The 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, billed as “An Aquarian Experience: 3 Days of Peace and Music” has become legendary as a peaceful counterculture event that featured some of the best musical artists of a generation. A half million attendees arrived in Bethel, New York for the August 15-17 gathering. Here are eight of the most memorable performances:
Videos by American Songwriter
1. Jimi Hendrix
The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has a website posting confirming what fans have always said – the performance by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock was the one the crowd most anticipated. Hendrix and his band, Gypsy Sun & Rainbows, took the stage at 9 a.m. Monday, the final day of the festival, and were greeted by only 40,000 of the half million attendees.
Undaunted, Hendrix launched his Stratocaster into what would become his legendary version of “The Star Spangled Banner.” Although Hendrix led his group through an array of new and old songs, including “Foxy Lady” and “Fire,” and various jams and covers, it’s hard to think of a brighter highlight than Hendrix’s freeform national anthem rendition.
2. Melanie
Singer/songwriter Melanie Safka was largely unknown when Buddah Records prodded her to leave England, where she was working on a film score with the London Symphony Orchestra, and go to the U.S. in the hopes she’d be given a slot on the Woodstock stage.
Her trip resulted in a Woodstock performance, making her the only female performer to play without accompaniment. As she worked through a set that included “Close to It All,” Beautiful People,” and a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” the applause grew from a smattering to something more enthusiastic as her clear vocals and acoustic guitar playing filled the air.
3. Arlo Guthrie
When Arlo Guthrie, the son of folk legend Woody Guthrie, arrived at Woodstock, he had just completed a movie, Alice’s Restaurant, and a song by the same name. The 18-minute-plus song received little airplay, but the crowd knew Guthrie was a rising star thanks to his almost constant touring schedule and activism.
Guthrie’s voice started weak when he opened with “Coming into Los Angeles,” but when he reached a cover of Bob Dylan’s song “Walking Down the Line,” his vocals strengthened. His set included “The Story of Moses,” a comedic, ten-minute monologue that some say he developed in the style of Bill Cosby before he returned to his set closing with a moving rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
5. Joan Baez
Folk singer Joan Baez was well on her way to cultural icon status when she took the stage at Woodstock during the early morning of the festival’s first day. Her 45-minute set included “Oh Happy Day,” Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released,” and ended with “Amazing Grace.”
A recap of the performance on the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts website noted her captivating performance was punctuated with stories, including one about her husband, David Harris’ stay in federal prison for refusing to comply with his draft summons.
6. The Grateful Dead
Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and the other members of The Grateful Dead only performed five songs during their 90-minute Friday night Woodstock set. The Dead, arguably the first and most famous jam band, was high on LSD and courted physical danger when a sound engineer removed the grounding electrical supply for the audio system, according to the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts website.
Accounts of the performance say the band was confused, guitarist Bob Weir received an electrical shock that cut the power, and the set unraveled into a “psychedelic unknown” before the group closed with “Turn On Your Lovelight.”
7. Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin and The Kozmic Blues Band took the stage at 2 a.m. Monday, the last day of the festival, and ripped into renditions of “Raise Your Hand,” “I Can’t Turn You Loose” and “Love Somebody.” A 1967 performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival by Big Brother and the Holding Company, featuring Joplin ensured the Woodstock audience’s enthusiastic welcome of one of the brightest lights from the San Francisco music scene.
Although some critics expected a more raucous set from Joplin, she and her band offered a high-energy performance that seemed to end when she lost her voice and left the stage. At the audience’s insistence, Joplin returned to the spotlight to belt out the now classic anthem “Piece of My Heart,” followed by “Ball and Chain,” during which her voice finally broke.
8. The Who
The London-based group was riding high on the success of its 1969 rock opera Tommy, but its one-hour Woodstock set of 21 songs was hardly a slam-dunk. Pete Townshend initially did not want to play at the festival and kicked a photographer when the band took the stage at 5:30 a.m.
His bandmates echoed Townshend’s foul mood, in part, due to contaminated water and coffee offerings. They took the stage to find an audience exhausted from a high-energy set by Sly and the Family Stone. Still, the group launched into its own raucous set that included many songs from Tommy, including “Pinball Wizard.” After the song, activist Abbie Hoffman rushed on stage, took Townshend’s microphone, and told the crowd, “I think this is A PILE OF SHIT while John Sinclair (co-founder of the White Panther party) rots in prison!” Townshend aimed the headstock of his guitar at Hoffman’s head, driving him off the stage as the crowd cheered. The Who continued, even giving a powerful encore of “My Generation.”
9. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Media reports note the Woodstock audience was awestruck when Neil Young took the stage to perform with his former Buffalo Springfield bandmate, Stephen Stills. The duo’s set occurred after Crosby, Still, and Nash had performed an acoustic set of “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” a cover of Paul McCartney’s “Black Bird,” and other songs that were already popular favorites.
Nash and Crosby left the stage after Nash announced a special event, and Young joined Nash in the spotlight, surprising an audience that didn’t know he had joined the group. After a few songs, the group, including their new bandmate Young, launched into an electric set highlighted by their lush harmonies.
Photo by MALI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.