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August 1969: Total paradise-Hippie dreams come true in “Woodstock”
“We thought we were all the individual, scattered hippies,” recalls David Crosby. “But when we arrived in Woodstock, we said: ‘Wait. That is much bigger than we thought.’ We flew with the helicopter. “There hadn’t been anything like that. It was almost like landing extraterrestrial.”
On the weekend of August 15, 1969, an estimated 400,000 people flocked to the 250 hectare milk farm by Max Yasgur in Bethel, New York. The scene of a three -day festival, the “Woodstock Music and Art Fair”. On Monday, August 18, they scattered again in all winds. In between they experienced legendary appearances. Among others from The Who, Santana, Janis Joplin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joe Cocker, Sly and the Familiy Stone, Jimi Hendrix and – at their second joint appearance – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
A utopia that has become true
“It was hectic and we got a little swimming,” says Crosby. “After us, Hendrix, Sly and the Familiy Stone. All of these bands. And we wanted to give up a good figure in front of them. My personal highlight was to go out, ‘suite: Judy Blue Eyes’ and get through to the end without ruining it. It was stoned and funny and great.”
Despite delays, despite the ubiquitous danger of electric shocks and general anarchy behind the stage, Woodstock achieved the ultimate feat of the sixties. To transform a rainy chaos into the most important rock festival of all time. In the most famous, most successful peace and community experiment of the decade.
“It was incredible,” says Carlos Santana. “I will never forget how the music sounded that echoed over an entire field of bodies.” Joe Cocker brought British R&B into the church with his version of “With a Little Help from My Friends”. Jimi Hendrix sent the last stragglers home on Monday morning with his immortal interpretation of the “Star-Spangled Banner”.
As Wavy Gravy said, one of the DJs in Woodstock: “The whole world watched us these days and we could show the world how it could be if we were sitting on the levers.” Even if it turned out differently, the utopia that has become true for a few magical days still embodies the ideal picture of the peaceful rock festival.