The Woodstock Music Festival took place on 15 August 1969, with around half a million people waiting for the festival to begin at a dairy farm near Bethel in New York. Known as an experience not to be missed, Woodstock was a festival that lasted for three days filled with peace and music ("Peace and Music"). The 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 was not 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 & roll made Woodstock a peaceful celebration and it earned a prominent 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 combine business with their passion for hippie and rock culture. The founders were John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld, and Michael Lang.
These four businessmen were not new to the scene. Lang had already 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 sign on, giving Woodstock the credibility it needed to attract other renowned musicians.
Where was Woodstock?
The initial plan for Woodstock was for the event to take place at the Howard Mills Industrial Park in Wallkill, New York.
However, the officials in Wallkill were frightened and backed out of the agreement by passing a law that eliminated any possibility of holding the concert in their town.
Woodstock Ventures explored a few other sites, but none were suitable. Eventually, just a month before the concert, Max Yasgur, a 49-year-old dairy farmer, offered to rent them a portion of his land in the White Lake area of Bethel, New York, surrounded by the lush Catskill Mountains.
With only a month to go to the concert, the four frantic partners seized the opportunity and paid the asking price.
Woodstock, not in Woodstock
Max Yasgur probably never imagined 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 hub of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll during Woodstock, the festival that changed the world.
Even though it's called the Woodstock festival, Yasgur's dairy farm was not even within walking distance of the town of Woodstock; it was over 50 kilometres away.
Woodstock Becomes a Free Concert
Woodstock was not meant to be a free concert. However, the lack of time and organisation led the concert partners 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. Without any means to restrict access to the festival, and with no way to charge festival-goers (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 finished, but you have your priorities. People are coming, you have to be able to feed them, take care of them, and entertain them. So you set priorities."
With no effective way to charge attendees, Lang and his partners decided to make Woodstock a free event.
A Huge Influx of Festival-Goers
Originally, about 50,000 people were expected. But by 13 August, two days before the concert, that number was already present on site, and over 100,000 tickets had been sold in advance.
As approximately one million people arrived at Woodstock, the organisers rushed to add more facilities. Highways and local roads were choked, and many attendees simply abandoned their cars and walked the rest of the way. Eventually, around half a million people made their way to the site.
The Audience
The audience at Woodstock 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 many young people vehemently opposed. It was also the period of the civil rights movement, a time of great turmoil 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 poor weather, muddy conditions, and a lack of food, water, and adequate sanitation facilities, the overall atmosphere was harmonious. In retrospect, some attribute the absence of violence to the abundance of psychedelic drugs in use.
Others believe the hippies were simply living out their mantra of "make love, not war". In fact, many people at Woodstock took that commandment literally and made love anytime and anywhere.
Safety and Security Issues
Doctors, paramedics, and volunteer nurses staffed the Woodstock medical tent. Most injuries were minor, such as food poisoning and cuts from being barefoot.
It was reported that eight women suffered miscarriages. One teenager died after being run over by a tractor. Another person died from a drug-related death. But these numbers are low compared to the sheer volume of festival-goers (half a million).
Security was limited as off-duty police officers were prohibited. It is estimated that there were no more than a dozen police officers overseeing 500,000 people.
Artists at Woodstock
Thirty-two musicians, a mix of local talents and world-renowned acts, 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 played the end of her set amidst torrential rain. The first day ended around 2 AM on 16 August.
The second day officially began around 12:15 PM. The lineup 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 ended around 9:45 PM on Sunday 17 August.
The third day began around 2 PM. Joe Cocker was the first musician to perform. The rest of the lineup 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 last performer at Woodstock. Delays due to rain kept him from taking the stage until early Monday morning, and by the time he performed, the crowd had dwindled to about 25,000 people.
There were also some artists who refused to take part in the Woodstock event such as:
- 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 ended on Monday, 18 August, after Hendrix left the stage. Leaving Woodstock was just as difficult as getting there. Roads and highways quickly became clogged as festival-goers tried to make their way home.
Cleansing the site was a colossal task that took several days, many 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 is also a 1960s museum on site.
Many popular musicians have performed in the woods of Bethel, some of whom took the stage at Woodstock, such as Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Santana, Arlo Guthrie, and Joe Cocker.
Woodstock may be best summed up by Max Yasgur, the humble farmer who lent his land for the occasion. Speaking to 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 kids—and I call you kids because I have children who are older than you—a half million young people can get together and have three days of fun, of music, and nothing but fun and music, and God bless you for it!”
Reliving the Woodstock Festival
Jimi Hendrix performs 'The Star-Spangled Banner' on the final 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.
Attendees leave the Woodstock festival in 1969 to return to their lives after three days of music, peace, and love.