Woodstock Festival: Everything You Need to Know About This Historic Event.

The Woodstock Music Festival began on 15 August 1969, with a half-million people waiting for the festival gates to open on a dairy farm nearby in Bethel, New York. Recognised as a must-experience event, Woodstock was a festival that lasted for three days filled with peace and music ("Peace and Music"). This epic event would later simply be known as Woodstock and became synonymous with the 1960s counterculture movement. Woodstock was a success, but the massive concert wasn't without its challenges: last-minute changes, bad weather, and hordes of attendees caused significant headaches. Despite the rain during the festival, the vast amounts of drugs, sex, and rock 'n' roll made Woodstock a peaceful gathering that rightfully earned its place in the history of hippie culture.

The Creation of Woodstock

The Woodstock Music Festival was founded by four men, all aged 27 or younger, who were looking for an event idea that could blend business with their passions for rock and hippie culture. The founders were John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld, and Michael Lang.

These four businessmen were not new to the game. Lang had previously organised the Miami Music Festival in 1968, and Kornfeld was the youngest vice-president at Capitol Records. Roberts and Rosenman were New York entrepreneurs involved in building a recording studio in Manhattan. The four men formed Woodstock Ventures, Inc and decided to organise a music festival.

Creedence Clearwater Revival was the first major act to commit, giving Woodstock the credibility it needed to attract other renowned musicians.

Where was Woodstock?

The original plan for Woodstock was to hold the event at Howard Mills Industrial Park in Wallkill, New York.

However, the local authorities in Wallkill got cold feet and withdrew from the agreement by passing a law that eliminated any possibility of hosting the concert on their land.

Woodstock Ventures explored a few other sites, but none worked out. Finally, just a month before the concert, Max Yasgur, a 49-year-old dairy farmer, offered to rent them part of his land in the White Lake area of Bethel, New York, surrounded by the lush Catskill Mountains.

With just a month to go before the concert, the four frenzied partners jumped at the opportunity and paid the asking price.

Woodstock, not in the town of Woodstock

Max Yasgur could hardly have imagined that he would host half a million people on his 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York. But for three consecutive days in August 1969, his pastoral fields became a crossroads of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll during Woodstock, the music festival that changed the world.

Even though it's called the Woodstock festival, Yasgur's dairy farm was more than 50 kilometres away from the town of Woodstock.

Woodstock becomes a free concert

Woodstock was not intended to be a free concert. However, the lack of time and organisation meant that the concert partners were forced to make the concert free. The main reason was that the ticket booths and security barriers were not ready for the start of the event. With no way to restrict access to the festival and charge attendees (no ticket booth), they had no choice but to make the festival free.

According to Lang, in an interview with the Telegraph, "you do everything you can to get the gates and fences done, but you have your priorities. People are coming, you have to feed them, take care of them, and give them a show. So you have to set priorities."

With no effective way to charge festival-goers, Lang and his partners decided to make Woodstock a free event.

A massive influx of festival-goers

Originally, around 50,000 people were expected. But on 13 August, two days before the concert, that number was already on-site and more than 100,000 tickets had been sold in advance.

As approximately one million people descended on Woodstock, the organisers rushed to add more facilities. Highways and local roads became clogged, and many attendees simply abandoned their cars and walked the rest of the way. Ultimately, around half a million people arrived.

The Audience

The Woodstock audience was diverse and reflected the rapid changes of the era. Some were hippies feeling alienated by a society steeped in materialism, while others were simply rock lovers.

In 1969, the country was embroiled in the controversy of the Vietnam War, a conflict which many young people were intensely opposed to. It was also the time of the civil rights movement, a period of great upheaval and protests. Woodstock was an opportunity for people to escape into music and spread a message of unity and peace.

Although the crowd at Woodstock faced bad weather, muddy conditions, and a lack of food, water, and adequate sanitary facilities, the overall atmosphere remained harmonious. In hindsight, some attribute the absence of violence to the large number of psychedelic drugs being used.

