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Woodstock Festival
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Woodstock was a music festival, billed as An Aquarian Exposition, held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 km²; 240 ha) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18, 1969. Bethel (Sullivan County) is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the village of Woodstock, New York, in adjoining Ulster County.
The festival exemplified the counterculture of the late 1960s – early 1970s and the "hippie era". Thirty-two of the best-known musicians of the day appeared during the sometimes rainy weekend in front of nearly half a million concertgoers.
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Woodstock was a music festival, billed as An Aquarian Exposition, held at Max Yasgur's 600 acre (2.4 km²; 240 ha) dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York from August 15 to August 18, 1969. Bethel (Sullivan County) is 43 miles (69 km) southwest of the village of Woodstock, New York, in adjoining Ulster County.
The festival exemplified the counterculture of the late 1960s – early 1970s and the "hippie era". Thirty-two of the best-known musicians of the day appeared during the sometimes rainy weekend in front of nearly half a million concertgoers. Although attempts have been made over the years to emulate the festival, the original event has proven to be unique and legendary. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest moments in popular music history and was listed on Rolling Stone's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.
The event was captured in a successful 1970 documentary movie, Woodstock; an accompanying soundtrack album; and Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock", which commemorated the event and became a major hit for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
Introduction
Woodstock was initiated through the efforts of Michael Lang, John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, and Artie Kornfeld. It was Roberts and Rosenman who had the finances. They placed the following advertisement in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal under the name of Challenge International, Ltd.: “Young men with unlimited capital looking for interesting, legitimate investment opportunities and business propositions.”
Lang and Kornfeld noticed the ad, and the four men got together originally to discuss a retreat-like recording studio in Woodstock, but the idea evolved into an outdoor music and arts festival. There were differences in approach among the four: Roberts was disciplined, and knew what was needed in order for the venture to succeed, while the laid-back Lang saw Woodstock as a new, relaxed way of bringing business people together. There were further doubts over the venture, as Roberts wondered whether to consolidate his losses and pull the plug, or to continue pumping his own finances into the project. His decision to continue with the project resulted in one of the most successful events in music history.
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. Around 186,000 tickets were sold beforehand and organizers anticipated approximately 200,000 festival-goers would turn up. The fence was purposely cut by the UAW/MF in order to create a totally free event, prompting many more to show up. Tickets for the event cost US$18 in advance (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.
Woodstock Ventures made Warner Brothers an offer to make a movie about Woodstock. All Artie Kornfeld required was $100,000, on the basis that "it could have either sold millions or, if there were riots, be one of the best documentaries ever made," according to Kornfeld.
The influx of attendees to the rural concert site in Bethel created a massive traffic jam and closed the New York State Thruway. 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 festival was held during a time of military conflict abroad and racial discord at home, and participants quickly became aware that the event had taken on a meaning beyond its original intent. The site of Woodstock became, for four days, a countercultural mini-nation. Minds were "open", drugs were used, and "love" was "free". Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman crystallized this view of the event in his book, Woodstock Nation, written shortly afterward.
Although the festival was remarkably peaceful given the number of people and the conditions involved, there were two recorded fatalities: one from what was believed to be a heroin overdose and another caused by an occupied sleeping bag accidentally being run over by a tractor in a nearby hayfield. There also were two births recorded at the event (one in a car caught in traffic and another in a helicopter) and four miscarriages. Oral testimony in the film supports the overdose and run-over deaths and at least one birth, along with many colossal logistical headaches.
Yet, in tune with the idealistic hopes of the 1960s, Woodstock satisfied most attendees. Especially memorable were the sense of social harmony, the quality of music, and the overwhelming mass of people, many sporting bohemian dress, behavior, and attitudes.
After the concert Max Yasgur, who owned the site of the event, saw it as a victory of peace and love. He spoke of how nearly half a million people filled with possibilities of disaster, riot, looting, and catastrophe spent the three days with music and peace on their minds. He states that "if we join them, we can turn those adversities that are the problems of America today into a hope for a brighter and more peaceful future..."
