Woodstock 1969 was a reaction by the youth of its time and the conditions we faced. We proved that it is possible to live together in harmony and with compassion…with only our best selves represented. Woodstock gave people around the world hope, which is why I think it remains relevant today.
These are the words of festival promoter Michael Lang, who, along with his partners in Woodstock Ventures, pressed on against all odds to make their vision a reality. Originally envisioned for an audience of 200,000, nothing on this scale had ever been attempted, yet on a hot August weekend in 1969, over 400,000 people converged on a dairy farm in upstate New York to celebrate 3 Days of Peace & Music. Join Sweetwater as we take a look at the event — and several iconic performances — that changed music and pop culture forever.
Despite transportation problems, equipment malfunctions, performance scheduling delays, and several downpours that left festivalgoers wallowing in a massive sea of mud, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair is widely regarded as perhaps the pivotal event in popular music history, as well as the symbolic culmination of the 1960s counterculture movement. The festival site — a field located on what was then Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York — was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. That’s Max speaking to the crowd at the beginning of the “Wooden Ships” montage. The song, written by David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, was performed at Woodstock by both Jefferson Airplane and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — it’s CSN&Y’s performance we hear in this video. It was only their second live gig as a band.
It’s worth noting the overall professionalism of the artists who appeared at Woodstock. Many of them went onstage after not sleeping for 24 hours (or more) yet still managed to turn in very respectable sets. Some performances, like Santana’s, were amazing.
Santana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqZceAQSJvc
With their debut album yet to be released, Santana was still a relatively unknown band from San Francisco. That all changed at Woodstock. Driven by the super-human speed, precision, and intensity of 20-year-old drummer Michael Shrieve (the youngest performer at the festival) and Carlos Santana’s virtuosic guitar playing, the band tore up the stage with their fiery Latin rock fusion, and most famously, their smoking-hot rendition of “Soul Sacrifice,” which was immortalized in the Woodstock documentary film that was released the following year.
After their breakthrough performance at Woodstock, one of the surprises of the festival, Santana’s eponymous debut album rocketed to number four on the US album charts, while their single “Evil Ways” hit number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. The world was on notice: Santana’s blending of genres and cultural elements within their music was not only instantly recognizable; it has had a lasting influence on popular music that continues to this day.
Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin’s breakout performance with Big Brother & the Holding Company at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967 launched the Texas singer to instant stardom — bolstered by the subsequent Monterey Pop documentary film, an aggressive touring schedule, and the raw energy of the band’s second album, Cheap Thrills, which charted at number one for eight weeks in 1968.
Janis and her Kozmic Blues Band flew in to the Woodstock festival site by helicopter on Saturday. When she saw the immense crowd, Janis was excited and ready to rock but was repeatedly delayed, as artists who were contractually obligated to perform ahead of her took the stage. The scheduling backups eventually added up to 10 hours.
Despite the frustrating wait, Janis turned in a superb — if (for her) somewhat subdued — performance when she finally took the stage with her band at 2AM Sunday morning. Despite the slight hoarseness in her voice, Janis plowed through a commanding 10-song set, flexing her incredible vocal power and range and hitting all the notes with passion and precision. Janis, however, was not happy with her performance — which led to her insistence on not being included in the 1970 Woodstock documentary film and soundtrack album. But Pete Townshend, who took the stage with the Who a couple of hours after Janis finished, is quoted as saying “…even Janis on an off-night was incredible.” We couldn’t agree more!
Sly & the Family Stone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fZBaPS_XvQ
Formed in 1966, Sly & the Family Stone hit pay dirt two years later with their first number one single, “Everyday People,” which popularized the expression “different strokes for different folks.” The funk rock pioneers followed up with their successful fourth album Stand! in May of ’69, which secured them a performance slot at Woodstock.
The band’s high-energy Woodstock set was tight, fresh, and powerful — very impressive, considering their 3:30AM start time. Sly & the Family Stone delivered what is widely considered one of their finest live shows — and one of the truly standout performances on the Woodstock stage.
The Who
The Who began their “sunrise set” at 5AM Sunday morning and proceeded to rip through 24 numbers with amazing tightness and energy, considering that they probably hadn’t slept since Friday night (if then). Their high-wattage performance was well received by the audience members who were still awake — and surely a rude awakening for those who weren’t!
Between songs, about halfway through the set, political activist Abbie Hoffman found his way onstage and attempted to commandeer a microphone and speak to the audience. Using rather colorful language, guitarist Pete Townshend told him to get off the stage and bonked him on the head with his Gibson SG. Abbie made a hasty exit through the press pit and disappeared into the crowd. Thankfully tame, it was one of the few public altercations at Woodstock.
