Woodstock Music and Art Fair took place in August 1969 on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY. Over the course of four days (August 15-18), over half a million people came to a 600-acre farm to hear 32 acts play. These acts included Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, the Who, Janis Joplin and Crosby, and Stills. Woodstock is known as one of the greatest happenings of all time, as well as one of the most pivotal moments in music history.
Woodstock was a product of partnership between John Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfield, and Michael Lang. They wanted to make enough money from the event so that they could build a recording studio near the town of Woodstock in New York. When the weekend of the event arrived, they had sold 186,000 tickets. The promoters eventually decided to open the concert to everyone. Close to half a million people attended Woodstock.
Woodstock Crowd, 1969Candid Woodstock Photos, 1969Two festival-goers sitting in the trunk of a car, 1969
The Atmosphere
Woodstock was conceived as "Three Days of Peace and Music". The fans, or "hippies", were soaked by rain and wallowing in the muddy mess of the the dairy fields. Despite this, the hippies embraced the performances of artists like Janis Joplin, Arlo Guthrie, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and many more.
Those who were at the festival described the atmosphere as chaotic. There was too big of a crowd with not enough bathroom facilities or first-aid tents. Although there was not much violence, one teenager was accidentally ran over adn killed by a tractor and another died from drug overdose.
Woodstock is often associated with opposition to the Vietnam War. This sentiment was shared by the majority of the audience, as well as musicians. The youth counterculture of the 1960s were later referred to as the "Woodstock Nation".