Logistics
Selection of the venue
The concert was originally scheduled to take place in the Mills Industrial Park in northeast Middletown, Orange County, New York in Wallkill, Orange County, New York which Woodstock Ventures had leased for $10,000 in the Spring of 1969. Town officials were assured that no more than 50,000 would attend. Town residents immediately opposed the project. In early July the Town Board passed a law requiring a permit for any gathering over 5,000 people. On July 15, 1969 the Wallkill Zoning Board of Appeals officially banned the concert on the basis that the planned portable toilets would not meet town code.
Following the ban, Elliot Tiber, who owned the 80-room El Monaco Motel on White Lake in Bethel, New York offered to host the event on his . He already had a permit for a White Lake Music and Arts Festival from the Town of Bethel, which was to be a chamber music concert. When it was clear the site was too small, Tiber introduced the promoters to dairy farmer, Max Yasgur, initially on the premise that Yasgur's land would rent for $50 for a festival attracting 5,000. On July 20, 1969, Yasgur, meeting with the organizers at a White Lake restaurant, agreed to rent for $75,000. News of the event was leaked to local radio station WVOS (AM) even before Yasgur and the organizers left the restaurant, reportedly by restaurant employees. The organizers paid another $25,000 to nearby residents to rent their land. Yasgur's land formed a natural bowl sloping down to Filippini Pond on its north side. The stage would be set at the bottom of the hill with Filippini Pond forming a backdrop. The pond would become a popular skinny dipping destination. The event organizers would stay at Tiber's El Monaco Motel along with Canned Heat and Arlo Guthrie.
The organizers once again told Bethel authorities they expected no more than 50,000.
Despite resident opposition and signs proclaiming, "Buy No Milk. Stop Max's Hippy Music Festival," Bethel Town Attorney Frederick W. V. Schadt and building inspector Donald Clark approved the permits, but the Bethel Town Board refused to issue them formally. Clark was ordered to post Stop Work orders, but the promoters tore them down.
Fearing chaos as thousands began descending on the community, Bethel did not enforce its codes. Eventually, people were discouraged from setting off to the festival on radio stations as far away as WNEW-FM in Manhattan and the traffic jams were described on television news programs. To add to the problems and difficulty in dealing with the large crowds, recent rains had caused muddy roads and fields.
Sound
Sound for the concert was engineered by Bill Hanley, whose innovations in the sound industry have earned him the prestigious Parnelli Award. "It worked very well," he says of the event. "I built special speaker columns on the hills and had 16 loudspeaker arrays in a square platform going up to the hill on 70-foot [21 meter] towers. We set it up for 150,000 to 200,000 people. Of course, 500,000 showed up." ALTEC designed 4 – 15 marine ply cabinets that weighed in at half a ton a piece, stood straight up, almost deep, and wide. Each of these woofers carried four JBL LANSING D140 loudspeakers. The tweeters consisted of 4x2-Cell & 2x10-Cell Altec Horns. Behind the stage were three transformers providing 2,000 amperes of current to power the amplification setup. For many years this system was collectively referred to as the Woodstock Bins.
Performing artists and sequence of events
Friday, August 15
The first day officially began at 5:07 p.m. with Richie Havens and featured folk artists.
Baez Source: Arthur Levy, annotator of the expanded editions of the 12 Joan Baez CDs on Vanguard
Saturday, August 16
The day opened at 12:15 pm, and featured some of the event's biggest psychedelic and guitar rock headliners.
