Woodstock wasn’t the first gathering of its kind dedicated to music. At the time, Newport was already a regular meetup for fans of the new rock & folk music that had come crashing upon the youth (American and otherwise) like a tidal wave. Festivals such as Monterey (California) or the Isle of Wight (U.K) had been all the talk of the previous summers. But Woodstock was by far and large the most memorable of them all, due to its unbridled, spontaneous nature, as well as its long list of famous performers. Case in point: 50 years later, eyes still light up when it’s mentioned.
Woodstock’s story started with a gamble: to create the biggest rock concert in the world. Among the four organizers, two - John Roberts and Joel Roseman - had money and were looking for a trendy investment. The two others, Artie Kornfeld and Michael Lang, were in the music business and wanted to put their talent to work with a bigger budget to match. Artie Kornfeld had written songs for the Shirelles, Jan & Dean and Dusty Springfield. Michael Lang had already organized a festival in 1968 and was dreaming big. The gang of four wanted to bring Bob Dylan, The Doors and The Rolling Stones, three of the biggest names in the global music industry, onto the same stage. But none of them would answer favorably in the end.
No matter. Woodstock Festival was born. Even if in the end, it didn't happen at Woodstock per say. The town's inhabitants were adamant about not letting the festival happen in their backyards. A last-minute solution was found barely a month before the much-anticipated weekend, when Max Yasgur, a farmer by his trade, agreed to lend his land, some 30 miles away. Woodstock's name would remain as a legacy, but its earth would be neither trampled nor degraded by the 500 000 bearded hippies which came from across the USA. The organizers expected three times less people, and lacked time to acquire proper infrastructure. No toilets or bar, nor any way of actually accessing the site, and practically no drinking water. To make things even worse, it rained for two our of the three days, turning the location into a complete mudbath. Getting to Woodstock would prove a challenge even for the artists, which is why Richie Havens became the opening act - Sweetwater were stuck somewhere on the road.
Hendrix: Headliner
Getting famous artists to come was the organizers' first challenge, given they had yet to acquire much notoriety in the industry. As a consequence, they decided to overpay the big names in attendance. Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane's go-ahead led to Joan Baez, Ravi Shankar, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Sly & The Family Stone, The Who, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and more, totaling around thirty artists, with Jimi Hendrix at the top with 18,000$ according to different sources. The price tag was worth it: the star guitarist gave a legendary performance of the Star Spangled Banner to festival-goers - like a bombshell at 10:30 AM. Carlos Santana, the other star of the festival, said it best: "Woodstock took place in the midst of the Vietnam War, you should never forget that. And you've got to relisten to Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner to really get it. You can hear the bombs falling in droves, all the violence experienced by the american soldiers who were conscripted, as well as the birth of a new day and a new hope. Woodstock was all of those things, and for me there was a before and an after. Without Woodstock I have no idea what we would have become."
The virtuoso guitarist and his band (also called Santana) were only known in a few tight circles, but after their breathtaking performance, and the standout instrumental Soul Sacrifice, which cristallized the fusion between latin magic and electric improvisation, they had undoubtedly graduated. Their first album, which came out soon thereafter, sold like hotcakes.
A Musical and Political Gathering
Although celebrations were slated to start on Friday August 15th, festival-goers had started arriving as soon as the previous weekend, in anticipation. The late 60s context was key: the festival was also a gathering place for conscientious objectors from all walks of life, much to Richard Nixon's dismay only 6 months after his inauguration. The poster's subtitle was clear enough: "3 Days of Peace & Music". Three days far from politicians and their quest for world domination. Putting Joan Baez as the first day's closing act was a symbolic decision, considering her then-partner, journalist David Harris, was in prison as a conscientious objector himself. She seized the opportunity to sing a famous ode to disobedience: Joe Hill. "Of course the festival was political, but it was more than that. You had to be there, because it was a shared moment for a whole generation, and I'm proud I took part in that" said the folk legend. I think violence has never been the answer, and Woodstock, well it was really a communion of love and peace and not a protest..."
The Who sang My Generation on the evening of August 17th. Roger Daltrey, from the same band, agrees: "Politicians could no longer ignore that the youth had rejected all of this large scale warfare, they could no longer ignore half a million young folks fighting for peace together, there was a real unity. From the audience's side as well as the artists'. We also had new songs that talked about those things, Tommy's autism was like a parable of this awful war which we rejected. To be honest, it wasn't completely intentional, but we were carried by our time". The time also lent itself to psychedelics. The famous indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, who played three songs and was cut short by the rain on Friday night, remembers: "I have a lot of respect for all these artists that I met at Woodstock but they weren't able to answer me properly, is what I'd say. There was no dialogue. Janis and Jimi, for example, were definitely someplace else."
Unlike Joe Cocker, who opened on Sunday with a posessed version of With a Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles. The song had been released two years ealier on Yellow Submarine, and it had been sung previously by Richie Havens on Friday (in addition to a Strawberry Fields Forever / Hey Jude medley). "Everyone was on acid except me" the english baritone remembered. "In the spur of the moment, I was furious, but with hindsight I think I wouldn't have sung as well. Our first album had just come out, and taking part in that festival was some great publicity. Ironically enough, we covered Let’s Go Get Stoned by Ray Charles, but for me it was only fiction. Well, at least that night, it was ..."
On the second night, Creedence Clearwater Revival were the closing act, with their famous cover of Suzy Q, the 1957 rockabilly hit by Dale Hawkins. The third day was a celebrity parade: Janis Joplin, who died only 6 months later, Sly & The Family Stone and their explosive brand of funk, The Who, as magnetic as usual, Jefferson Airplane, who were at the height of their fame at 8 AM, The Band, Bob Dylan’s backing band, Johnny Winter, the 12-bar-blues albino, the american super-group Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Sha Na Na, a Columbia students revival band, whose appearance is still a complete mystery, and finally Jimi Hendrix. But the latter played so late, on Monday morning from 9am to 11am, that a large portion of the crowd had already left, many of the festival-goers having to go back to work on the same day. The desertion in those pictures from the film are fascinating. It’s as though the party (and the hippie dream) had lasted only for a couple of hours, although the moment itself was engraved forever in history.
