On Friday AM August 15 of 1969, 3 friends and I left in 2 cars to a small farm in Bethel, NY. to attend a concert billed as 3 weekend days of "Peace and Music". I was a 19 years-old from a small town just North of Philadelphia. I was a rising sophomore, who had not traveled much and had never been to a concert of more than $150,000. My first outdoor concert was held a few months prior to Woodstock in the Atlantic City (AC) race track. That concert was well organized, covered from the elements, and had ample food, water, and bathroom facilities. It was well run, secure, and profitable for the organizers. It was to be so different from the Woodstock event, which caused us to be unprepared.
The AC event and the Monterey Pop Festival in California 1 year before were the genesis for the Woodstock event. The Woodstock venue was to be held in a small town in the Catskills Mountains on a 300 acre farm, which is in the south central part of New York about 2.5 hours from New York City. This area is known for farming and recreational facilities and was made famous in the Movie "Dirty Dancing" staring the late Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Beale. The town of Woodstock was chosen since it was known for arts and crafts and home to pop performers such as Bob Dylan and "The Band". However, the local population did not want a large group of "stoned hippies' trashing their town. The concert organizers then found Max Yasgur, who owned a 600 acre dairy farm in the nearby town of Bethel, a small farming community. It was mainly pasture in a bowl shaped in the country with few neighbors. However, it had only 2 small roads in and out of the area, which would later cause "shear mayhem".
The organizers quickly built a large stage and make-shift metal fence and found a number of top rock and flock bands, which filled 3 days of music. Tickets were $18/3 days and were sold in North Eastern Music shops. Quickly 185,000 tickets were sold, so the organizers made provisions for about 200,000 people. However, little did they know that that many people would show up on Wednesday and camped out in small tents. By Friday the crowd had swelled to more than 300,000, so the organizers removed the fences and let the remaining people in free drawing throngs more mainly from New York. When my group finally arrived on Friday afternoon we saw cars parked everywhere and the roads were totally blocked. Since we did not know how far the concert was and it started to rain, we decided to spend the night in our cars. This was fortuitous since a large stormed moved in and blew away most of the small tents and soaked the concert field turning it into a giant hill of mud. We did not have any rain gear and only the clothes on are backs, so we stayed dry in our cars.
The next day we followed the crowds and to our chagrin, discovered that the concert was 5 miles away. When we finally arrived concert numbers had swelled to 400,000 and we were stuck at the top of the hill over-looking the concert about \0xBC mile from the stage. At that spot, the music and bands were barely visible or audible. By the end of the day the concert goers continued to arrive and joined about 450,000 mud-socked, hungry, and thirsty people. The makes shift portapotties, security, and medical facilities were quickly exhausted. The crowd was forced to use the woods as restrooms and a nearby pond to wash naked and perform every type of activity that one could think of. Many of the patrons were quickly lured into consuming all sorts of drugs and alcohol to escape the reality of the deteriorating situation. Concert dwellers had no choice to stay and brave the elements, because the roads were block both in and out of the concert for 20 miles causing another several 200,000 wood-be concert goers to be turned back by the state police.
As the concert went on we navigated our way closer to the stage by walking around and over bodies and blankets, which were wet, muddy, and strewn every. We made are way within 100 yards of the stage and could go no farther, because the people were packed in to close together. A total of 32 acts performed, many of which were subsequently inducted into the "rock and roll hall of fame". The rain on Friday pushed the show back till Monday AM. Performers had to be flown in and out by helicopter, since the roads were closed. Luckily Yasgur had a neighbor with a helicopter. This chaos caused many super "hall of fame" bands to cancel such as The Doors, Jethro Tull, Led Zeppelin, the Byrds, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and the Moody Blues. Joni Mitchell subsequently wrote the song "Woodstock", which was made famous by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.
The bands that I enjoyed most were the Country Joe and the Fish, Santana, Canned Heat, Grateful Dead, Mountain, Credence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Sly and the family Stone, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Joe Cocker, Ten Years After, The Band, Johnny and Edgar Winters, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. We left on Sunday PM after becoming so weak from little sleep, food or water, so we missed Jim Hendrix, who performed on Monday AM. At that time only about \0xBC of the original crowd remained. However, I had seen Jimmy perform once before in Philly. During the concert 70 people were arrested for "dangerous" drug sales, 2 died, thousands became sick from drug and alcohol overdose, and 1 baby was born. However, that 40 year-old person has never been identified.
As I walked back to my car I knew that we had witnessed an event that would never be repeated. To put on a concert like that now would cost anywhere from 25 to 50 million dollars, where would it be held, and who would undertake the liability? The organizes lost several million dollars on this concert, but soon after made many more millions from sale of records, movies, books, and other souvenirs still popular and selling 40 years later.
Woodstock was a piece of Americana that took place during one of the most tumultuous times in US history. During this time frame our country was torn apart by racial strife, Vietnam protests, and hate groups like Mansion family, the Black Panthers, and the Weatherman. However, during these 4 days none of that seemed to matter. It took us about half a day (twice than normal) to return home since we had to stop often for food, water, and rest. However, I will never forget this experience none the less.