- Quill, forty minute set of four songs
- They Live the Life
- BBY
- Waitin' For You
- Jam
- Keef Hartley Band
- Spanish Fly
- Believe In You
- Rock Me Baby
- Medley
- Leavin' Trunk
- Sinnin' For You
- Country Joe McDonald
- I Find Myself Missing You
- Rockin All Around The World
- Flyin' High All Over the World
- Seen A Rocket Flyin'
- The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
- John Sebastian
- How Have You Been
- Rainbows Over Your Blues
- I Had A Dream
- Darlin' Be Home Soon
- Younger Generation
- Santana
- Waiting
- You Just Don't Care
- Savor
- Jingo
- Persuasion
- Soul Sacrifice
- Fried Neckbones
- Canned Heat
- A Change Is Gonna Come/Leaving This Town
- Going Up The Country
- Let's Work Together
- Woodstock Boogie
- Mountain, hour-long set including Jack Bruce's "Theme For An Imaginary Western."
- Blood of the Sun
- Stormy Monday
- Long Red
- Who Am I But You And The Sun
- Beside The Sea
- For Yasgur's Farm
- You and Me
- Theme For An Imaginary Western
- Waiting To Take You Away
- Dreams of Milk and Honey
- Blind Man
- Blue Suede Shoes
- Southbound Train
- Janis Joplin with The Kozmic Blues Band
- Raise Your Hand
- As Good As You've Been To This World
- To Love Somebody
- Summertime
- Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)
- Kosmic Blues
- Can't Turn you Loose
- Work Me Lord
- Piece of My Heart
- Ball & Chain
- Grateful Dead
- St. Stephen
- Mama Tried
- Dark Star/High Time
- Turn On Your Love Light
Grateful Dead's performance was plagued by technical problems, including a faulty electrical ground. Members Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir reported getting shocked every time they touched their guitars.
Sunday, August 17 to Monday, August 18
Joe Cocker was the first act on the last officially booked day (Sunday); he opened up the day's events at 2 PM. His set was preceded by at least two instrumentals by The Grease Band.
- Joe Cocker
- Dear Landlord
- Something Comin' On
- Do I Still Figure In Your Life
- Feelin' Alright
- Just Like A Woman
- Let's Go Get Stoned
- I Don't Need A Doctor
- I Shall Be Released
- With a Little Help from My Friends
- After Joe Cocker's set, a thunderstorm disrupted the events for several hours.
- Country Joe and the Fish resumed the concert around 6 p.m.
- Rock and Soul Music
- Thing Called Love
- Love Machine
- The "Fish" Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
- Ten Years After
- Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
- I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes
- I May Be Wrong, But I Won't Be Wrong Always
- Hear Me Calling
- I'm Going Home
- The Band - Set list confirmed in Levon Helm's book "This Wheel's On Fire"
- Chest Fever
- Tears of Rage
- We Can Talk
- Don't You Tell Henry
- Don't Do It
- Ain't No More Cane
- Long Black Veil
- This Wheel's On Fire
- I Shall Be Released
- The Weight
- Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
- Blood, Sweat & Tears ushered in the midnight hour with five songs.
- More and More
- I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know
- Spinning Wheel
- I Stand Accused
- Something Comin' On
- Johnny Winter featuring his brother, Edgar Winter, on two songs.
- Mama, Talk to Your Daughter
- To Tell the Truth
- Johnny B. Goode
- Six Feet In the Ground
- Leland Mississippi Blues/Rock Me Baby
- Mean Mistreater
- I Can't Stand It (with Edgar Winter)
- Tobacco Road (with Edgar Winter)
- Mean Town Blues
- Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young began around 3 a.m. with separate acoustic and electric sets.
- Acoustic Set
- Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
- Blackbird
- Helplessly Hoping
- Guinnevere
- Marrakesh Express
- 4 + 20
- Mr. Soul
- Wonderin'
- You Don't Have To Cry
- Electric Set
- Pre-Road Downs
- Long Time Gone
- Bluebird
- Sea of Madness
- Wooden Ships
- Find the Cost of Freedom
- 49 Bye-Byes
- Neil Young skipped most of the acoustic set (the exceptions being his compositions "Mr. Soul" and "Wonderin'") and joined Crosby, Stills & Nash, but refused to be filmed during the electric set; by his own report, Young felt the filming was distracting both performers and audience from the music. Young's "Sea of Madness," heard on the album, never occurred at the festival, it was recorded a month after the festival at Fillmore East.
