I. Introduction A. “During one long, hot, rainy weekend in August of 1969, what happened on a dairy farm in upstate New York changed the course of rock music, and stamped an image on American culture” B. On August 15, 1969 in Bethel, New York, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair was three day festival that was all about peace, love, understanding, music, and serious partying. C. It was a historic event that changed many peoples outlook on life and was a big part of what is known as the hippie movement. D. The Woodstock festival of 1969 is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most pivotal moments in popular music history and was listed among Rolling Stone's 50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock and Roll.
II. Planning and Preparation A. Four men named Michael Lang, Artie Kornfield, John Roberts, and Joel Rosenman originally established Woodstock. 1. Their original idea was to create a recording studio in Woodstock, New York, which is where top artists of the time such as Bob Dylan were living. a. Their idea then turned into having a concert where the proceeds would go towards the building of this recording studio. B. They were not allowed to have the concert in Woodstock, because the town didn’t have an appropriate site to host the event. C. The next site was in Wallkill, NY and they paid $10,000 to secure the site. 1. It was located in an industrial park. 2. At the last minute, the townspeople who didn’t want 50,000 hippies (which was the number of people originally expected to attend) descending on their town passed a law banning the use of port-a-potties in their town. a. This is what the promoters of Woodstock were planning on using. D. So at the last minute, with flyers already printed up and tickets already sold, they had to find a new site for the concert. E. Thankfully, Max Yasgur offered up his 600 acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, 50 miles away. F. Tickets were sold in advance for the event for $7 for one day, $13 for two days, and $18 for three days which could be purchased in select stores or via mail order. G. Only 50,000 - 100,000 people were expected to attend the event. H. The men began working on organizing food, signing musicians, and hiring security. I. It was mid-July when they finally secured the site and the concert was to be held just one month later. 1. There are reports that the stage wasn’t even totally completed when the concert was held.
III. Woodstock Begins A. On Wednesday, August 13 (two days before the Festival was to begin), there were already approximately 50,000 people camping near the stage.
1. These early arrivals had walked right through the huge gaps in the fence where the gates had not yet been placed.
B. Since there was no way to get the 50,000 people to leave the area in order to pay for tickets and there was no time to erect the numerous gates to prevent even more people from just walking in, the organizers were forced to make the event a free concert. 1. This declaration of a free concert had two dire effects. a. The first of which was that the organizers were going to lose massive amounts of money by putting on this event. b. The second effect was that as news spread that it was now a free concert, an estimated one million people headed to Bethel, New York. C. Police had to turn away thousands of cars. D. It is estimated that about 500,000 people actually made it to the Woodstock Festival. E. No one had planned for half a million people. F. The highways in the area literally became parking lots as people abandoned their cars in the middle of the street and just walked the final distance to the Woodstock Festival. 1. Traffic was so bad that the organizers had to hire helicopters to shuttle the performers from their hotels to the stage.
IV. The Music A. A total of 32 acts performed at Woodstock. 1. There were several notable musicians of the time that played at the concert. B. On Friday, Richie Havens opened up the festival and other folk artists such as Sweetwater and Joan Baez performed. C. On Saturday, the music started up shortly after noon. 1. Artists such as Santana, Janis Joplin, Greatful Dead, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane performed. D. Jimi Hendrix was the headliner of the concert and he performed to a relatively empty field early Monday morning. 1. He did an alternative version of “The Star Spangled Banner” which is considered as one of the greatest performances in rock history. a. The Vietnam War was underway and the sound effects that Hendrix generated with his guitar sounded a lot like the sounds of the violence of the conflict. E. In all, the four men spent $180,000 on talent, with no band being paid more than $15,000 with the exception of Hendrix who was paid $32,000. F. By the first day, as the musicians looked out upon the vast crowd, they must have known that Woodstock was not going to be just another concert that would be forgotten. G. John Lennon was contacted about the possibility of the Beatles playing the festival. 1. He said that he couldn’t get the Beatles to play but offered to play with his Plastic Ono Band. a. The promoters turned this down.
H. Led Zeppelin was also offered to play, but they turned it down after booking a gig with higher pay.
V. Conditions A. The conditions during the concert were not anything to brag about.
B.There was a major shortage of food, water, bathrooms and medical aid because of the massive amounts of people that showed up that they had not planned for.
1. There were 30 minute long lines to get water. 2. People waited over an hour to use the bathroom. C. On the first day of the festival, it began raining and continued to do so on and off all weekend. 1. With this rain came mud, and massive amounts of it. 2. There were hippies everywhere playing in the mud. 3. And some of them even skinny dipped in the nearby pond to wash the mud off. D. It is estimated that about ninety percent of the concert-goers were smoking marijuana (Woodstock.com). E. There was also lots of LSD use and some bad acid trips present at Woodstock. F. The police present at the festival ignored the drug laws that were in place at that time for fear that the huge crowd might riot. G. But despite the amount of people and the rampant drug use, the festival was relatively peaceful and there were no violent crimes or burglary reported. H. However, there were a couple deaths reported. 1. One was due to a heroin overdose and the other was caused by a tractor running over a sleeping bag that was under its front tire that had someone sleeping inside. I. There were also two births that occurred at Woodstock. J. Despite everything, Woodstock was a concert that will be remembered for generations to come.
VI. After the Concert A. After the festival was over, there was a huge mess to clean up. 1. The clean up projects only took five days with the help of many fans. B. All together, Woodstock cost $2.4 million to put on and the promoters were now left with over $1 million in debt and several lawsuits to deal with. 1. The promoters thankfully had made a movie deal just two days before the concert and that movie eventually paid their debt and turned Woodstock into a profitable event. C. There have been several attempts to recreate Woodstock, but the 1969 event was made so special because in the midst of war, half a million young people were able to come together for three days without violence and celebrate peace, love, and music. D. There was a Woodstock held in 1994 that was successful, but over promoted for the most part. E. Then in 1999, another Woodstock was held and this time people rioted. 1. Women were raped, people were robbed and concession stands were burned down. 2. If anything, the festival in 1999 took away from the original Woodstock’s image. VII. Woodstock's Impact A. Woodstock had a huge impact on America. B. At a time when our world is full of crime and violence, it is hard to imagine something like Woodstock happening now. C. In 1969, half a million young people proved to the world that peace was possible. D. Woodstock will forever be remembered for the excellent music that took place. 1. But more important than that was the prevalent feeling of peace and harmony at the festival. E. Woodstock is a part of our nation’s history. It may not have changed that history, but it definitely made its impact.
VIII. Conclusion A. Woodstock was three days of peace and music and will be remembered for generations to come. B. Woodstock was huge. 1. It was the largest gathering of people ever recorded at that time. C. People who attended and even those who didn’t will never forget it because half a million young people were able to peacefully come together and prove everyone wrong. D. They proved that they could indeed get together and celebrate life and music without violence or conflict. E. "Gathered that weekend in 1969 were liars and lovers, prophets and profiteers. They made love, they made money and they made a little history."