” Marcellino.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix can be lifeless, aged 27, inside 14 months of Woodstock going down. He got here on at 9am because the final musician to carry out on the pageant. The gang had thinned to round 25,000 individuals by that point. Although he was launched as “The Jimi Hendrix Experience,” he referred to his backing band as “Gypsy Sun And Rainbows” and “Sky Church.” Throughout a efficiency of the 12-bar blues “Red House,” Hendrix’s E-string broke, however he continued taking part in with 5 strings. He completed his 130-minute set with variations of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “Purple Haze,” earlier than an encore of “Hey Joe.”
When it was throughout, Woodstock promoter Michael Lang flew out in a helicopter late on the Monday afternoon. He remembers seeing individuals starting the massive activity of cleansing up the location. They had been utilizing the rubbish to create an enormous peace image.
Searching for extra? Uncover what we expect are the 15 finest performances of Woodstock.
