Woodstock was a music festival held August 15–18, 1969, which attracted an audience of more than 400,000. Billed as "an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music", it was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 43 miles (70 km) southwest of Woodstock. It was alternatively referred to as the Bethel Rock Festival or the Aquarian Music Festival. Thirty-two acts performed outdoors despite sporadic rain. It has become widely regarded as a pivotal moment in popular music history, as well as the definitive nexus for the larger counterculture generation.

So..50 years ago - some great music and some excellent historical performances. I'm sure that there will be a few items on TV/radio in the next three days. Anybody want to mention their own favourite acts from the bill? This is one of mine..the lad wasn't quite himself..

John Sebastian - 'Darling be Home Soon'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aca-FdVnU1c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wavy Gravy still alive and kicking at 83...

Had to check who Wavy Gravy was - that name has passed me by; just read up on him, quite a character.

This is the Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick looking pretty amazing back then..'White Rabbit'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl89g2SwMh4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Great choices, Hampstead. I can actually remember seeing the Jefferson Airplane perform on the Parliament Hill Fields Bandstand prior to their joint Doors/Jefferson Airplane concert at the Roundhouse. I kid you not. It was obviously totally free and only announced on the John Peel radio show the day before. Hardly anyone had heard about it and it was fairly sparsely attended.

50 years...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3SjqGfe-yM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

To quote Sandy Denny, 'Who knows where the time goes'. I remember seeing the Woodstock film the summer after. Was down watching Pink Floyd play a free Hyde Park concert. I only mention this because that night we went to the Odeon in Leicester Square to watch the Woodstock movie. How I kept my eyes open, Goodness only knows. Things you can do in your youth. To an impressionable 16/17 year old it was an eponymous and standard bearing moment in Youth culture.
As for stand out acts, Joe Cocker, Ten Years After and Richie Haven's performance of Freedom. However there were many many more. A lot of artists invited to play who turned it down for whatever reason have lived to regret it. It was quite possibly the biggest moment in music history.

Joe Cocker. Full performance.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yJMN_NhA9pM" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ritchie Havens, Hendrix and the Who with Daltrey wearing the fringed jackets stood out for me.

When the film came out (1970?) I remember queuing for it in Burnley and the management were a bit worried that the film would spark off nudity, peace, love and drug taking and so they split the audience into males sitting on one side of the cinema and females on the other.

Here's Bob and the boys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3doBiU6 ... 0k&index=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mikeS wrote:When the film came out (1970?) I remember queuing for it in Burnley and the management were a bit worried that the film would spark off nudity, peace, love and drug taking and so they split the audience into males sitting on one side of the cinema and females on the other.

Yeah, that sure sounds like Burnley.We've never been the most progressive of towns. Is it true that The Life of Brian was banned for years?

Jimi being patriotic

https://youtu.be/MwIymq0iTsw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Billy Balfour wrote:Yeah, that sure sounds like Burnley.We've never been the most progressive of towns. Is it true that The Life of Brian was banned for years?

It still is.

TheFamilyCat wrote:It still is.

No thats "The Wife of Brian" big lass and very aggressive she is banned from Asda, Tesco's and Sainsbury's for trolley rage

mikeS wrote:Ritchie Havens, Hendrix and the Who with Daltrey wearing the fringed jackets stood out for me.

When the film came out (1970?) I remember queuing for it in Burnley and the management were a bit worried that the film would spark off nudity, peace, love and drug taking and so they split the audience into males sitting on one side of the cinema and females on the other.

That's not true.

Yes it was true. Otherwise I wouldn't have written it.

I was just getting into music properly at that time. Up to 1968, I'd been to a few "end of pier" shows whilst on hols in Blackpool, Scarborough, G Yarmouth etc but went to uni 1968 and was able to see, and get excited about, a lot of bands.
I revisit the Woodstock film every 3/4 years and now find some of the stuff hasn't dated that well but amongst my favourites: The Who, Ten Years After, Richie Havens, Canned Heat ("Goin' up the country" seemed a great song for Woodstock). I loved Jefferson A (Grace Slick a fantastic vocalist) but thought they didnt perform well on that day.

Weird that the person who wrote the hit song about the event didn't actually go there.

mikeS wrote:Yes it was true. Otherwise I wouldn't have written it.

I went with my wife and we sat together, as did every other couple or group. There wasn't any segregation at the screening we watched. Didn't mean to sound sharp incidentally, my boss was walking towards me so I just sent it.

Chip Harrison wrote:I went with my wife and we sat together, as did every other couple or group. There wasn't any segregation at the screening we watched. Didn't mean to sound sharp incidentally, my boss was walking towards me so I just sent it.

Tut Tut Tut loafing on up the Clarets when you're supposed to be working

He's at a meeting now!

Joe Cocker!