Since that time 2 smaller Woodstock events were held in the area, however, they never enjoyed the notoriety of the first. Yasgur sold the farm in 1971 and died 2 years later. In 1997 a developer bought the property. An outdoor Bethel Wood Music Center for the Arts amphitheater similar to Chastain Park in Atlanta was completed in 2006. Popular touring groups of all types performed there every weekend for the entire summer. Tickets range from 30 to 100 dollars depending on the proximity to the stage and the performing band. The concert center holds about 12,000 covered comfortable seats and a lawn area another 5,000. The acoustics are perfect with ample modern bathrooms and concession stands. It stands on the left side of the top of the hill overlooking the original concert site.
In 2008 a two story (Tutor-style) museum was opened. It is full of all sorts of the original concert memorabilia, donated by original concert patrons or their heirs. The museum is separated into small rooms, some with still photos, musical instruments and albums, clothes, drug paraphernalia, and other items of interest including a custom chopper motorcycle, Volkswagen car, and a small bus all painted in "Hippie Fashion". Other rooms contain mini movie theaters, where you can listen to original recordings from the bands and interviews by the organizers. The cost to enter the museum is $13 dollars and takes several hours to view. It is followed by the typical souvenir shop and a small cafeteria. The museum stands on the other side of the hill also overlooking the original cornet site.
The original concert area is pristine pasture surrounded by the original woods and a new wooden livestock fence. The original Yasgur home stead and barn are long since gone. However, the helicopter pad is still there as well as the cow watering pond were the washing and infamous "naughty action took place", and a plaque where the stage once stood. In addition there is a carved pole containing the names of Jimmy Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and Janis Joplin in the middle of the field. There are plenty of directional signs as far as 20 miles away, ample lighted parking, and security to help you park, take tickets, and prevent glass bottles and other dangerous items from entering the enclosed area. The area is well contained and protected with many individuals that answer what information that you require. In addition there are daily guided tours (not sure of the price) of the entire concert area in a 3 seat golf cart.
About six months ago I read about the 40th anniversary show so quickly I bought my concert and museum tickets as well as plane ticket to NY city and rental car. I know that the concert would be a sell out and of course it was about a month before the show. However, thousands more came to the area to sit and chat with the concert patrons. My flight to NY took about 2 hours and another 2.5 hours to drive to Monticello a nearby city. Bethel has not changed much in 40 years and still does not have a hotel. My hotel was a small old Best Western and was full of concert goers dressed in typical "Hippie Attire". I wore gens (without bell bottoms), because I could not find any. The song "Bell Bottom Blues" was made famous by Eric Clapton. I also had a tye dye peace tee shirt and straw cowboy hat. I arrived at the center (12 miles from my hotel) around 11 AM on Saturday August 16, 40 years from the time I arrived at the first concert. I took at least 2 hours to view the museum and had several photos taken of myself even though they were not permitted. I had lunch outside in the veranda. It was such a lovely day in the NY mountains. I spent 4 hours chatting with folks from all over the world as far as New Zealand and Russia, although most were from NY state. Ages ranged from teenagers to people in their late 70s, although the majority of the folks were in their late 50s to 60's and many were retired.
We talked about our experiences at the concert and to my surprise many of the patrons had missed the original show, because they were caught in traffic. I met people who held every type of occupation and even a few college professors. At 5 PM I walked across to the concert area, since the show was to start at 6 PM. I stopped along the way and gazed at the original concert site and saw the plaque, pole, helicopter port, and small pond. At that time chills went up and down my spine and I was overcome by the nostalgia. I spent the most enjoyable time I will every have in 2 days and I know nothing like that will ever happened again in my life time.
The concert started on time with MC Country Joe McDonald. He played in between the 6 group set up. The groups were billed as the "Heroes of Woodstock". The groups had the same names and sang the same songs as 40 years ago, although very few of the original performers were present, either because they had died or were too old to tour. Max Yasgur junior, now in his 70's, was present and talked about his father's dream and legacy, which will last forever. The first performer was 16 year-old blind boy, who played a sterling guitar performance of Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner". This was followed by Big Brother and the Holding Company, which was Janis Joplin's, original band. Their rendition of "Bobby Maggie" was quite good. The next group was Canned Heat. Their song "Going up the Country" summed up the Woodstock experience. After that was Jefferson Starship, formally Jefferson Airplane, Their performance of "White Rabbit and "Revolution" got the elderly crowed up and singing even though very little alcohol or "Mary Jane" were apparent.
The next group was the group Ten Years After and the lead singer did a nice job on the song "I am Going Home" and would have made Alvin Lee proud. This was followed by Mountain and their hit "Mississippi Queen". Lesley West the original singer and guitar player, in his 70's, got married on the stage, which received a standing ovation. The last performer was Levon Helms, the original lead singer of "The Band' The original group toured and backed up Bob Dylan and became famous in their own right. He sang their hit "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". It would have stirred the emotions of many southerners.
The concert ended at mid night and few of us wanted to leave. I returned home the next day and in a few days received a flyer in the mail from the Arts Center, which wanted my opinion on the facilities, groups, and if I had any suggestions for additional facilities, concerts, as well as a concert on the original site. God willing, I plan to return for the 50th anniversary and look forward to seeing changes and additions, which no doubt will continue to occur as the Woodstock legend grows. I am looking forward to enjoying the concert on the original site and maybe sit near the pole with the carved names of 3 of the "greatest rock and roll stars ever".
-Written by:
J. J. Giambrone
Poultry Science Department
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