Others believe that the hippies were simply living their mantra of "make love, not war". In fact, a significant number of people at Woodstock took this commandment literally and made love anywhere and everywhere.

Safety and Security Issues

Doctors, paramedics, and volunteer nurses staffed the medical tent at Woodstock. Most injuries were minor, such as food poisoning and barefoot injuries.

It was reported that eight women had miscarriages. One teenager died after being crushed by a tractor. Another individual died of a drug-related death. But this was minor compared to the large number of festival-goers (half a million).

Security was minimal, as off-duty police officers were forbidden. It is estimated that there were no more than a dozen police officers monitoring 500,000 people.

Artists at Woodstock

Thirty-two musicians, a mix of local talent and world-renowned artists, performed at Woodstock. Around 5 pm on Friday, 15 August, Richie Havens took the stage and played a 45-minute set.

Havens was followed by an unexpected blessing from yoga guru Sri Swami Satchidananda. Other artists on the first day included:

• Bert Sommer
• Sweetwater
• Melanie
• Tim Hardin
• Ravi Shankar
• Arlo Guthrie
• Joan Baez

Baez finished her set in torrential rain. The first day ended around 2 am on 16 August.

The second day officially started around 12:15 pm. The line-up for the second day included:

• Quill
• Country Joe McDonald
• John Sebastian
• Keef Hartley Band
• Santana
• The Incredible String Band
• Canned Heat
• Mountain
• The Grateful Dead
• Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Janis Joplin
• Sly and the Family Stone
• The Who
• Jefferson Airplane

The second day wrapped up around 9:45 pm on Sunday, 17 August.

The third day kicked off around 2 pm. Joe Cocker was the first musician to play. The rest of the line-up included:

• Country Joe and The Fish
• Ten Years After
• The Band
• Johnny Winter
• Blood Sweat and Tears
• Crosby Stills Nash and Young
• Paul Butterfield Blues Band
• Sha Na Na
• Jimi Hendrix

Hendrix was the final musician to perform at Woodstock. Rain delays kept him from going on stage until early Monday morning, and by the time he continued, the crowd had diminished to about 25,000 people.

There were also some artists who refused to participate in the Woodstock event, including:

• Simon and Garfunkel
• Led Zeppelin
• Bob Dylan
• The Byrds
• The Moody Blues
• The Doors
• Roy Rogers
• John Lennon
• Chicago Transit Authority
• The Rolling Stones

The Legacy of Woodstock

Woodstock officially concluded on Monday, 18 August, after Hendrix left the stage. Leaving Woodstock was no easier than getting there. Roads and highways quickly became jammed as festival-goers returned home.

Cleaning up the site was a colossal task that took several days, numerous bulldozers, and tens of thousands of dollars.

In 2006, the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts opened on the hill where the Woodstock Music Festival took place. Today, it hosts outdoor concerts in its beautiful pavilion. There’s also a 1960s museum on-site.

Many popular musicians have performed in Bethel Woods, including some who took the stage at Woodstock, like Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Santana, Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Cocker.

Woodstock may be best described by Max Yasgur, the humble farmer who lent his land for the occasion. Addressing the audience on the third day, he said: “....you have proven something to the world... what you have proven to the entire world is that half a million children, and I call you children because I have kids older than you, half a million young people can get together and have three days of fun, music and nothing but fun, and music, and God is my witness!”

Reliving the Woodstock Festival

Jimi Hendrix performs 'The Star-Spangled Banner' on the last morning of the Woodstock concert in 1969.

Santana performs 'Soul Sacrifice' on the second day of the Woodstock festival in 1969.

Jefferson Airplane performs 'White Rabbit' on the second day of the Woodstock music festival in 1969.

Festival-goers leave the Woodstock festival in 1969 to return to their lives after three days of music, peace, and love.