Celtics, Music, & Hot Bitches: The Blog: Looking back at one groovy concert

When Rick and I started this blog last December, our goal was to...actually we really didn't have a reason for it. It was really a drunken, spur of the moment when blogs somehow entered a conversation we were having. But once it was created and we began posting frequently, we discovered the blog did hold some kind of purpose. The main goal is for us to share thoughts and pass along information and multimedia on things you might not otherwise know or care about. Because of this we feel the need to pass on an event that is often forgotten by my generation.

This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, the festival that took place from August 15 to August 18, 1969 on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY. This morning marked the final day when Jimi Hendrix performed. What was described as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music", it is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most pivotal moments in popular music history and was listed on Rolling Stone Magazine's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll. During the sometimes rainy weekend, thirty-two acts performed outdoors in front of an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 concert-goers. The entire three day festival was captured on film and turned into an award winning documentary. You can watch the documentary on Comcast On-Demand.

Forty years after Woodstock, Bobbi and Nick are still together, happily married for 38 years with two children

When I think of Woodstock, I think of more than just a festival. That's because it was more than a music festival. It was one of those unique moments that changed history, one that we'll probably never see again. The festival itself has been replicated several times...but nothing has come close to the original. People think of Woodstock as just being three days filled with sex, drugs, and music...and it was, but that's not even close to being the half of it. It was about half a million young people; teenagers and young adults from all of the country and who all shared the same beliefs, coming together for 3 days. Sure, there were drugs...a lot of them. Of course, there was sex and what the counterculture called "free love". But that was the beauty of it. For three days, complete strangers came together to live in a field, love one another, and listen to music. They showed the world how the youth of America could unite in peace and music. No reports of violence, just peace and music. How did such a wonderful and historic event come about?

Woodstock showed that young people from all over the country could co-exist

1969 was a time of turmoil and in a way, had the perfect storm of elements to create an event such as Woodstock. With the Vietnam War, the draft, and the height of the counterculture, young people everywhere were searching for some form of solidarity. While protests and rallies were a normal process of the time, there weren't many demonstrations that influenced or captivated our nation. That is until July 20, 1969, when Max Yasgur gave Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld access to his 600 acre, Bethel, NY farm.

Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld all initiated the efforts of Woodstock. Lang and Kornfeld had the vision and put the show together, Roberts and Rosenman handled the finances. Before long, the concert was in place and the booking began. In April 1969, newly-minted superstars Creedence Clearwater Revi val were the first act to sign a contract for the event, agreeing to play for ten thousand dollars. The promoters had experienced difficulty landing big-name groups prior to the Bay Area rockers committing to play. Creedence drummer Doug Clifford later commented "Once Creedence signed, everyone else jumped in line and all the other big acts came on."

Soon, the festival had landed one of the most star-studded lineups in music history with the Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and the Band among others. The Jimi Hendrix Experience were given the honor as the headlining act. Originally, the organizers told Bethel authorities they expected no more than 50,000 people. Once the word got around about who was playing at Woodstock, that number grew rapidly.

The stage and crowd of about 400,000 young people

Woodstock was designed as a profit-making venture, aptly titled "Woodstock Ventures." It famously became a "free concert" only after it became obvious that the event was drawing hundreds of thousands more people than the organizers had prepared for. Tickets for the event cost US$18 in advance (approximately US$106 today calculated for buying power, and approximately US$75 today adjusted for inflation) and $24 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. Around 186,000 tickets were sold beforehand and organizers anticipated approximately 200,000 festival-goers would turn up.

A naked girl addresses the crowd behind her

Free Concert!
When thousands of people began showing up at the site several days before the event even started, they soon realized their attendance expectations would be met and eventually doubled. Young people from all over the country had traveled to upstate New York to join the cause. The event poster read "3 Days of Peace and Music", everything that the 60's youth and counterculture stood for. The crowd arriving in greater number and earlier than anticipated made the decision for the organizers. The security fence that lined the field was eventually cut in part by UAW/MF Family. This prompted many more people to show up.

