Woodstock Museum - Art and History of 1960's Music and Culture Almost every Woodstock attendee remembers what kind of car they drove in, from a 1968 Volkswagen Bug and a blue 67 Camaro to a 66 Impala, an Oldsmobile Cutlass Convertible, a VW bus, a 68 Road Runner, a Chevy and a Winnebago. A wide-angle view of the huge crowd facing the distant stage during the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in August 1969. I was wearing a tie-dyed shirt, and when I took it off after, the colors had stained my chest in the exact same pattern., The R&B group Blood, Sweat & Tears didnt get onstage until 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning, and they played 10 songs total. This is the complete, true story of what unfolded in upstate New York during that historic weekend in August 1969. Woodstock photos that will take you back to 1969 - Simplemost Lost shoes would too, as would any evidence of the abundant pipes and other paraphernalia used for the abundant pot that also characterized the concert. Remembering the original Woodstock, 1969 - Rare Historical Photos Hendrix was the highest-paid artist at $18,000 (over $120,000 when adjusted for inflation in 2019) and Santana received just $750. Expecting 50,000 attendees for a three-day music concert, the event instead drew an estimated 500,000. Kevin Sio, who was 17 in 1969, said he left Hamilton Friday morning with a Colgate University student he knew. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)x. Woodstock | History, Location, & Facts | Britannica We were covered in mud and we stunk. Its leader, known as Wavy Gravy, threatened to douse people who got out of line with seltzer water or hurl pies at them. They took off. Woodstock put Carlos Santanas Latin-infused rock band on the map; at the time, they hadnt even released an album yet. Woodstock - Wikipedia (My friend) Lloyde, being a HUGE Janis Joplin fan, nearly flipped. History of the Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 - LiveAbout With no foundations dug to support all that infrastructure, however, only a whisper of it is left. Other songs on the set list included Waiting, You Just Dont Care, Evil Ways, and Persuasion.". There was no 24-hour weather channel. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! 18K YOUR RATING Rate Play trailer 1:44 7 Videos 99+ Photos Documentary History Music Oscar-winning musical chronicle that brilliantly captures the three-day rock concert and celebration of peace and love that became a capstone for the Sixties. Supposedly on drugs during his rainy performance, Guthrie played seven songs in total. Thousands left Woodstock due to the weather on Saturday as more people continued arriving, which is why some estimates of the crowd size go as high as 600,000. ", (I saw) a New York State Police Trooper complete with a Smokey the Bear hat and a young man who looked like a typical hippie of the day," Joe Gentile said. In the meantime, the group of strangers who were helping me look for my leg began to congratulate me no one thought it was unusual or strange that I had lost, and now found my leg.. If they thought theyd be able to stretch out and relax, they were wrong. When Jimi Hendrix, the final act to play Woodstock, finished his set early Monday morning, the crowd was down to 25,000. The music started up again shortly after noon on Saturday with Quill and continued non-stop until Sunday morning around 9 a.m. So you have to prioritize.. in History, University of California at Davis. ODonovan and her team located a post marker for a fence that surrounded the stage. Eventually, about half a million people reached the venue. While we remember the anti-war chants, the hippie fashion, the mud and the nudity, music . Get HISTORYs most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week. On Wednesday, August 13 (two days before the festival was to begin), there were already approximately 50,000 people camping near the stage. Jimi Hendrix and his band, at that time called Gypsy Sun & Rainbowsand later Band of Gypsyswas scheduled as the last performance of the festival. The Woodstock movie also shows plenty of nudity and skinny-dipping. Still, despiteor because ofa lot of sex, drugs, rock n roll and rain, Woodstock was a peaceful celebration and earned its hallowed place in pop culture history. The stage was roughly 60 feet long by 45 feet deep, protected (imperfectly) by a huge canvas tarp overhead. Such lasting signs of human intervention that would be unlikely to form naturally are exactly the kinds of evidence archaeologists look for. The crowd began streaming out over the course of the day, leaving about 150,000 people on Sunday night. Hundreds and hundreds of flowers came down that was probably the best Army mission those guys ever had, was to go drop flowers on a bunch of hippies enjoying music.. Other highlights included Grace Slicks morning maniac music with Jefferson Airplane, Cockers frenetic gyrations, and Hendrix closing out the festival on Monday morning to a much smaller crowd as more than half of the festivalgoers left for work or school. Im still a hippie, and Ill never not be a hippie because thats my life. slide 1 of 1 Here the legends of the 1960s come to life Much easier to study was an area on the festival site that was informally known as the Bindy Bazaar. On Friday evening, August 15, Richie Havens took the stage and officially opened the proceedings. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Woodstock (film) - Wikipedia Stunning photos depicting the rebellious fashion at Woodstock, 1969 While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. For his part, Porter spent much of Woodstock weekend wandering the grounds. What a guy. Traffic was so bad that the organizers eventually had to hire helicopters to shuttle the performers from their hotels to the stage. Saratoga Springs, One of my strongest memories of that day is flying in the helicopter over that vast, spectacular crowd that had already stretched back over the hills and well out of view of the stage. Woodstock (1970) - IMDb The festival began to go wrong almost immediately, when the towns of both Woodstock and Wallkill, New York, denied permission to stage it. (A kind police officer) gave me a sip from his water bottle so I could swallow a pill. New contracts to rent the dairy farm and surrounding areas had to be drawn up and permits had to be acquired from the town. It was a lot of fun," he said with a smile. What was Woodstock really like? Rain then turned the festival site into a sea of mud, but somehow the audience bondedpossibly because large amounts of marijuana and psychedelics were consumedand the festival went on. Blue sparks were flying out of our guitars., Creedence Clearwater Revivals Woodstock performance began at 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 17, and the band played for about 50 minutes. Thirty-two acts performed during the sometimes rainy weekend in front of nearly half a million concertgoers. More issues followed traffic shut down the New York State Thruway; performers and supplies had to be flown in by helicopter; rain soaked the crowd and interrupted the entertainment; drug users were told to avoid the brown acid yet somehow peace prevailed and legendary performances followed. I cant believe I put up with what I put up with, but when youre 22, you put up with a lot more than when youre 72., We knew this was going to be the musical event of the century., Eisenstein bought tickets to Woodstock ($18 for three days) back in Boston, where the local radio station had been buzzing all summer about the festival lineup, which would include folk legend Joan Baez and iconic rock acts like Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix. Just a couple of hours from New York City or Boston, explore the beautiful Western Catskills of New York. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated 4/4/2023), Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 7/1/2023). Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. With iconic sets from Santana, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and more, the 1969 festival changed music history. Somewhere along the way, a guy behind us who was wearing an orange jumpsuit got hit by a white van. Highways and local roads came to a standstill and many concert-goers simply abandoned their cars and trekked the rest of the way on foot. Most people were pleased in the summer of 1969 at how quickly the debris was cleared away following that summers Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in upstate New York. Roberts and Rosenman were New York entrepreneurs involved in building a Manhattan recording studio. Woodstock is a 1970 American documentary film of the watershed counterculture Woodstock Festival which took place in August 1969 near Bethel, New York. Her quote was that it was wild. Archaeologists study humans and try to interpret the past from material remains, says ODonovan. All Ages Welcome This beautiful and lucky tyke looks thrilled to have been there. Woodstock was organized by four inexperienced promoters who managed to sign rock acts that included Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, the Who, and the Grateful Dead. The three-day event was first set for Wallkill, nearly 40 miles south of Woodstock, but organizers were forced to find an alternate site at Max Yasgurs dairy farm in Bethel, N.Y., just weeks before the Aug. 15-17, 1969, festival took place. ", I had a view of the field and I couldnt believe what I was seeing, says Porter. Woodstock was the pop culture music event of the decade and arguably to this day the single most profound event in the history of music. Omissions? After all, from my perspective they were very cool and nice but old people in their late teens and 20s, said Steve McCarty, who was 16 and living in Lake Lucerne at the time. Eisenstein was one of those drowned rats, soaked to the bone under a useless sleeping bag in an open field between two large metal towers. Eisenstein and her roommate picked a spot 30 feet from the stage and laid out their sleeping bags under a clear, blue sky. 50 facts about Woodstock at 50: The festival - BBC Culture It was cool! Im pretty sure there was a cloud of marijuana over the whole area, McCoy said. Porter says he likes to visit the famous cow pasture on summer evenings and without fail will meet people from all over the world Finland, China, Australia who are drawn to Woodstock for what happened there decades ago. It was marketed as "three days of peace and music" from 32 of the most influential artists in American music. The concerts planners mapped spots within the bazaar area for about 25 booths, and that was more or less the number the archaeologists found. Hendrix and his band played on Monday morning at 9 a.m., and the set list included Purple Haze, Woodstock Improvisation, and a controversial version of The Star-Spangled Banner, where he distorted the traditional sound of the anthem. But by August 13, at least that number were already camped out on location and over 100,000 tickets pre-sold. Roads and highways quickly became jammed again as festival-goers made their way home. Her setlist was 14 songs total, featuring Oh! I enjoy talking to them" he says, "and theyre excited to meet someone who was actually there.". It took place on a farm property in Bethel, New York, August 1518, 1969. Grateful Dead might have been one of the more famous performers at Woodstock, but their set didnt exactly knock it out of the park. Several people huddled under a green tarp in hopes of staying dry. Many demanded free entry, which they got due to virtually nonexistent security. Woodstock is often remembered as a rock concert, though the lineup was much more diverse with folk singers like Joan Baez and Arlo Guthrie sharing the stage with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, funk-soul group Sly & The Family Stone, blues musician Paul Butterfield, and Indian spiritual teacher Swami Satchidananda. Little did he know I was not taking an aspirin but mescaline, a recreational drug slightly less strong than LSD, or so my date explained, Michel Bitritto said. Working from aerial photos and old concert maps, they were able to begin at that point and frame the area that held the stage. Amazing. But in keeping with an event that was all about convention-breaking, the precise locations of the booths strayed from the blueprints. Photos from Woodstock 1969. Waves and waves of torrential water hitting hundreds of thousands of people who had nowhere to go. The initial plan for Woodstock called for the event to be held at Howard Mills Industrial Park in Wallkill, New York. But it was built mostly on the surfacemore than you would have expected for a stage. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. I clearly saw the lady with the clothes on hangers, but didnt recognize her., Janis Joplin pouring herself a drink at Woodstock, 1969 pic.twitter.com/f1AYACKr1s. They had other things on their mind, the foremost of which was the incredible debt (over $1 million) they'd incurred and the 70 lawsuits that had been filed against them. So that was cool. To see that many people in one place, on the same page, for three days, laughing, crying, kissing, hugging, sharing. Shell never forget boarding a transit bus in Bostons Central Square still caked with manure-tinged mud and watching the other passengers scatter. Although it featured memorable performances by Crosby, Stills and Nash (performing together in public for only the second time), Santana (whose fame at that point had not spread far beyond the San Francisco Bay area), Joe Cocker (then new to American audiences), and Hendrix, the festival left its promoters virtually bankrupt. But the three days of peace and music that unfolded from August 15-18 far exceeded anyones expectations. Wallkill town officials got spooked, however, and. Oja, who now lives in Syracuse, left Saturday because he promised his parents hed be home by midnight. Although the crowd at Woodstock experienced bad weather, muddy conditions and a lack of food, water and adequate sanitation, the overall vibe there was harmonious. If you moved your leg, an arm would take its place and that spot was gone.. It was pathetic. But by the time people started arriving a couple days ahead of the concert, the fencing, gates and ticket booths still werent ready. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. And back then people didnt have bottled water. The stage was a reasonably heavy piece of construction, says ODonovan. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Music and peace., Hailing from San Francisco, the psychedelic/bluesy group Jefferson Airplane was scheduled for Saturday but didnt perform until Sunday at 8 a.m. Most recently, Woodstock 50 was canceled after months of setbacks, including losing sites at Watkins Glen and Vernon Downs. And I did have some champagne that they handed down from the stage. The film became a smash hit. Lang had organized the successful Miami Music Festival in 1968 and Kornfeld was the youngest vice president at Capitol Records. ", Villanueva said he was stoned Saturday during Santanas performance, but still has a vivid image of people moving just like water, just moving in slow motion Oh my God, I mean this is really something, Ill never ever forget this as long as I live., It was such a wonderful and wild time there, said Christy Balliett, who was 20 and living in Boston at the time. And we knew that it was historic in proportion. As lucky as the organizerswere to have found a new location, the last-minute change of venue seriously set the festival timeline back. "We got very friendly with all people in our little cohort. Dad took me and my brother and sister two out of the three days, he recalled. Despite all the troubles, the Woodstock Festival got started nearly on time. But her laser focus on keeping her prized lawn spot ultimately meant that certain comforts had to be sacrificed. Saw a lot of firsts, ha ha. But thats not to say the Woodstock sitewhich isnt in Woodstock at all, but 46 miles away in Bethelwas left absolutely pristine. Woodstock is remembered . Magazines, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, 'They Cleaned Up Pretty Well.' Looking down, my only thought was, This is incredible Were really here, and they cant hide us anymore, Havens told .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}CNN.com. 2019 marks the 50-year anniversary of one of the most iconic rock events of the 20th century. The eldest was only 27 at the time the festival took place. It did happen, its a gift to be accepted when it does, its hard to recreate if possible & only comes from a special place inside all of us, Hoover added. She arrived early enough that Woodstock staffers were still collecting tickets (later that evening, when crowds overran the rudimentary fencing, the concert was declared free!) and there was still plenty of open space on the bowl-shaped cow pasture facing the Woodstock stage. That gets distracted, but actually never goes away. Day three began around 2:00 p.m. Joe Cocker was the first musician to perform. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Originally, about 50,000 people were expected. Security was limited since off-duty police officers were banned. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. But its been an amazing experience that we feel very fortunate to be a part of., In this August 15, 1969 file photo, a couple hugs during the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in Bethel, N.Y. (AP Photo)AP. It was Woodstock, a singular event that inspired an era of music and . Jim Wallace, who was the closest thing to a hippie in my high school in Western New York and now lives in Hamilton, N.Y., enjoyed the people-watching and the music until the rains came. When youre on stage in front of 650,000 people you just know that this is a momentous event and probably will never happen again, and it never did, singer David Clayton-Thomas said. The Woodstock Festival (a.k.a. Woodstock was a success, but the massive concert didnt come off without a hitch: Last-minute venue changes, bad weather and the hordes of attendees caused major headaches. We eventually became part of a huge traffic jam as far as the eye could see out in the country, she told syracuse.com. Making sure your friends had a good time.. Im American, so I play it. She also remembered the 17-year-old fellow behind us in a sleeping bag who was tragically run over and killed. Its widely reported eight women experienced miscarriages. New York State Police closed Exit 104 of the Thruway, leading to Route 17B. READ MORE: Woodstock, the Legendary 1969 Festival, Was Also a Miserable Mud Pit. Lots of things were missing.". Day two officially began around 12:15 p.m. Day twos line-up was: Day two ended around 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, August 17. Id never had champagne before.. 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