Woodstock 40 year Anniversary

[MikeA]

Great stories! I think it's strange that they call it Woodstock, but it actually happened nearer to Bethel.

From watching bits of the movie, I don't think I would have wanted to have been there. What a mess it turned out to be! They planned for like 10,000 and like 500,000 showed up!

Yes, it would have been miserable....but, it was THE event possibly of the Century. It was an event that embodied the not only the Music of the day, but the Utopian desires of the youth of the Free World...and quite possibly others as well.

If I could turn back the clock, I would forfeit my job and make the trip. None of us knew it would turn out the way it did but all of us knew that it was to be Historical. Think of it, that many people of such diverse backgrounds and so little (if ANY) violence. There were deaths, there were babies born. It was PEOPLE together sharing a common passion of Music, Love and astronomical highs along with surviving for several days in horrible weather and worse living conditions.

It was a community pulling together to feed 500,000 people. It wasn't just those attending the Festival.

It was amazing! And, it was disaster. Certainly an economic disaster for the promoters.

[AmarilloByMorning]

It was amazing! And, it was disaster. Certainly an economic disaster for the promoters.

As a promoter's daughter I must wholeheartedly concur.

As to forefeiting your job to attend... most of the people I've spoken to cannot remember enough to have justified a lost salary, though they do have the privilege of claiming attendance.... horse apiece.

[MikeA]

As a promoter's daughter I must wholeheartedly concur.

Hmmm. Do I hear multitudes of stories biding in the mind of ABM? Cut it loose! Inquisitive minds (and ears) want to hear!!!!!!

[AmarilloByMorning]

Hmmm. Do I hear multitudes of stories biding in the mind of ABM? Cut it loose! Inquisitive minds (and ears) want to hear!!!!!!

There's a very useful survival mechanism you learn growing up in the music industry called "keeping your mouth shut" because the Powers That Be will find you. I will say that my parents promoted a leg of the Long Run tour and I would never be able to look any of the band members in the eye. To the Limit and H&Hell were obviously severely, extremely edited. Be content with their personas.

One thing that has stuck out through the years is, regardless of the heinous tale they're recounting about CSN or CSNY, the story will always end with "...but Graham Nash, what a great guy" or "...but Nash, of course, was exceedingly polite and apologetic." I grew up thinking the guy was a patron saint. He and Red Skelton are the only two about whom I have never heard any ill.

[AmarilloByMorning]

And upon further reflection I completely despise people who proudly proclaim "I know stuff!" and refuse to elaborate. I apologize. Will keep mouth zipped in future.

[sodascouts]

Great stories! I think it's strange that they call it Woodstock, but it actually happened nearer to Bethel.

From watching bits of the movie, I don't think I would have wanted to have been there. What a mess it turned out to be! They planned for like 10,000 and like 500,000 showed up!

I'm with you, Brooke. I wasn't even alive then, so some would say I shouldn't judge - but from what I've heard about the event, it's hard for me to romanticize it. While the tales of death and babies born sound very epic, thinking about people dying there just makes me sad.

We have a list of the famous performers who have died since...

Who knows the names of the regular people who died then and there?

Yes, I understand it was symbolic and all that, and it is the way of symbols to be disassociated from the literal. That's why they're symbols after all. But it doesn't do much for me to think of the concert itself.

[EagleLady]

I wasn't born during that time either, but from what I have heard, despite all the bad things, it did define Rock N' Roll, and if I had grown up during that time, I certainly would have taken part in it.

[MikeA]

I've sat here and stared at this for at least 45 minutes, debating on whether to even post it. So much of what defined the social movement of the 60's is a direct result of that which I think motivated many of the 500,000 young people to make the journey to Woodstock. Woodstock was just the culmination of all of it.

I can understand how people born to late to have a choice about life styles during the 60's and early 70's might look back on what happened at Woodstock and shiver in either horror or disgust...or maybe a little of both. I do sometimes...but I also recognize what Woodstock did symbolize.

Romanticize the drug abuse and deaths and babies being born and all the other tragedies? NO. Not romanticize them. But I do understand the motivation that led a lot of the people to make the decision to attend at that particular time.

To understand Woodstock, I think you have to understand something of the social climate back then. Virtually every able-bodied young man coming out of high school was going to serve 2 or 3 years in the Army if they couldn't enlist in the Air Force or Navy. And they didn't have a damn thing they could say or do other than run to Canada to avoid conscription or become a professional student. A huge percentage of those kids would not be coming back AND THEY KNEW IT! That is tragedy for you. Yet, they couldn't legally even drink a beer in a bar. Rebellion? Hell I Guess! And Woodstock was the non-violent alternative to riots and protests that were so prevalent in those years. It was Music with a capital "M". It was also drugs and sexual liberation and a passive protest of the travesty that our Government was making of what was happening in Nam! It was an ultimate ESCAPE.

