Jam Central Station 08.22.09: Woodstock

Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 08.22.2009

As the most famous music festival ever, Woodstock is part myth, part legend, and all music. From Richie Havens to Jimi Hendrix, the festival was full of peace, music, mud, nudity, and plenty of drugs. The legend lives on today, even though those who took the brown acid may not remember.



First off, I'm very sorry for missing last week. I had a lot of plans for my column last week, but, sadly, work got in the way. I was out of town at an extended work training, and internet was pretty limited there. The work stuff was good, but, sadly, sacrifices had to be made.

The real unfortunate part was that last week was the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. Since I started this column, I was looking forward to the Woodstock column. The 40th anniversary was the perfect time for that. Unfortunately, you can't always get what you want. So instead of scrapping the Woodstock column, I just moved it to this week! Hopefully this look at the infamous music festival will give you some new insights on exactly what happened during that legendary weekend in New York.





Woodstock was more than just a summer music festival. It represented the best of the 60's counterculture movement. Half a million mostly young people descended onto a dairy farm in rural Bethel, New York for "3 Days of Peace & Music." Despite the rain, the disorganization, the fans tearing down the fences, and the general fact that no one was prepared to deal with a crowd this size, Woodstock turned into an iconic moment in music history. The music, mud, drugs and nudity are all legendary. The concert has been memorialized with multiple CD and movie releases. Woodstock helped to legitimize the hippy movement, and served as the pinnacle of the "Age of Aquarius."

America in the 60's was a nation on edge. The Vietnam War raged on, with tens of thousands of young men being drafted and sent off to war. I practiced tornado drills in school as a kid, but in the 60's the threat was an atomic bomb. President John F. Kennedy, Presidential hopeful Robert Kennedy, and civil rights leaders Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. had all been assassinated. The 1968 Democratic National Convention had turned into a riot. The young people of the country had few heroes left, and drugs, sex, and music were their outlets for expression and freedom.

Sex was everywhere in the music scene. Whether it was The Rolling Stones singing "Let's Spend the Night Together" or Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecilia," Elvis's hip-shaking antics seemed downright tame compared to what was happening in the 60's. A culture that rarely talked about sex at all gave way to "free love." By 1969, the "sexual revolution" that had begun in San Francisco had spread to college campuses across the country. The invention of birth control allowed women to take their sexuality into their own hands with much less risk of pregnancy and alienation. These changes sent shockwaves through the older generation, but the younger generation embraced these new freedoms whole-heartedly.

While Elvis caused a stir in the 50's, he was just a small taste of the musical revolution that came with the 60's. The music was louder, more political, more abrasive, more sexual, and drugs fueled almost all of it. The drug culture that was at most a very minor part of the 50's became the cornerstone of 60's youth culture. The Doors were banned from the Ed Sullivan Show when Jim Morrison wouldn't cut out the word "higher" from "Light My Fire," and, while the song may not have been directly about LSD, "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," like most of The Beatles later music, was obviously influenced by drugs. All of this factored into the environment that created Woodstock.

Woodstock was not originally intended to represent the high point of the counterculture movement. In fact, it wasn't originally meant to be a festival at all. The original "Woodstock" plan was to create a recording and artistic retreat in rural New York. The plan was changed to a festival early in 1969, since the group figured they would have more success and exposure by putting together a large concert. In April, Creedence Clearwater Revival became the first band to sign on to the concert. By the time of the event, 32 acts had signed up to perform, although many other big-name acts had passed on the event. The location of the event, however, wasn't settled until less than a month prior to the concert. The original location had been set for Walkill, and a lease agreement had been signed in the spring. Part of the agreement was based on organizers telling the town that no more than 50,000 people would be at the festival. The townspeople were unhappy with the idea of the festival, however, and the Walkill voted to effectively ban the festival in July, leaving Woodstock homeless.

Less than a month before the concert, the Woodstock was officially moved to a dairy farm in Bethel. Organizers once again told the town that they expected 50,000 people at the event. This late change in venue left the organizers little time to deal with logistics such as building the necessary stage, sound system, and fencing for the event. They decided to focus their energy primarily on putting together the stage and sound system, realizing that the lack of a secure fence would make it very easy for concertgoers to sneak into the show. While over 100,000 tickets were sold, those became worthless as the crowds began to show up en masse for the event.

By the Wednesday prior to the start of Woodstock, 60,000 people had already made their way to the stage. The traffic leading up to Woodstock turned the roads into a virtual parking lot. People abandoned their cars miles from the farm and walked the rest of the way. One report states that the average Woodstock attendee walked 15 miles from where they parked their car to the festival. Radio stations from hundreds of miles away were broadcasting both the problems with the event and the atmosphere it was creating. By the time that Richie Havens kicked off the show at a little after 5:00 on Friday, an estimated 500,000 people were at the event, with an estimated 250,000 more stuck in traffic who never made it to the site. By early on Saturday, concert officials announced that the concert had officially become a free event.

Obviously, Woodstock would have been nothing without the music. Many of the artists on the lineup were among the best known musicians of the late 60's, and many others used Woodstock as a launching point for their careers. The music of Friday was primarily acoustic folk music, with Arlo Guthrie and Joan Baez closing out the Friday night music early on Saturday morning. This was the only day where the music stayed even close to on time and where there were very few technical difficulties with the stage.

Saturday's lineup began at noon and ran through sunrise on Sunday. This was the day of the heavy hitters, with artists like Mountain, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, The Who, and Jefferson Airplane all taking the stage. Electrical problems cut The Grateful Dead's set short, while The Who didn't get on stage until 4:00 in the morning. They proceeded to play a full set, including the entire Tommy album. Jefferson Airplane closed out down the stage with 13 song set, including their biggest hits "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit."