The faces in the crowd

The influx of attendees to the rural concert site in Bethel created a massive traffic jam. Fearing chaos as thousands began descending on the community, Bethel did not enforce its codes. Arlo Guthrie made an announcement that was included in the film saying that the New York State Thruway was closed. That's right, the traffic heading to the festival was so backed up...they shut down the New York State Thruway! To add to the problems and difficulty in dealing with the large crowds, recent rains had caused muddy roads and fields. The facilities were not equipped to provide sanitation or first aid for the number of people attending; hundreds of thousands found themselves in a struggle against bad weather, food shortages, and poor sanitation.

The traffic going to Woodstock backed up and ultimately closed the New York State Thruway

Despite the poor conditions, people used the festival's slogan to get through the weekend. Peace and music. Concert-goers went sliding in the mud, went skinny dipping, sang songs, and made new and sometimes life-long friends during the weekend. Here are some videos that show you the atmosphere that was at Woodstock.

John Sebastian performs in front of the crowd at Woodstock

Friday, August 15, 1969

The festival officially kicked off at 5:07 p.m. with an 8-song set from folk-artist, Richie Havens. The first day of the festival was dedicated to folk musicians.

The psychedelic/rock fusion band Sweetwater followed Havens, becoming the first band to play at Woodstock...performing "Crystal Spider" here.

Abbie Hoffman, a social and political activist in the United States who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") during the 60's, interrupted The Who's performance to attempt a protest speech against the jailing of John Sinclair of the White Panther Party. The Who's guitarist, Pete Townshend, was adjusting his amp between songs, turned and saw Hoffman over his right shoulder, proceeded to hit Hoffman in the back of the head with his guitar and sent Hoffman directly into the pit in front of the stage. The incident was not caught on film but there is an audio recording, so we'll give you that. The two songs here are the hits "Pinball Wizard" and "My Generation".

Abbie Hoffman Incident

Jefferson Airplane, originally scheduled to finish up on the second day, began their set at 7 AM on Sunday morning...following the Who. The band later recalled staying up the entire night before and being beyond tired when they took the stage. Regardless, they played one of the more memorable sets of Woodstock. They kicked off things off with their hit "Somebody to Love" and ended with "White Rabbit"

Jefferson Airplane - Somebody To Love - 1969
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Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit - 1969
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Many of

Sunday, August 17, 1969

Although Saturday's acts went into Sunday morning, the scheduled lineup for Sunday didn't start until 2 PM when Joe Cocker took the stage.

Joe Cocker performs "With a Little Help From My Friends". Another one of the memorable performances from Woodstock.

After Cocker's set, a thunderstorm delayed the event for several hours. Here's what transpired in the crowd during that time:

Awesome, right?

The concert resumed when Country Joe came back out with his band, The Fish, at around 6 PM.

The Band took the stage around 10 PM and performed hits such as "Tears of Rage" and "The Weight"

Blood, Sweat & Tears ushered in the midnight hour with five songs, including "Spinning Wheel".

Crosby, Stills, Nash (& Young) came on to perform around 3 AM. They claim that this was only the 2nd live performance they've done together. What a time to do it. Here's the hit "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes".

Monday, August 18, 1969

Jimi Hendrix, who was supposed to close the show on Sunday Night, didn't end up coming out until Monday morning for the defining set of the Woodstock Festival. The only bad part was that so many people had left the concert because it was a Monday (work, school, etc.), that only about 180,000 people of the once 500,000 got to see this performance. Luckily, the entire set was captured on film and people today get to enjoy it. Included here is my favorites, "Foxy Lady", "Fire", "Voodoo Child", Hendrix playing guitar with his teeth, the famous rendition of "Star Spangled Banner", "Purple Haze" and "Hey Joe". Enjoy.