And yes, it was tragic in some instances. I do not know how many "civilians" died after attending Woodstock. I don't know how many died as a direct result of having attended the Festival at Woodstock though that is probably a matter of record. In fact, I think it is documented in the DVD of Woodstock.

We never hear about any but the celebrities. But at the same time all of that happened in '69, it did show the world that that many people really didn't want or need the violent acts that were front page news almost daily. I'm quite sure there were a lot fewer who died there than died over the same period of time in Viet Nam and the ones who did so at Woodstock went there ONLY because they wanted to go there. Maybe a stupid choice (I think anyone who dies of an overdose has made some, let's say, less that optimum choices!)

That was what Woodstock was about for so many who either went or wanted to go to the event. It was an escape from a reality that had gone totally MAD. Woodstock was as much or MORE about the people who attended it than the Music that was performed there. Heck, I don't think half the people in attendance were close enough to a speaker to really even HEAR and certainly couldn't appreciate what was being played.

Ok. I've tucked my hair back up under my hat (who sang that song "Signs" that had that line in it?) and apologize for the rant. These days when I get to feeling as I and so many of us did at the time of Woodstock, I load up my clubs and go play golf. It's a lot safer and certainly more socially acceptable.

[sodascouts]

You know, I think I understand it better now. I appreciate you taking the time to write all of that. You speak from the heart in a way that is more eloquent than a lot of people who pride themselves on their writing.

Thanks, Mike.

[Prettymaid]

According to Wiki...
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Thirty-two acts performed over the course of the four days:

Friday, August 15

• Richie Havens
• Swami Satchidananda - gave the invocation for the festival
• Sweetwater
• The Incredible String Band
• Bert Sommer
• Tim Hardin
• Ravi Shankar
• Melanie
• Arlo Guthrie
• Joan Baez

Saturday, August 16

• Quill, forty minute set of four songs
• Keef Hartley Band
• Country Joe McDonald
• John Sebastian
• Santana
• Canned Heat
• Mountain
• Grateful Dead
• Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band [23]
• Sly & the Family Stone
• The Who began at 4 AM, kicking off a 25-song set including Tommy
• Jefferson Airplane

Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18

• The Grease Band
• Joe Cocker
• Country Joe and the Fish
• Ten Years After
• The Band
• Blood, Sweat & Tears
• Johnny Winter featuring his brother, Edgar Winter
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
• Paul Butterfield Blues Band
• Sha-Na-Na
• Jimi Hendrix

Declined invitations

• The Doors were considered as a potential performing band, but canceled at the last moment; the cancellation was most likely due to Jim Morrison's known and vocal distaste for performing in large outdoor venues.[24] Doors drummer John Densmore attended, however, and in the film, he can be seen on the side of the stage during Joe Cocker's set.
• Led Zeppelin was asked to perform, their manager Peter Grant stating: "We were asked to do Woodstock and Atlantic were very keen, and so was our U.S. promoter, Frank Barsalona. I said no because at Woodstock we'd have just been another band on the bill". Instead the group went on with their hugely successful summer tour, playing that weekend south of the festival at the Asbury Park Convention Hall in New Jersey. Their only time out taken was to attend Elvis Presley's show at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, on August 12.[25]
• Jethro Tull declined to perform. Ian Anderson is reported to have later said he "didn't want to spend [his] weekend in a field of unwashed hippies".[26] Another theory proposes that the band felt the event would be "too big a deal" and might kill their career before it started.[26]. However, other artists from the time have expressed the view that, before the festival, there was little indication of the importance the event would eventually come to assume. Although Jethro Tull did not perform, their music was played over the public address system. In the film, during the interview with the promoters (where they are discussing how much money they will be losing on the venture), the songs "Beggar's Farm" and "Serenade to a Cuckoo", from the album This Was, can be heard in the background. Jethro Tull did perform at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.
• The Byrds were invited, but chose not to participate, not figuring Woodstock to be any different from all the other music festivals that summer. In addition, there were concerns about money. As bassist John York remembers: "We were flying to a gig and Roger [McGuinn] came up to us and said that a guy was putting on a festival in upstate New York. But at that point they weren't paying all of the bands. He asked us if we wanted to do it and we said, 'No'. We had no idea what it was going to be. We were burned out and tired of the festival scene. [...] So all of us said, 'No, we want a rest' and missed the best festival of all.'"[27]
• 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."[28]
• 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.[29] He would go on to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later.
• Mind Garage declined because they thought it would not be a big deal and had a higher paying gig elsewhere.[30]
• The Moody Blues were included on the original Wallkill poster as performers, but decided to back out after being booked in Paris the same weekend.[31]
• Spirit also declined an invitation to play, as they already had shows planned and wanted to play those instead, not knowing how big Woodstock would be. [32]
• Joni Mitchell was originally slated to perform, but canceled at the urging of her manager to avoid missing a scheduled appearance on The Dick Cavett Show.[33]