More than 50,000 tickets were sold in advance, but over 400,000 individuals turned up for the event. What happened at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm from August 15 to 15 became legendary. Here are some of the troubles that the festival had to face:

A thunderstorm threatened the festival

Those were the times when there were no 24-hour channels forecasting weather. Since there were no smartphones back then, there were no weather apps either. Very few of the festival attendees had come prepared for the thunderstorm. Many of them had thought that the venue was well-stocked with food and water. 

People didn’t bring any ponchos or rain gear for protection. Then, the massive crowd of festival attendees had to face waves of torrential water. Later, there was no food or water left to feed the festival attendees. Fortunately, local communities helped prepare food at the venue and made sure that everyone had enough to eat.

Richie Havens had to perform the opening act

Four of the bands that were supposed to play on the first day got stuck in heavy traffic. The first act of the festival was supposed to be performed by Sweetwater. Instead, Richie Havens was brought in to save the day. He was a folk singer and did an excellent job playing every song that he knew. While he was performing, the staff at Woodstock continued building the stage around him and finished the work. 

After multiple encores, Havens was drenched in sweat. He still came out and played one more song. The surprising aspect of this song was that he himself didn’t know what it was going to be. Nevertheless, the song ‘freedom’ was well played and the audience loved it. 

Organizers failed to put up fencing

The organizers of the Woodstock music festival failed to put up fencing during the months leading up to the festival. The event was originally planned in the town of Wallkill. However, they had faced opposition from the older generation living in the neighbourhood as they hated hippies. 

According to these elderly people, hippies were slackers. Some even considered them dangerous. This led them to look for another venue. Finally, they got a dairy farm in Bethel, New York. Due to such hassles, the organizers didn’t find enough time to build the fences. The sale of tickets was stopped as a result.

Only 30,000 people heard the legendary act of Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was supposed to be a headliner at the festival. By the time he took the stage, the event was nearly over. One of the reasons was a clause he had put in the contract. It mentioned that no action was to be performed following his performance. On Monday morning at 9:00, much of the crowd had left the venue and only 30,000 remained. 

Those who were there witnessed one of the best performances of Hendrix. It was his interpretation of The Star-Spangled Banner. His interpretation of the US national anthem was a perfect concluding note for the three-day festival.

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The talented performers certainly played a major role in making Woodstock a defining event in the world of music. Here are some of the best musical talents who played at Woodstock:

1. Jimi Hendrix

The key moment of this music festival came when Jimi Hendrix played the United States National Anthem. He was among the most influential electric guitarists in pop music history. The performance of Hendrix was one of the last acts on stage during the Woodstock festival. 

It was among his most unforgettable performances ever. His interpretation of ‘The Star-spangled Banner’ continues to charm his fans across the world. Unfortunately, many of those who had made it to Woodstock missed his performance. By the time he came up on stage, the festival crowd had reduced to 30,000.

2. Santana

This American rock band was formed in San Francisco in 1966. Woodstock became one of the biggest reasons for the band’s early success. The audience saw the brilliance of the guitar genius Carlos Santana when he and his band took the stage. 

Before making their appearance at the festival, the band had recorded their first album. Their Latin-infused electric performance at Woodstock placed them on the rock n’ roll map. Also among the major highlights of their performance was the excellent drumming by Michael Shrieve.

3. The Who

One of the 20th century’s most influential rock bands, The Who took the stage at 5:00am on Sunday. They had released their album ‘Tommy’ just a month earlier. It was a double album-length rock opera. They performed the entire Tommy album at the festival when it was still dark. 

They had barely finished the rendition of one of their best-known hits when they played an extended improvisation. It was called Naked Eye and featured guitar solos by Pete Townshend and some frenetic drumming by Keith Moon. Their performance concluded with Townshend bashing his guitar and tossing it towards the crowd. 

4. Joe Cocker

He had released his debut album just four months before the festival. Joe Cocker was placed among the greatest singers by Rolling Stone magazine. His performance at Woodstock was greatly praised by Paul McCartney. Cocker closed his set with the seven-minute version of With A Little Help From My Friends. 

It is considered one of the most iconic among the live performances. He completely reinvented this song from The Beatles on the stage. When he finished his set, the summer thunderstorm came roaring and delayed the performances by almost an hour.

5. Richie Havens

He gave the opening performance at Woodstock. The groups that were supposed to perform after him were stuck in traffic. Havens played every song he knew while the festival staff finished building the stage around him. After several encores, a sweating Havens played one more song without even knowing it. 

The film footages show him tuning his guitar and strumming. He was actually trying to come up with a song. The word ‘freedom’ came to his mind when he saw all the faces in the audience around him. It was a fully improvised song and set the mood for the rest of the event.

