- Cultural Significance
- Size
- Largest and most important of the open-air music festivals of the late 1960s
- Estimates between 300,000 and 600,000 attended
- Defining cultural moment
- Display of massive social movements of the time
- Attitudes about American youth culture
- Music
- Politics
- Race
- The war in Vietnam
- Religion
- Socially acceptable behavior
- The use of drugs
- Successful aggressive Promotion
- Financed by John Roberts and organized by highly capable promoters
- Michael Lang
- Joel Rosenman
- Artie Kornfeld
- Location contributed to success
- Proximity to New York City helped
- Held in Bethel, NY
- 40 miles away from Woodstock
- Bob Dylan moved there in 1967 after motorcycle accident
- Having the Band on the bill gave impression that Dylan would perform
- They were known as Dylan's live backup band
- The promoters didn't say Dylan WOULDN'T be there
- Lineup included a huge roster of major stars
- The Who
- Jimi Hendrix
- Janis Joplin
- Problems That Were Overcome
- Hundreds of thousands of "hippies" in a single rain-soaked field
- Insufficient elements:
- food
- medical care
- traffic plans
- Organization
- (Jimi Hendrix didn't appear until most fans had left)
- Hendrix came onstage at daybreak on Monday
- The Real Woodstock Experience
- Peaceful gathering to share common views
- Love
- Art
- Music
- Clothing
- Freedom
- War
- Society in general
- High Points
- There were breakout performances by new or lesser-known acts
- Santana
- Joe Cocker
- Richie Havens
- Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
- Particularly exciting performances by established artists
- Sly and the Family Stone
- Introduced Funk music to a mainly white audience
- The Who
- Pete Townshend attacked activist Abbie Hoffman with his guitar
- Jimi Hendrix's performance of "Star Spangled Banner"
- Mimicked bombs, sirens, screams and explosions
- Hendrix was a former paratrooper
- Most eloquent antiwar statement of the era
- Hendrix demonstrated how far rock had developed
- Virtuosity
- Ambition
- Creativity