Much of the crowd began leaving on Sunday, despite some great artists yet to play.
Joe Cocker opened up Sunday's performances at about 2:00, but the infamous Woodstock rain delayed the rest of the acts for several hours. This didn't cause the festival to cut any acts or shorten any sets, however. The Band performed 11 songs. Blood, Sweat, and Tears played as Sunday night turned into Monday morning. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young started at about 3:00 in the morning, and did an acoustic set followed by an electric set. Jimi Hendrix finally closed the festival Monday morning, starting his set at about 8:00. While Hendrix's performance at Woodstock is legendary, most people don't realize that, by the time he took the stage, the crowd had dwindled from half a million to about 25,000. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that Hendrix played to an empty field, his insistence on being the last performer certainly didn't help him very much.

In some cases, Woodstock helped launch careers, and in others, it solidified legends. Santana was a relative unknown prior to Woodstock. His performance helped launch his illustrious career. While the individual members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young had all experienced success, Woodstock was only their second show as a band. The Grateful Dead used Woodstock to further their career outside of their West Coast home. And, when anyone thinks of Jimi Hendrix, one of the first performances that comes to mind for most would be his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Not every artist at Woodstock turned into a household name, but, for almost all of the bands, Woodstock was at least a high point in their career.

Amazingly, Woodstock was mostly free of major incidents. There were only 2 confirmed deaths at the festival, which, considering the size and lack of preparation, is pretty amazing. Compare that to Bonnaroo, which generally has between 50,000 and 80,000 people, and there is about an average of a death a year, along with a much higher rate of violence. I'm not trying to pick on Bonnaroo, since most summer music festivals nowadays have a similar amount of violence and occasionally some deaths. For Woodstock to have been such a relatively safe environment, however, is a credit to the culture that the hippies were trying to create. Nearly everyone who got there got home safely. Personally, I can't even imagine the scope and scale of half a million people at Woodstock. Woodstock was truly "3 Days of Peace & Music."

Unfortunately, as I stated earlier, Woodstock would be the high point of the hippy revolution. The Altamont Free Festival, held in December and billed as the "Woodstock of the West," was marred by violence. In just over a year, both Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix would be dead, and Jim Morrison followed not long after that. The peace and love of the late 60's gave way to Watergate and the Kent State massacre.

Despite the fact that the values of Woodstock were never able to be translated to society as a whole, the event itself has earned it's place as one of the greatest and most influential moments in music history. Movies and album releases of the show have been extremely successful. Two subsequent Woodstocks have been held, although Woodstock 99 was plagued by violence and overpriced water and food. Woodstock has been used as a point of reference in movies set in that time period, and Taking Woodstock, a movie about the festival, is set to be released later this month. 40 years after the event, the Woodstock legacy lives on stronger than ever.



All Woodstock all the time this week! Let's start off with some Grateful Dead, with "High Time"



My all-time favorite Crosby Stills and Nash song is "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." Here's the Woodstock performance



Janis Joplin with a bluesy "Work Me Lord"



Jefferson Airplane chasing the "White Rabbit"



Finally, a couple of legendary Hendrix performances. First, a little "Purple Haze"



And, the one everyone remembers, Jimi doing "Star Spangled Banner"





The Allman Brothers Band kicks off tour

The Allman Brothers Band opened their tour earlier this week at the legendary Saratoga Performing Arts Center in New York. The band included plenty of surprises in their show, including having Tom Johnston from The Doobie Brothers join them for "Southband." The Allman's tour will continue through the fall with openers Widespread Panic.

DMB pays tribute to LeRoi Moore

On the one-year anniversary of his death, the Dave Matthews Band paid tribute to their founding saxophonist with a video on their website. The band has also released Moore's final show with the band, and their latest studio album Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King is a tribute to Moore. The band posted this performance of "Loving Wings" as a tribute. Unfortunately, this video is a little choppy, but it's a great version of the song.



Last year, soon after Moore's death, the band paid tribute to Moore at their shows at The Gorge in Washington with this slideshow.



DJ Logic sits on with O.A.R.

DJ Logic joined O.A.R. for a couple of shows this past week. He sat in with the band first at their Madison Square Garden show before joining them again for their encore in Philadelphia. Robert Randolph also sat in with the band at their Madison Square Garden show. I'm just happy to see some local Columbus guys doing well for themselves.

Santana back in studio

Guitar legend Santana is readying an album for release sometime next year. He's hit the studio with Clive Davis, who has produced Santana's recent albums. No word yet on any guests that may be brought on to this album.

Black Crowes change Before The Frost… release date

The Black Crowes have moved the release date for Before the Frost… to August 31. The album was originally set to be released in September. Everyone who buys the album will get a free digital download of the companion album …Until the Freeze.

Umphrey's McGee plans fall tour

Umphrey's McGee will continue to tour in support of their latest release, Mantis. The band is set to play at this year's moe.down on September 6, and will then head down to Louisiana for their own headlining tour. Dates are set through the end of October. It's unknown right now if they'll take a break or continue touring through their Caribbean Hollidaze cruise that they're co-headlining with the Disco Biscuits in December.

Disco Biscuits add tour dates

The Disco Biscuits recently announced additional dates for their fall tour. The new opening date for the tour is September 11, and the additional dates are scattered throughout the tour. Opening acts include RJD2, Big Gigantic, and Infected Mushroom. Their new album, Planet Anthem, will be released in 2010.



Thanks again for checking out the column this week. I could've written a book on Woodstock, but plenty of those have already been written, and I only had a week. Hopefully the snapshot was enough to whet your appetite and inspire you to take a closer look at the festival. Next week I'll be back, most likely with another band profile. Until then, Jam On!