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In 2019, a documentary was released with the title ‘Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation. This film examined the social, cultural, and political ramifications of this music festival. Here are some facts you might not know about the historic event:

1. It wasn’t held in Woodstock

The organizers were not able to find a suitable place for the event in Woodstock, New York. Even the plans to go ahead with the festival in Wallkill failed. They were then introduced to Max Yasgur through a motel owner. Yasgur agreed to lease 600 acres of his dairy farm for the festival. 

He later got worried by the fact that the initially estimated size of the crowd had gone past 50,000. Pressure mounted on him to get the event cancelled, but he refused to do so. The rest, as they say, is history.

2. The organizers originally wanted to build a studio

Only one among the four men organizing the event had experience in conducting a music festival. Michael Lang had previously organized a concert that was considered the largest in history until then. He had organized that concert in Miami and it drew an audience of 40,000. Artie Kornfeld, his friend, had worked for Capitol Records. 

The other partners Joel Rosenman and John Roberts were sons of wealthy businessmen. The group of four had initially come together looking for investment opportunities. Lang and Kornfeld wanted to create a recording studio in Woodstock. They soon abandoned the plan as they were more excited about hosting a large outdoor music festival.

3. The organizers got into debt to keep the festival going

The Woodstock music festival had attracted an audience of over 400,000. This massive turnout and the logistics of collecting money and ticket at the gates was unimaginable. It forced them to let everyone in for free. Helicopters had to be hired to transport food, supplies, and musicians to and from the site. 

The organizers had put in great efforts to bring the biggest stars in music to the Woodstock event. For this purpose, they had agreed to pay them twice the ongoing rate. John Roberts had to use his trust fund as collateral to arrange an emergency loan. 

4. Woodstock had three deaths and eight miscarriages

Although there were rumours that several women gave birth at Woodstock, the site didn’t record any births. Eight miscarriages were recorded. Three young men had died at the Woodstock festival. Two among them died from drug overdoses and one was run over by a tractor. He was asleep in a sleeping bag and the driver of the tractor collecting debris couldn’t spot him.

5. Nearly 500,000 were fed during the Woodstock festival

When there was a food shortage at the festival, members of the Hog Farm cooked and served food. This commune based in New Mexico was initially hired to maintain peace at the festival. Upon hearing that there was a food shortage, they recruited temporary members on the spot to cook food. 

A local Jewish community centre also joined the efforts. They supplied thousands of sandwiches that were brought to the venue by air.

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The music festival wouldn’t have had such a massive impact if it wasn’t caught on film and preserved. It was made into a documentary in 1970, which was partly edited by Martin Scorsese. Many who’ve seen that movie get the feeling that they were at Woodstock. Even after so many years, it still continues to be a source of inspiration for many.

A lesson in harmony

All thanks to events like Woodstock, people discovered the importance of peace and love. This happened during the 1960s when the world was plagued by increasing political violence and cultural upheavals. Just a week before this music festival, some horrific events like the Manson murders had occurred. 

The response was the emergence of a new sense of community and social cohesiveness. Woodstock gave many individuals a reason to believe that a large number of people could come together as one.

A positive effect on the local community

There was a certain degree of animosity towards the festival among the local communities. It was largely owing to the massive crowd of hippies that it attracted. Today, the entire Sullivan County has accepted the legacy. In 2017, the place of the concert was entered into the National Register of Historic Places. 

The members of the local community who were teenagers at the time learned some important lessons. People who had gathered for the music festival were treated well by some of them. Since the hippies didn’t have enough sustenance, some members of the local communities even prepared food for them. 

A standard for modern music festivals

Woodstock was not the first music festival, but it set a new standard for such concerts. It had the largest live audience ever assembled and the largest number of talented performers. The festival also brought together different genres of music, such as rock, folk, country, and soul music genres. 

It proved to the event promoters that if big names were present, a concert can attract significant numbers of people. The audiences of today are always looking for something like this legendary music festival. They want more engaging, collaborative, and inspiring experiences.

The power of music

The extent of pop music’s power was witnessed, perhaps, for the first time by many. Now, the world could no longer ignore the multi-coloured aspect of pop culture. Everyone saw how people were willing to come together despite all the troubles for the sake of music. 

The overwhelming influence of pop music was evident. Some unexpected opportunities surfaced after that massive event and many artists and businesses capitalized on them. In the years that followed, many of the musicians who performed at Woodstock enjoyed a highly successful musical career.

Growth of the youth lifestyle

While this historic event inspired people to engage with others civically, a new lifestyle also emerged. The counterculture’s aesthetic and bohemian lifestyle were reflected in the clothes that the adherents wore. The clothes that one wore became more important than the cause. It was turned into an emerging style and many businesses made enormous profits out of it.

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