- Paul Butterfield Blues Band
- Everything's Gonna Be Alright
- Driftin'
- Born Under A Bad Sign
- Morning Sunrise
- Love March
- Sha-Na-Na
- Na Na Theme
- Yakety Yak
- Teen Angel
- Jailhouse Rock
- Wipe Out
- Book of Love
- Duke of Earl
- At the Hop
- Na Na Theme
Cancelled appearances
- The Jeff Beck Group was scheduled to perform at Woodstock, but failed to make an appearance because the band broke up the week before.
- Iron Butterfly was stuck at an airport, and their manager demanded helicopters and special arrangements just for them. At one point, helicopters were the only means of transportation that could get to the location.
- Joni Mitchell was slated to perform, but her agent recommended that she appear on The Dick Cavett Show on Monday, with its national audience, rather than "sit around in a field with 500 people" Though Mitchell was not present, she wrote and recorded the song "Woodstock" that became a major hit for Matthews Southern Comfort and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. She [Joni Mitchell] was discouraged by the audience response to her performance at the Atlantic City Pop Festival that was held earlier in August prior to Woodstock. The audience was so rude that she was not able to complete her set and she walked off the stage, sobbing.
- Canadian band Lighthouse originally was scheduled to play at Woodstock, but in the end they decided not to, fearing that it would be a bad scene. Later, several members of the group would say that they regretted the decision.
Refused invitations
- The promoters contacted John Lennon, requesting The Beatles to perform. Lennon said that The Beatles would not play unless Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band could play also. The promoters turned him down.
- Procol Harum was invited to perform, but reportedly declined because the festival was happening at the end of a long tour, and because of the impending birth of Robin Trower's child; the band elected to pass on the festival to be back in England for the birth.
- 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. 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 US 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.
- Jethro Tull refused to perform. Ian Anderson is reported to have said he "didn't want to spend [his] weekend in a field of unwashed hippies". Another theory proposes that the band felt the event would be "too big a deal" and might kill their career before it started.. 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.
- The Moody Blues declined to perform, because they were booked for another event in Paris at the same time. They were promoted as being a performer on the third day on early posters that listed the site as Wallkill.
- 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."
- The Clarence White-era Byrds were given an opportunity to play, but refused to do so. They did, however, perform at the Atlantic City Pop Festival held August 1,2 & 3, 1969, two weeks before Woodstock.
- Paul Revere & The Raiders declined to perform.
- 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. He would go on to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival two weeks later.
- Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention said: "A lot of mud at Woodstock. We were invited to play there, we turned it down." - FZ. Citation: "Class of the 20th Century", U.S. network television special in serial format, circa 1995.
- Free were asked to perform and declined.
- Spirit were asked to perform but declined and went on a promotional tour.
- Mind Garage declined because they thought it would not be a big deal and had a higher paying gig elsewhere.
- Arthur Lee and Love were long rumoured to have declined an invitation, but it was confirmed by Mojo Magazine that it was Monterey Pop Festival that they declined because of inner turmoil with the band.
Media coverage and The New York Times
As the only reporter at Woodstock for the first 36 hours or so, Barnard Collier of The New York Times was almost continually pressed by his editors in New York to make the story about the immense traffic jams, the less-than-sanitary conditions, the rampant drug use, the lack of "proper policing", and the presumed dangerousness of so many young people congregating. Collier recalls: "Every major Times editor up to and including executive editor James Reston insisted that the tenor of the story must be a social catastrophe in the making. It was difficult to persuade them that the relative lack of serious mischief and the fascinating cooperation, caring and politeness among so many people was the significant point. I had to resort to refusing to write the story unless it reflected to a great extent my on-the-scene conviction that 'peace' and 'love' was the actual emphasis, not the preconceived opinions of Manhattan-bound editors. After many acrimonious telephone exchanges, the editors agreed to publish the story as I saw it, and although the nuts-and-bolts matters of gridlock and minor lawbreaking were put close to the lead of the stories, the real flavor of the gathering was permitted to get across. After the first day's Times story appeared on page 1, the event was widely recognized for the amazing and beautiful accident it was."
