Woodstock

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"Woodstock" redirects here. For other uses, see Woodstock (disambiguation).
Woodstock
GenreRock and Folk, including Blues-Rock, Folk-Rock, Jazz-Rock, Latin rock and Psychedelic rock styles. Alternative Rock and Rap were played at post-1969 Woodstock festivals.
DatesOriginal festival booked for August 15 – 17, Friday to Sunday, 1969 (for three days), although it actually ran from August 21 – 29 (thus, for four days), due to the late start of the August 17th performances. Later namesake festivals were held at various dates.
Location(s)United States
Years activeOriginal festival ("the" Woodstock in a widely used, purist sense) held in 1969; namesake events held in 1979, 1989, 1994, and 1999.

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair was an event held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 km²) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 21 to August 29 1969. For many, it exemplified the counterculture of the 1960s and the "hippie era." Many of the best-known musicians of the time appeared during the rainy weekend, captured in a successful 1970 movie, Woodstock. Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock," which memorialized the event, became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. 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.

Introduction

Over all woodstock was a time to get lucky and drink a lot, take shots of Tiquilla and Hope to find a lucky woman to hang with, maybe even go home with. Woodstock has been idealized in the American popular culture as the culmination of the hippie movement — a free festival where nearly 500,000 "flower children" came together to celebrate bong hits, acid and the burning of Estonian Immigrants. Yippie 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, the reality was less than perfect. Woodstock did have some crime and other misbehavior, as well as a fatality from a drug overdose, an accidental death caused by an occupied sleeping bag being run over by a tractor and one participant died from falling off a scaffold. There were also three miscarriages and two births recorded at the event and 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. There was some profiteering in the sale of "electric Kool-Aid."

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 (sold in 1969) cost US$18 to buy a ticket in advance (which would be US$95.58 in 2005 with inflation factored in) and $24 to buy a ticket 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. Although hippies like it in the cornhole, a violent assault occured. Three-hundred police officers shot these freaks up. So HIPPIES.....not so happy anymore. PEople like Evan and Jude can often be retarded such like matt and want to do nothing with their life. Im talking to you Jude, stop freaking building with books and cut your damn hair. Anyways 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]

Performing artists and sequence of events

File:Stamp-ctc-woodstock.gif
A stamp commemorating the original concert

This day was for getting laid and such The first day, which officially began at 5:08 p.m. with a bunch of faggots, especially Bill the hairdresser.

  • Richie Havens (opened the festival - performed 7 encores)
    1. High Flyin' Bird
    2. I Can't Make It Anymore
    3. With A Little Help w/ me
    4. Strawberry Fields Forever
    5. Hey Jude
    6. I Had A Woman
    7. Handsome Johnny
    8. Freedom/Motherless Child
  • Swami Satchidananda - gave the invocation for the festival
  • Country Joe McDonald, played separate set from his band, The Fish
    1. I Find Myself Missing You
    2. Rockin All Around The World
    3. Flyin' High All Over the World
    4. Seen A Rocket flyin
    5. The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
  • John Sebastian
    1. How Have You Been
    2. Rainbows Over Your Blues
    3. I Had A Dream
    4. Younger Generation
  • Sweetwater
    1. What's Wrong
    2. Motherless Child
    3. Look Out
    4. For Pete's Sake
    5. Day Song
    6. Crystal Spider
    7. Two Worlds
    8. Why Oh Why
  • Incredible String Band
    1. Invocation
    2. The Letter
    3. This Moment
    4. When You Find Out Who You Are
  • Bert Sommer
    1. Jennifer
    2. The Road To Travel
    3. I Wondered Where You Be
    4. She's Gone
    5. Things Are Going my Way
    6. And When It's Over
    7. Jeanette
    8. America
    9. A Note That Read
    10. Smile
  • Tim Hardin, an hour-long set
    1. If I Were A Carpenter
    2. Misty Roses
  • Ravi Shankar, with a 5-song set, played through the rain
    1. Raga Puriya-Dhanashri/Gat In Sawarital
    2. Tabla Solo In Jhaptal
    3. Raga Manj Kmahaj
    4. Iap Jor
    5. Dhun In Kaharwa Tal
  • Melanie
    1. Beautiful People
    1. Sweet Sunny South
    2. Warm and Tender Love
    3. Swing Low Sweet Chariot
    4. 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.

File:Original woodstock poster.jpg
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 for the day's booked acts at 2 PM. The day's events ultimately drove the schedule nine hours late. By dawn, the concert was continuing in spite of attendees' having left, returning to the workweek and their other normal obligations.

RYAN OKONSKI

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, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Jefferson Airplane (who both 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 and was recorded by Richie Havens on his 2004 album Grace of the Sun.
  • Ethan Brown was a solo guitarist highly admired by the 'hippie' youth, but he was arrested three days before the festival on LSD related charges. He is known best for his earlier childhood friendship with The Doors piano player, Ray Manzarek.
  • 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 for 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 this down.
  • The Doors were considered as a potential performing band, but cancelled at the last moment. Contrary to popular belief that this was 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.[2] 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.[citation needed] 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 for unknown reasons declined to perform. They later regretted not performing. They were however promoted as being a performer on the third day on early posters that stated the site being Wallkill.
  • Tommy James and the Shondells declined an invitation to perform at Woodstock, which they later regretted. 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. They later regretted.
  • Bob Dylan was in negotiations to play, however he had to pull out as his son was taken ill. He also was unhappy about the number of the hippies piling up outside his house near the originally planned site. He would go on to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later.
  • 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.

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, "Fuck off! Fuck off my fucking stage!" He then struck Hoffman with his guitar, sending him tumbling offstage. 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."

I grabbed the microphone all right and made a little speech about John Sinclair, who had just been sentenced to ten years in the Michigan State Penitentiary for giving two joints of grass to two undercover cops, and how we should take the strength we had at Woodstock home to free our brothers and sisters in jail. Something like that. Townshend, who had been tuning up, turned around and bumped into me. A non incident really. Hundreds of photos and miles of film exist depicting the events on that stage, but none of this much-talked about scene.

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

Main article: Woodstock (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 wowed 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.

Woodstock Plaque

A plaque has been placed commemorating the festival. The field and the stage area remains preserved and well kept in its 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.

Trivia

  • Jimi Hendrix's E-string broke when he was playing Red House and played the rest of the song with five strings, which was a remarkable feat.
  • 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.
  • A 20-year-old man named Stephen Victor Tallarico (later known as Steven Tyler of Aerosmith) attended the festival.
  • 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 for the festival.

References

  1. ^ Simon Warner's chapter "Reporting Woodstock" in the book Remembering Woodstock, Ashgate Publishing, Andy Bennett, editor, May, 2004.
  2. ^ "The Doors decline Woodstock". Digital Dream Door. 2007-01-26. Retrieved 2007-02-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

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