Jefferson Airplane
One of the pioneering San Francisco psychedelic rock groups, Jefferson Airplane’s classic lineup became complete with the addition of lead singer Grace Slick in 1966. Grace’s powerful contralto voice and writing skills drove the band’s 1967 platinum breakout album Surrealistic Pillow, which spawned the smash hit singles “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love.”
Originally scheduled for a Saturday night performance, the Airplane, accompanied by British session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, took the Woodstock stage at 8AM on Sunday after the Who’s well-received sunrise set. Grace stepped up to the mic and addressed the audience: “Alright friends, you have seen the heavy groups, now you will see morning maniac music.” The Airplane then proceeded to plow through a high-energy 13-song set that included their iconic hits — and this fiery rendition of “3/5 of a Mile in 10 Seconds.”
Joe Cocker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfLyK2DVVUU
After several years of gigging with various local musicians, British singer Joe Cocker and the Grease Band finally scored English and American chart success with their cover of the Beatles’ hit “With a Little Help from My Friends.” Upon hearing of Joe’s death in 2014, Paul McCartney recalled when he first heard Joe’s version, reportedly commenting, “It was just mind-blowing, [he] totally turned the song into a soul anthem.”
Backed up by the Grease Band and accented by his signature flailing air-guitar stage antics, Joe Cocker’s Woodstock ’69 performance (he also performed at Woodstock ’94), was a triumph that culminated with his beloved hit Beatles’ cover. After Joe’s set ended, a heavy thunderstorm moved in, drenching the festival grounds and bringing the proceedings to a standstill. Joe reportedly commented, “Did I do that?”
The Band
The Band got their first big break when Bob Dylan hired them for his US and world tours in 1965 and ’66. After the tours, he helped the Toronto-based group move down to West Saugerties, New York — near his home in Woodstock — and collaborated with them on what was to be a heavily bootlegged set of demo recordings eventually released as The Basement Tapes. The Band’s debut album Music from Big Pink (titled after the house they were renting) dropped in the summer of ’68, landing them on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and setting the stage for their breakout performance at the Woodstock festival.
After several hours of delay due to passing storms, the Band took the stage at 10PM Sunday evening and proceeded to reel off a very professional 11-song set that drew heavily from Big Pink, their infectious, rollicking brand of roots rock spurring much of the audience to sing along.
Despite living near the festival grounds and being invited to perform, Bob Dylan didn’t play Woodstock. The official reason provided was that one of his children was sick; nevertheless, rumors circulated, including one that he was annoyed at his home turf being besieged by hippies. Interestingly, he did perform at the Isle of Wight festival just two weeks after Woodstock.
Jimi Hendrix
https://vimeo.com/251561463
Jimi Hendrix, by then the world’s highest-paid rock musician, agreed to headline the Woodstock Music and Art Fair for substantially less than his going rate, but he was still the festival’s most lucratively compensated performer. Originally scheduled for the Sunday midnight slot, Jimi decided instead to close the festival on Monday morning, by which time the audience had thinned out considerably. As the story goes, by the time he and his band took the stage around 8AM, Jimi had been awake for three days.
While many had already left the festival, the thousands who remained were treated to one of the longest and most iconic sets of Jimi’s career — including his epic interpretation of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Although introduced as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Jimi had a new band with him, officially billed as Gypsy Sun and Rainbows. The only original Experience member was drummer Mitch Mitchell, who was joined by Jimi’s army buddy Billy Cox on bass, plus a rhythm guitarist and two conga players. Upon stepping onstage and seeing the crowd, Jimi reportedly said to his bandmates, “Look, the audience is sending a lot of energy to us onstage. Let’s use that and send it back to them.” And indeed, they did, bringing to an end what many consider to be the most consequential musical event of all history.
Woodstock Set the Stage
As mammoth music festivals go, Woodstock was the first of its kind — and a harbinger of things to come. Although a smaller audience of 150,000 flocked to the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later, and 300,000 attended the ill-fated Altamont Speedway Free Festival in December, music festivals would only grow in size in the ensuing years. In 1973, three supergroups — the Grateful Dead, the Band, and the Allman Brothers — played to an audience of 600,000 at the Watkins Glen Summer Jam. In modern times, Coachella regularly draws huge crowds (594,000 in 2017), while the largest festival in the US is Summerfest, which netted 804,000 attendees in 2016. Worldwide, Donauinselfest in Vienna wears the crown, with a whopping 3.1 million attendees in 2016. But Woodstock ’69 was the first; and the lore of the “Woodstock Nation” lives on, a half century later, in the hearts and minds of peace- and music-loving humans of all ages.