After the festival was finished, Collier wrote another article about the exodus of fans away from the festival for The New York Times. He speaks of such a peaceful event considering the size of the crowd and listens to Dr. William Abruzzi’s (chief medical officer during the event) opinions that these were beautiful people. The weekend had become an incredible unification of youth. This opinion had seemingly rubbed off on several locals. Bus driver Richard Biccum described them as "good kids in disguise."
The film
The documentary film, Woodstock, was directed by Michael Wadleigh and edited by Thelma Schoonmaker and Martin Scorsese, was released in 1970. Warner Brothers agreed to pay $100,000 for the film. So Wadleigh proceeded to round up a crew of about 100 from the New York scene. With no money to pay the crew he agreed a double or nothing scheme in which double pay was received if it went well whereas they received nothing if it bombed. The plot was simple, like a modern day Canterbury Tale, he strived to make the film as much about the hippies as the music, listening to their feelings about the times, the Vietnam War for example, as well as the views of the townspeople. To him this is what would make the film, not just the music.
Artie Kornfeld, one of the promoters of the festival came to Fred Weintraub, an executive at Warner Bros., and asked for money to film the festival. Artie had been turned down everywhere, but Fred Weintraub became his hero and against the wishes of other Warner executives, Weintraub put his job on the line and gave the money. Warner Brothers was about to go out of business and Woodstock saved the company. This is all documented in the book, "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls".
It received the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The film has been deemed culturally significant by the United States Library of Congress. In 1994, Woodstock: The Director's Cut was released, expanded to include Janis Joplin as well as additional performances by Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and Canned Heat not seen in the original version of the film.
Woodstock today
A plaque has been placed at the original site commemorating the festival. The field and the stage area remain preserved in their rural setting. On the field are the remnants of a neon flower and bass from the original concert. In the middle of the field, there is a totem pole with wood carvings of Jimi Hendrix in the middle, Janis Joplin on top, and Jerry Garcia on the bottom. A concert hall has been erected up the hill, and the fields of the old Yasgur farm are still visited by people of all generations.
In 1997, the site of the concert and surrounding was purchased by Alan Gerry for the purpose of creating the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. The Center opened on July 1, 2006 with a performance of the New York Philharmonic. On August 13, 2006, Crosby Stills Nash & Young performed to 16,000 fans at the new Center — 37 years after their historic performance at Woodstock.
In August 2007, the parcel that contains Max Yasgur's former homestead was placed on the market for $8 million by its current owners, Roy Howard and Jeryl Abramson. The home, barn, fieldhouse, and acreage, which are listed by Joshpe Real Estate of New York City, have been the site of frequent Woodstock reunions.
The Museum at Bethel Woods opened in June 2008. The Museum contains film and interactive displays, text panels, and artifacts which explore the unique experience of the Woodstock festival, its significance as the culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, and the legacy of the Sixties and Woodstock today.
The 40th anniversary of Woodstock is in 2009. A number of activities to commemorate this historic festival will be taking place around the world. One such will be in Hawkhurst, Kent at a Summer of Love party with acts including two of the participants at the original Woodstock - Barry Melton of Country Joe and the Fish and Robin Williamson of the The Incredible String Band plus cover bands for Santana and the Grateful Dead.
Gallery
Image:Woodstock backstage.jpg|The Woodstock stage area facing sloping field at Bethel Woods
Image:Woodstockpla.jpg|Woodstock plaque
Image:Manwoodstocktoday.JPG|A man points to where the original stage stood in 1969
Taking Woodstock
Scheduled for 2009, Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock follows the life of Elliot Tiber, who in 1969, held the only musical festival permit in Bethel, NY and enabled the festival to occur. It also takes place before the Woodstock Festival, in which Tiber was involved with the Stonewall Riots in New York City.
See also
Further reading
External links
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