Bosscat wrote:Jimi being patriotic

https://youtu.be/MwIymq0iTsw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd agree that Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner is possibly the best political statement ever by just a guitar - amazing.
The Who were awesome (although by their own admission out of their heads on acid).
Country Joe and the Fish (I think):
And it's one two three what are we waiting for
Don't tell me I don't give a damn
We're all going to Vietnam.
Sadly I've never seen or heard Creedence Clearwater Revival's set because Fogerty never allowed it to be included in any footage as he thought it was sub-par. His magnificent song Who'll Stop the Rain is about Woodstock (first band I ever saw live - Free Trade Hall circa 1970).

Happy days guys - happy days (but 50 years? FFS). I suddenly feel very old.

A fantastic film - full of great moments...…. topped for me by Pete Townshend nonchalantly unstrapping his Gibson guitar and tossing it into the crowd after a blistering set by The Who. Very honourable mentions for Country Joe and the Fish's anti Vietnam song "Feel like I'm fixin' to die rag" Canned Heat's "Going up the Country", Sha Na Na's "At the Hop", Ritchie Havens, Joan Baez, Hendrix , CSNY - all brilliant. For me totally sums up late 60's /USA/hippie/peace & love movement.

Bob Dylan wasn't on the bill. There were two (at least) explanations why he didn't appear, that his child was ill,
and that he was annoyed about the disruption the festival caused, because at the time, he lived round there.

Two weeks later, he played the Isle of Wight concert.

TheFamilyCat wrote:It still is.

Haha. It wouldn't surprise me.

For anyone interested, Woodstock documentary on BBC4
at ten o'clock tonight, followed by Jimi Hendrix : Road to Woodstock.
Both been on before, but well worth a watch.

25..as above.. seen it before, pretty good documentary indeed.

Melanie did a set with a Dylan cover. Probably Lay Lady Lay. If not it would have been Mr Tambourine Man.

Good watch so far.

I love the look of film. Far superior to digital imo. Amazing footage.

Some incredible archive footage.
Apparently, the Beatles didn't appear cos Lennon demanded the Plastic Ono Band be given a spot, which was refused.
The Stones couldn't play as Jagger was making the film Ned Kelly in Oz.

Would have been even more chaotic if they had appeared.

ElectroClaret wrote:Some incredible archive footage.
Apparently, the Beatles didn't appear cos Lennon demanded the Plastic Ono Band be given a spot, which was refused.
The Stones couldn't play as Jagger was making the film Ned Kelly in Oz.

Would have been even more chaotic if they had appeared.

Where on earth did you hear that one? The first bit primarily.

It wouldn’t have been what it was had The Beatles showed up. They were far too big. Same had Dylan/Stones played. They weren’t one of the people.


Too add, leaving must have been bloody awful. I haven’t come to terms with life after a couple of gigs last year .

dermotdermot wrote:Where on earth did you hear that one? The first bit primarily.

Its an old piece of rock legend, Dermot.
(Google Beatles/Woodstock) However, there was another theory, that there were now immigration problems with Lennon because of his use of certain substances.

The Doors either didn't appear because of Jim Morrison s dislike of playing outdoors, (and his paranoia about being shot) or they simply turned it down and later regretted it.

The stories surrounding Woodstock are endless.

A brilliant documentary to be honest, covering what will probably be a once in a lifetime event.. looking at the scale of it last night, it’s hard to believe it ever happened. The recorded footage, the colour, was of an amazing quality. Local residents of Bethel were told to expect about 25,000 maybe 50,000 people and they were worried sick about how the area would cope... 400,000 people turned up !

The traffic jams, the hippies, the stage and infrastructure, the security (?) - how did they feed and water them all.. the toilet situation ?
At the end, ‘the place stank’ apparently.

Max Yasgur whose land it was, came across well - his place was trashed by the numbers but he embraced the event and the peacefulness of it.

- and the music? - plenty of artists enhanced their reputations - Ritchie Havens, CSN, Canned Heat, The Who, Joe Cocker, and others.

A massive one-off in contemporary music history.

Dylan didn't play as he had enough of the spot light and doing what people wanted him to do. He didn't want to be the voice of a generation anymore and wanted to follow his own path not live up to others expectations. He had moved to Woodstock from New York for a quieter life with his young family but people followed him there. He kept finding people in his house including a couple having sex in his bed one day. Therefore when the concert was mooted he wanted nothing to do with it despite him being one of the main reasons it was held there. He eventually moved to LA to escape from what the area became.Great concert and documentary though.

ElectroClaret wrote:Its an old piece of rock legend, Dermot.
(Google Beatles/Woodstock) However, there was another theory, that there were now immigration problems with Lennon because of his use of certain substances.

The Doors either didn't appear because of Jim Morrison s dislike of playing outdoors, (and his paranoia about being shot) or they simply turned it down and later regretted it.

The stories surrounding Woodstock are endless.

I don't go along with this at all. The Beatles had stopped touring in 1966 and had virtually split up by 1969. There is no way that they would have even thought of attending. Woodstock wasn't such a big deal to begin with anyway. Just another festival that became famous a year later when the film came out.

Sky Arts have given over the evening to documentaries on some of the artistes involved and from 9pm a new documentary on the festival.

I once worked with Gordon Huntley who played at this festival with Mathew Southern Comfort.