The History of the Woodstock Festival

this was arguably the most important
concert in the history of music hi I’m
Rebecca Brayton and welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be
learning more about the three days of
music and peace that were Woodstock
there are many events emblematic of
hippies in the counterculture of the
1960s one of the most important and
well-known was the Woodstock Music and
Arts Fair at the time of the event the
United States was steeped in racial
discord and military conflict overseas
Woodstock was not simply a music and
arts festival and morphed into a
counterculture microcosm at the outset
hippie rock promoters Michael Lang’s and
Artie Kornfeld vision was for an
isolated recording studio planted in the
middle of a forest John Roberts and Joel
Rosenman were instrumental in the
evolution of the idea from studio to
outdoor concert but were also the money
men behind the event since Woodstock
cost well over two million dollars to
put on these venture capitalists were
important the event was held on a 600
acre dairy farm owned by max Yasgur
in Bethel New York from August 15th to
the 18th 1969 the land was a perfect
natural venue the stage was set at the
bottom of a hill allowing viewers
sitting far away to at least catch a
glimpse of the performers at the bottom
of the slope was a pond which became a
popular place for skinny-dipping while
the event was opposed by local
townspeople from the get-go eventually
legal problems were solved and planning
went ahead engineering a sound system
for the event was another huge hurdle
finally a solution was set in place for
a potential crowd of 150 to 200 thousand
little did the organizers know actual
attendance numbers would more than
double their estimates massive crowds
descended on rural New York the day of
the festival causing huge traffic jams
even some of the acts scheduled to play
the festival were caught up in the
traffic and ended up being unable to
play originally Woodstock was not meant
to be a free event 186,000 tickets were
sold beforehand and organizers only
anticipated about 200,000 people would
show up in total when it became apparent
that they were way off in their
estimations the fence surrounding the
event was ceremonially cut down this
step helps solidify the events vibe of
Peace Love
inclusiveness and also cause a lot more
concert goers to show up in total about
half a million people were in attendance
at Woodstock meanwhile mainstream media
wanted to report the worst about the
festival the event took place on an
extremely hot weekend torrential rain
transformed the event site into a giant
mud puddle drug use was rampant and the
presence of unsanitary conditions and
food shortages were all angles they
wanted to play up ironically many
sources today cite the amount of drugs
consumed at the event as the reason for
a lack of violence and considering the
massive amount of people in attendance
at the three-day event there were
remarkably few serious problems no
violent crime was reported a few deaths
took place all of which were accidental
however on a happier note Woodstock is
also said to be the setting for two
births and then there was the music
despite the four promoters relative
inexperience they were able to book some
of the most important acts of the day
thirty-two musicians and groups played
at the event including legendary
performances by the WHO Janis Joplin Joe
Cocker and Jimi Hendrix to name only a
few this took a great amount of money
and the promoters were virtually
bankrupted by the event however they
retained the movie rights and the 1970
documentary Woodstock more than made
their money back
the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair is
considered by many a symbol of the age
of innocence when young citizens from
all walks of life and varying political
associations got together and simply
enjoyed music it has gone down in the
annals of Rock and is arguably a turning
point in the 20th century there is some
debate as to its place in history books
but some will simply remember it as the
party of a lifetime
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